Historical Commission

Historical Commission

	Mexican American Educational Heritage Project

Officers:

Chair -- Barry Hutcheson
Vice Chair -- Rosemary Morrow
Secretary -- May Schmidt
Treasurer -- Nancy Hamilton

Feature: Historic Rural Black Schools Project

The Travis County Historical Commission is an arm of Travis County and the State of Texas. Its purpose is to initiate and conduct programs for the preservation of the county's heritage and its influence on Travis County's political, governmental, and cultural history. The Travis County Commissioners Court appoints commission members, who are required to be county residents.

Travis County has been designated a Certified Local Government (CLG) by the Texas Historical Commission and the National Park Service. The Travis County Historical Commission is responsible for carrying out the duties of a CLG.

Meeting Dates and Times

The commission meets from September through June at 5:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. Meetings are held in the County Commissioners Courtroom, which is located in the Travis County Administration Building at 314 W. 11th St., at the northeast corner of 11th and Guadalupe streets in Austin.

Current Projects

Ongoing

• Assist individuals and groups researching the history of buildings or locations within the county and, where appropriate, assist in obtaining and funding historic markers. The commission is focusing efforts on increasing the number of African-American and Hispanic markers in the county.
• Sponsor dedication ceremonies for Texas State Historical Markers.
• Sponsor an annual Essay Contest in association with Austin Community College that focuses on recording and preserving the history of the people and places of Austin and Travis County. The essays are compiled and made available in the ACC library system and in the Austin History Center.
  
  

  Students choose topics such as:

  • historical figures and organizations in the city and the county,
  • places students have visited in the area,
  • stories of family members or other proposed subjects.
  
  
• Develop a system for surveying and inventorying historic properties in Travis County
• Review of and recommendation of properties to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Special

• Research and compile a supplement to the county schools' 1936 publication, The Defender, which contained information on rural schools in the county to include the African-American and Mexican-American county schools previously omitted.

Last Modified: Monday, July 12, 2010 2:53 PM