The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 192
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historzcal Quarterly
Although the guidelines focus upon the early history of Texas, they
instruct authors to "identify significant events in Texas history from
post-Reconstruction to present." The general charge to the State Text-
book Committee is to recommend books "that will assist students in ac-
quiring knowledge of the historical development of Texas from its ear-
liest beginning to the present" along with information about geography
and citizenship.' There is no requirement to concentrate the history on
the nineteenth century as apparently was the case for older texts.
Ten years ago Margaret S. Henson evaluated five seventh-grade texts
and calculated that twentieth-century material ranged from 11 to 17
percent of the total pages.2 For the three new texts the range is pre-
cisely the same--11 to 17 percent. The unbalance is striking, especially
when you consider that over half of Texas history since the beginning
of the Austin colony has occurred since 1900oo. Texas writers and others
have called for a greater emphasis upon contemporary events, but nei-
ther the historians nor their texts have responded.) Why?
Henson wondered about the reasons for this lopsidedness and as-
sumed the existence of a rationale that students would learn about the
twentieth century in United States history courses. But there are other
possible reasons. The focus of Texas scholarship has been on the nine-
teenth century, and, seemingly, the public is interested in the same pe-
riod. J. Frank Dobie in his Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest de-
voted only one chapter in thirty-five to the twentieth century. Of the
224 books listed by John H. Jenkins in Baic 7Texas Books only thirty-four
pertained to the current century and over half of those reached back
into the past century.' Sessions with a chronological focus before 1900oo
'l'he l exas Education Agency supplied information about the adoption of textbooks and
guidelines at the request of the author (September, 1987).
2Margaret Swett Henson, "'Texas History in the Pubhll Schools: An Appraisal," Southwestern
Ilstonrcal Quaterly, LXXXII (Apr , 1979), 4o6.
'See, for example, the vaiious comments in Larry McMurtry, In a Narrow Gave Essays on
Texas (Austin: E mlno Press, i968), particularly in the section "Southwestern Literature", Don
Graham, James W Lee, and William 1'. Pilklngton, The Texas Lterary Tradztzon" Fzctzon, Folklore,
HIstory (Austin. College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin, and the T'lexas State His-
torical Assoc , 1983), Craig Edward Clifford, In the Deep Ileart's Core. Reflectzons on Lzfe, Letters,
and Texas (College Station- Texas A&M University Press, 1985), Sandra L. Myres, "Cowboys
and Southern Belles," in Robert F. O'Connor (ed.), Texas Mytlhs (College Station: Texas A&M
University Press for the Texas Committee for the Humanities, 1986), 122-1 38; and Michael L.
Gillette (ed ), Texas in Transzton (Austin Lyndon Balnes Johnson Library and School of Public
Affairs, 1986)
ISee J. Frank Doble, Guzde to Lzfe and Literature of the Southwest (Dallas: SMU Press, 1952) and
John H. Jenkins, Baszc Texas Bookv" An Annotated Bzbhography of Selected Works for a ReseauIh LZ-
brary (Austin: Jenkins Publishing Co., 1983)192
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/232/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.