This month each of Texas’s 254 counties appointed or reappointed groups of local citizens who have pledged to serve two-year terms as custodians and promoters of their local heritage.
I’m referring to your County Historical Commission (CHC). Mind you, it’s not a Society, or a Committee, or a Club—though such history and preservation groups do exist throughout the state and are also doing important work.
The charge to CHCs, established by statute in 1987, is fairly broad, but involves such initiatives as establishing and maintaining state historical markers, preserving cemeteries,shepherding applications to programs such as the National Register of Historic Places or the Texas Treasure Business Award, hosting preservation workshops, pursuring Certified Local Government status to qualify for preservation funding, or undertaking local archeology.
Every county’s history is different, and so is its CHC activity. Appointees (as CHC members are officially known)consultwithcounty officials and preservation partners to determine their particular CHC’s body of work.
CHCs are administered through the Texas Historical Commission (THC), which maintains a robust website and also provides training and other resources to support boots-on-the-ground work.
The THC’s annual Real PlacesConferenceiscoming up in Austin Feb. 1–3, and I for one am excited to see our longtimeDickensCHCchair, Harry Bob Martin, receive a statewide award honoring his 20-plus years of service in that role. (There’s also a cool seminar on leveraging your town’s historic movie theater, among dozens of other topics, so I’m down for that one!)
Get to know your county’s CHC. In addition to telling some pretty entertaining stories about amazing places, they can help leverage those stories and places for the benefit of heritage tourism, historic preservation, and economic development. CHC volunteers over the years have cleaned up and preserved local buildings and sites, marked historic driving trails, researched and interpreted tales from the past, conducted archeological digs, helped establish museums, assisted with genealogical and historical records, supported courthouse preservation initiatives, presentedlecturesand other public programs, and raised funds for all of these programs.
Tolearnmore,visitwww. thc.texas.gov and search County Historical Commission. Contact lists for your county and state staff are downloadable there. Reach out, learn—and volunteer.
Barbara Brannon, editor of The Texas Spur, was appointed chair of the Dickens County Historical Commission for 2023–25.
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