Texas History
November 19, 2013
Jane Smith-Garcés’s Pecan Pie
A pie that never lasts long enough to be stored in the refrigerator.
Texas History
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Food & Drink
November 18, 2013
Let’s Eat—Pig Pie, or Blackberry Cobbler
A recipe for "Pig Pie," a blue-black cobbler I preferred to any cake on my birthday.
Texas History
November 18, 2013
Joy of Looking
I pore over my old cookbooks not for the recipes but for the stories they conjure.
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Robert L. Wood’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
November 22, 1963Mrs. John F. KennedyWHITE HOUSEWashington, D.C.My dear Mrs. Kennedy:I have never before written to a Congressman, President or any type of Statesman. In fact, in my thirty some years of living I have never DONE MUCH OF ANYTHING, except vote, toward being an American or making this Country
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Mary McMillen’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
Dear Mrs. Kennedy,I am a Catholic also, I go to Saint Georges School. I can remember Nov. 21, the day before you came. We go to mass every day, then we go to lunch. This day was different, after mass our pastor told us to sit down. I wondered to
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Jane Dryden’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
January 18, 19644201 LullwoodAustin TexasDear Mrs. Kennedy,I know that you hate the whole state of Texas. I do to. I wish I lived in Washington, D.C. where maybe I could maybe see you standing on your porch. I am determined to move there as soon as I can. I would
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Monroe Young’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
December 1, 1963in 1962 September 23,Some mean man killed my dady too-Here in Dallas-my dady was a soldrerSanda Clause diden get my letteri hope he will get my letteri wont a bicycle—When you write him- tell him my name.Monroe Young Jr. III1838 Nomas StreetDallas, Tex.Read another letter to the first
Texas History
October 23, 2013
David Blair McClain’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
Nov. 22 1963Dear Mrs. Kennedy,I was at school when I heard about the President. I cried for two or three minuts. My mother also cried, and so did my teacher Mrs. Mansir. I was very sad for President Kennedy. He was my friend even though he didn’t know me. Some
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Eileen Mitchell’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
1:10 pmNov. 22, 1963From a student of North Texas State UniversityThe radio sat in the window of the second floor dorm window blaring out the sad news that our President had been shot! People walking around in twos and threes stopped their happy chattering and stood silently on the street,
Texas History
October 23, 2013
J. E. Y. Russell’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
906 ParkviewDallas, TexasDec. 1 – 1963Mrs Jacqueline KennedyFirst Lady in our hearts.I live in Dallas, a city bowed in sorrow, and shame. I am 76 years old and live on a social security checkI must pour out my heart to you if my feeble hands will hold out to scribble
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Henry Gonzales’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
P.O. Box 9652El Paso, Texas 79986Dec. 8, 1963Mrs. J.F. KennedyWashington, D.C.Dear Mrs. Kennedy:I am but a humble postman and I realize the many letters you have received, which is but deserving to you, throughout this wide world. We at our house have continued to mourn the great loss to all
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Marie Tippit’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
MRS JOHN F KENNEDYWASHDCMAY I ADD MY SYMPATHY TO THAT OF PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD.MY PERSONAL LOSS IN THIS GREAT TRAGEDY PREPARES ME TO SYMPATHIZE MORE DEEPLY WITH YOU.MRS. J D TIPPIT DALLAS TEX(34).Read another letter to the first lady here.
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Claudine Skeat’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
Mrs. John F. KennedyWhite HouseWashington, D.C. Dear Mrs. Kennedy,You and President Kenney were in my office a week ago yesterday.I am secretary to General Bedwell at Brooks Air Force Base, and I will forever be haunted by how handsome and healthy and happy you two looked – and how gracious you
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Tommy Smith’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
Dear Mrs. Kennedy:I know the grief you bear. I bear that same grief. I am a Dallasite. I saw you yesterday. I hope to see you again. I saw Mr. Kennedy yesterday. I’ll never see him again. I’m very disturbed because I saw him a mere 2 minutes
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Suzan Lane’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
Dec. 6, 1963Houston, TexasDear Mrs. Kennedy,I am ten years old. When I saw them moving President Kennedy’s rocking chairs out of the White House, a great sadness entered my heart.You made such a beautiful collection of treasures from other Presidents of the United States. Do you think you could find
Texas History
October 23, 2013
Marcy Wentworth’s Letter to Jackie Kennedy
5509 Dalwood DriveAustin, Texas 78723November 25, 1963Dear Mrs. Kennedy,There are no words in any language to express truly our grief and the sympathy we wish to extend to you and your family on the death of your husband, the President – our President. We Texans pride ourselves in our state,
Texas History
October 23, 2013
“May God Be With You, My Dear Mrs. Kennedy”
After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, scores of Americans wrote letters to the first lady to express their grief. The most heartbreaking were those with a Texas return address.
Texas History
October 15, 2013
The Assassination at 50
In November 1973, Texas Monthly, which was still in its first year of existence, marked the tenth anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy with a profile of Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother, Marguerite; the cover, however, went to Tom Landry. Two years later, in November 1975, the
News & Politics
October 15, 2013
“May God Be With You, My Dear Mrs. Kennedy”
After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, scores of Americans wrote letters to the first lady to express their grief. The most heartbreaking were those with a Texas return address.
Texas History
August 20, 2013
The Genesis of the Barbecue Joint
Sifting through old Texas newspapers, I found the first mention of commercial smoked meat from the Brenham Weekly Banner, which announced that a Bastrop butcher "keeps on hand at his stall a ready stock of barbecued meats and cooked sausages."
Texas History
August 12, 2013
Prospector Gadget
Collecting for the Olden Year Musical Museum.
Texas History
July 15, 2013
Singin’ on the Range
At the Fort Griffin Fandangle, Texas’s oldest outdoor musical, an all-amateur local cast reenacts its own bloody history.
Texas History
June 10, 2013
Auf Wiedersehen to a Dialect
When the local vernacular dies, what goes with it?
News & Politics
May 6, 2013
Discovering LBJ’s Austin
The city held a special place in Lyndon Baines Johnson’s heart, and a number of the places significant in his life there are still around.
Texas History
March 11, 2013
Sarah Haldeman, Presidential Archivist
“I get to see things other people don’t get to see.”
Texas History
February 25, 2013
“Victory or Death” Letter Returns to the Alamo
For the first time since it was penned by commander William Barret Travis 177 years ago.
Arts & Entertainment
February 17, 2013
Matthew McConaughey Has a Presidents’ Day Gift For You
The Texas actor pays tribute to a fellow Hill Country native.
News & Politics
February 12, 2013
Sons of Sam
Leadership is lacking in Texas. O Houston, where art thou?
Texas History
January 23, 2013
The Walking Deadline
For decades, the state’s big urban newspapers helped bind together the inhabitants of our major cities. Now those papers are threatened by a rapidly evolving (some might say collapsing) business model. Is there hope for daily journalism in Texas?
Texas History
January 21, 2013
People We’ll Miss
Big Tex will be back. Sadly, we cannot the say same of Larry Hagman, Darrell Royal, Amarillo Slim, Leslie, and the many other Texans we lost in 2012.
Music
January 21, 2013
Trigger: The Life of Willie Nelson’s Guitar
Most guitars don’t have names. This one has a voice and a personality, and bears a striking resemblance to his owner.
Texas History
January 21, 2013
When the Sky Ran Dry
Bad as the current drought is, it has yet to match the most arid spell in Texas history. Nearly two dozen survivors of the fifties drought remember the time it never rained.
Texas History
January 21, 2013
The Most Trusted Freshman in America
Long before Walter Cronkite was the voice of the news, he was just a kid from Houston at the University of Texas, chasing girls, acting in school plays, and drinking cheap beer. Yet Douglas Brinkley, whose new biography of Cronkite will be released this month, argues that it was in
Texas History
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Michael Hall
The senior editor on following the paper trail of Texas history, learning about Jack Johnson sparring with “Chrysanthemum Joe” Choynski, and researching his own family roots.
Texas History
January 21, 2013
The Paper Chase
Houston attorney Bill Kroger and state Supreme Court chief justice Wallace Jefferson are on a mission to rescue thousands of crumbling, fading, and fascinating legal documents from district and county clerks’ offices all over the state. Can they save Texas history before it’s too late?
Texas History
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Katy Vine
The senior editor on attending a Civil War reenactment, preserving history, and standing inside the Globe of Death.
Texas History
January 21, 2013
The Way We Ate Then
A look at how some of our forebears cooked.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Ring of Fire
On November 18, 1999, at 2:42 a.m., the most passionately observed collegiate tradition in Texas—if not the world—came crashing down. Nearly sixty people were on top of the Texas A&M Bonfire when the million-pound structure collapsed, killing twelve, wounding dozens more, and eventually leading to the suspension of the ninety-year-old
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Meanwhile, Back at the Cadillac Ranch
It’s not just another roadside attraction—here’s to a lasting monument of Texas kitsch.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Texas Primer: Barbed Wire
It spelled the end of the open range and the beginning of modern Texas.
Politics & Policy
January 20, 2013
Go Ask Alice
Fifty years ago LBJ won—some say stole—a U.S. Senate runoff. What happened to the South Texas ballot box that saved his career?
Texas History
January 20, 2013
“Oh, My God! It’s Our Children!”
On March 18, 1937, the residents of New London, southeast of Tyler, endured the worst small-town tragedy in U.S. history: an explosion at the combined junior-senior high school that killed some three hundred students and teachers.
Sports
January 20, 2013
Texas Primer: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
How much are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders paid per game?
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
Abraham Zapruder
How much did Life pay Abraham Zapruder for the rights to his assassination film?
Texas History
January 20, 2013
The Great Terquasquicentennial Road Trip
Some people call it a quartoseptcentennial, or a septaquintaquinquecentennial (seriously), but you’d better save your breath. You’ll need it on this wide-ranging 6,000-mile voyage commemorating Texas’s 175th birthday. It starts in Glen Rose, ends in Austin, and stops along the way at 175 places that tell the story of the
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Time Will Tell
I saw my first historical marker as a Cub Scout in Pack 291. Nearly thirty years later, I’m still hooked on the story of Texas.
Music
January 20, 2013
The Slow Life and Fast Death of DJ Screw
Until he overdosed in November, he was one of the most influential cultural figures in Texas, the master of a scene fueled by drugs and his own brilliant, eccentric music.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Key Moments in Mexican Food History
From 3500 BC, when indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America began cultivating chiles, to 2010, when the Culinary Institute of America opened an expanded campus in San Antonio.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Mance Lipscomb
What was so special about Mance Lipscomb’s dentures?
Music
January 20, 2013
Birthplaces of the Blues
Want to see the Texas of Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mance Lipscomb, and other pioneering musicians of the twentieth century? Your trip through time begins near Washington-on-the-Brazos.