Southwestern Collection

San Marcos city limits, 1978.

Courtesy Central Texas Library System and retrieved from the Portal of Texas History, a digital repository of UNT Libraries.

In Memoriam

John Carrigan Britt passed away on January 3, 2018. For fifty-three years, he was a widely known and beloved professor at Lee College in Baytown, Texas, where he taught history and an honors American Studies course. He was a longtime member and supporter of the Texas State Historical Association. He was one of the founding sponsors of the Walter Prescott Webb Historical Society in 1973, and supported the proposal that it have an undergraduate research journal, Touchstone. He also served as Touchstone's managing editor from 1991–2013 and was a member of its editorial advisory board from its inception until 2017. John worked tirelessly with his students to encourage and facilitate their research and writing with outstanding results. He was also an enthusiastic advocate among his peers for Webb Society participation, the Caldwell Writing Contest, and the use of Touchstone in the classroom as an instructional tool.

Beyond the Webb Society and Touchstone, John was heavily involved in other educational programs offered by the Texas State Historical Association. John's first exposure to the TSHA's education programs came as a student teacher to the legendary Lee High School Junior Historian sponsor, Ms. Sybil Jordan, in Baytown, where he saw firsthand the model that the Webb Society was built upon. Later, John supported the National History Day program by hosting a regional contest at Lee College. He was a participant in and vocal advocate for the Institute of Texas Studies, and he helped plan and organize that program's successor, the Heritage Travel Program. John regularly attended and presented at the TSHA's professional development efforts for K–12 educators through participation in and hosting of its History Awareness Workshops and other training efforts. He served on the Association's Education Committee for decades and for two terms on the TSHA Board of Directors. While on the Board of Directors he fought to continue and even increase funding for TSHA educational programs, championing such programs as Old Stories, New Voices Intercultural Youth Camp and the Texas Quiz Show. For his service to his students, students across the state, and TSHA, John received every service-oriented award the Association has to offer, including the Leadership in Education Award in 1998, the David C. DeBoe Memorial Sponsors Award in 1999, and the TSHA Exemplary Service Award in 2013.

John was also active in numerous other organizations, which promoted honors programs for college students, youth literacy skills, conservation of the environment, preservation of local history, and the history of numerous groups. His many contributions to local history were recognized by the Houston History Alliance in 2013 with the Betty Chapman Houston History Award, the only time a community-college faculty member had been so honored. Even after his formal retirement, he continued to be a presence on the Lee College campus, where he worked with students and faculty to guide research projects on local history and to produce both written pieces for the Baytown Sun and video pieces through Lee College's History in Your Own Back Yard Series. With his experience and enthusiasm, John was an exemplary educator, a sought-after counselor, and a regional standout in history and honors education.

(The editors of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly would like to thank the Touchstone Editorial Advisory Board for sharing this tribute with us.)

Calls for Papers

The East Texas Historical Association invites proposals for papers and sessions for its 2018 annual fall meeting to be held in Nacogdoches at the Fredonia Hotel from October 11–13, 2018.

For all session proposals, please utilize the submission form at the ETHA website (https://etha.wildapricot.org/), and include the names, physical addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of presider/ commentator and presenters, along with a session title, titles of presentations or topics, and no more than a one-page summary of each presentation. (These requirements also apply to submissions for individual papers.) The ETHA welcomes innovative formats for sessions, including...