TEXAS SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ExecutiveDirector’sPagePat NesterWhy You Should Go to aTexas State HistoricalAssociation ConferenceI’M PROUD TO SAY that the Society, under the leadership of the executive editor of thisnewsletter, David Furlow, again presented compelling talks and materials at the Texas StateHistorical Association annual conference, held this year in Corpus Christi on March 6.Laura Saegert, assistant director for archives at the Texas State Library, gave a detailed analysis of the latesttechniques of finding and preserving original records of the Texas Supreme Court, some of which, amazingly, hadbeen stolen and sold on eBay.David gave a fascinating account of the legal and social issues involved with the King James Bible andschool prayer in Texas. Who knew that versions of the Bible were once so controversial that riots broke out, troopswere marshalled, and citizens killed? Parochial schools, it turns out, are largely the result of deep-seated concernsabout which Christian Bible students would be exposed to.And then our old friend, and new Ph.D., Bill Chriss talked about the cultural and intellectual history ofdifferent Christian traditions in Texas, where the early leadership were, in reaction to the recent religious mandatesof Mexico, so opposed to any whiff of state religion that ministers were prohibited from serving in public office.As your wandering reporter at this event, I want again to encourage you to consider attending next year’sinstallment on March 2–4 in Irving. If you are a member of TSCHS, you have an obvious interest in the legalhistory of our state, and a high percentage of the presentations at TSHA have legal implications. It turns out thatcommon law court decisions and legislation, beyond their legal dimensions, are one of the most common andreliable sources for historical analysis.The range of topics presented at TSHA is literally overwhelming. You can only be physically present in oneof the four or five sessions going on at any one time. And I assure you that you will not be bored, at least not for long.Here’s a sample of what I listened in on—and what the lawyers and judges of our state’s history had to deal with.• Border violence in early twentieth-century Texas, sometimes involving participation by state officials,against Texas citizens of Mexican heritage. See www.refusingtoforget.org for details. An exhibit on thetopic is being prepared for 2016 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin.• The “Home Management House Program” at Texas Tech University, 1909–1970, in which youngTexas women were trained in the domestic arts—food, babies, etiquette, budgets, and four others that Icouldn’t write fast enough to capture—including the raising of a real live “practice baby,” one by fifty-six5