The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 345
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The History of Texas Counties
"well done" to travel the last miles. They comprise so valuable
a source of local history that the younger citizens, like the wide-
eyed little girl, enraptured with a hair-raising frontier bear
story, come to earth with "Tell us another bear tale, Grand-
pa!" Reduced to writing, these tales may continue to thrill
generations of little girls and boys yet unborn; this is a heritage
we owe our posterity.
With this in mind the following research plan is submitted
as a framework for individual or group guidance. Every com-
munity has interest groups which can derive much pleasure and
satisfaction from investigations into the past: high school boys
and girls, with a little guidance and inspiration, comprise an
inquisitive and enthusiastic body of researchers; sons and
daughters of the first families of the county are the logical
members of county historical associations; church groups,
lodges, women's clubs, all types of organizations which engage
in community activity unwind the threads of history from
distaffs hidden in the distant past. Knowledge of the builders
of the past paves the path of respect for the good things of the
present and belief in better things in the future. Every true
Texan, as he glances over this research plan, can recall in-
numerable incidents of local significance which, if presented as
they were in real life, deserve to honor our ancestors' handiwork.
Every alert and diligent citizen becomes a potential historian
by collecting pictures, clippings, letters, stories from older peo-
ple-a thousand sources which cross and recross one's path daily
as he journeys through the avenues of community living. In
time organizers will catch the torch of history writing; then
all of this data will prove priceless when merged into the true
history of the many communities which make up the two hun-
dred and fifty-four counties of Texas. From these bed-rock
sources will rise the towers of those wider movements and
trends in our state's growth and progress needed to produce a
richer, truer, more worthy history of this vast southwest em-
pire-The Handbook of Texas.
As an approach to an understanding of the way of life
in the local areas of Texas, the following general outline is
submitted:
I. County geography: place-names, facts, legends, lore
and superstitions as to topography, flora and fauna.345
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/384/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.