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Stories of veteran service and sacrifice straight from the people driving today’s most important veterans causes and veterans organizations around the world. The show shines a spotlight on their inspiring projects making a real difference for veterans and their families, and along the way we'll hear the stories that drive them to do their best every day as they work to support veterans and their memory.
00:00:06:01 - 00:00:29:20
Speaker 1
Hey, it's Matthew Cudmore and welcome to Story Behind the Stone. Today we're joined by Charles Saanich and Bob Brinkman from the Texas Historical Commission. The commission oversees historical programs for Texas, which is a state that has over 260,000mi² and over 254 counties, and they're managing more than 17,000 official Texas historical markers, which are as large as two feet by three feet.
00:00:29:22 - 00:00:48:21
Speaker 1
Join us as we explore this program and the essential mission of the Undertaking Marker program as well. Diving into the hidden histories and under told stories of Texas that are often missing from the historical record, and discussing the vital work of preserving the state's most vulnerable historic cemeteries. Charles and Bob, thanks for joining the show and to our listeners.
00:00:48:21 - 00:00:49:20
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in.
00:00:54:17 - 00:01:13:08
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Story Behind the Stone, a show where we talk service, sacrifice and story. Connecting you to the individuals that are changing the way the world remembers and history and veterans commemoration and historical preservation. My name is Matthew Cudmore. So pleased to welcome to the show Bob Brinkman and Charles Sadek with the Texas Historical Commission. Thank you for joining.
00:01:13:08 - 00:01:14:03
Speaker 2
Thank you very much.
00:01:14:03 - 00:01:16:07
Speaker 1
Thank you. We've got a lot of ground to cover.
00:01:16:07 - 00:01:24:09
Speaker 1
If you could explain just a little bit about what the commission is all about, how it got started, and just the incredible miles of history that you look after every day?
00:01:24:10 - 00:01:47:21
Speaker 3
We have a long history here. And, in the United States, every state basically has a preservation kind of agency or commission. The Texas Historical Commission is the one for the state of Texas. And our mission statement is to, protect and preserve the state's historic and prehistoric resources for the U.S. education, enjoyment, and economic benefit of present and future generations.
00:01:47:22 - 00:02:06:17
Speaker 3
So that's a lot of stuff. We we do have several hundred, employees at our agency. A lot of them are out at historic sites. So we have, sites over 40 of them now, I believe, all around the state of Texas. And then we have people I'm at central headquarters here in Austin that are doing all sorts of preservation work as well.
00:02:06:21 - 00:02:35:01
Speaker 3
Education work, all sorts of different things. Here in history programs Division, which is the division that Bob and I are part of, we work with, constituents around the state. We also work with museums and, county historical commissions. Will Holly talk a little bit more about those later? Cemetery associations, local governments, state and federal agencies and all sorts of other parties to basically identify, evaluate and interpret our historic resources.
00:02:35:01 - 00:02:43:09
Speaker 3
And the historical marker program is, very much a important part of that. And I would say it's, one of the programs, our agency that we're best known.
00:02:43:09 - 00:02:52:06
Speaker 1
For when it comes to the the state of Texas. Give us a sense of you know, how many residents are there, how many visitors, what are they most interested in saying?
00:02:52:06 - 00:03:16:09
Speaker 3
But we're a very large state, as you alluded to. I think, land size wise, very were second largest. And I think population wise, we're also the second largest, and the U.S. 254 counties here. And every single one is serious about its history. And so, you know, when people think about the state of Texas, I think, and history, they often think about that revolutionary period.
00:03:16:09 - 00:03:38:04
Speaker 3
They think about, the Alamo. The thing about San Jacinto, which is one of, our historic sites. Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, things of that nature. And so we do we do interpret and mark a lot of these, sites that are of, statewide or national significance. But we also have a real heavy focus on local and county significance with our historical markers.
00:03:38:04 - 00:04:03:01
Speaker 3
We're not just looking at interpreting people that, you would know in, in New York or candidate or somewhere else across the world. We're looking at people that were really important in local history. And so those are a lot of the people we work with. There are a lot of families that come to us and say, hey, we have this ancestor that was really important person and civil rights for the community or, that was, a local leader that, that changed the direction of the course of the town.
00:04:03:01 - 00:04:07:12
Speaker 3
And, and oftentimes we'll be working on those types of stories for historical markers.
00:04:07:13 - 00:04:22:18
Speaker 1
It sounds like an incredible program and, really unique kind of for that local level engagement. Bob, I want to bring you into the conversation. If you could just share a little bit more about what your day to day looks like, and I know that you have an upcoming deadline, I guess, related to the under tolled markers program.
00:04:22:18 - 00:04:47:13
Speaker 2
So yeah, Texas historical markers have been around for decades. They put up a lot of about 1000 granite ones around the time of Texass hundredth anniversary of independence from Mexico in 1936. And then there are aluminum ones on the side of the road since the early 60s. And so chances are you've, seen one or maybe you almost run into one because they're, they're out of almost every driver driveway right now.
00:04:47:13 - 00:05:12:11
Speaker 2
But there are about 17,000 in Texas. We do up to 200 new ones a year. And even at that, the state recognized about 20 years ago we weren't covering all the topics. We were kind of over emphasizing some things and not covering enough of others. So the under told program has been around for, since 2006, and it's paid for partly with application fees from New Yorkers.
00:05:12:13 - 00:05:39:07
Speaker 2
And then our, friends group raises the rest of the funds for that. And so what we're doing right now, this time of year is it's our under told application period, from now till November 15th. Anybody professional historian, casual observer, anybody can turn into an application. It's 250 words. If you have some history typed up, that's great, but all we need is the 250 words to kind of get the sense of what the topic is.
00:05:39:09 - 00:05:59:19
Speaker 2
A suggested 2 or 3 sources for where we might find more. And, possibly if you've kind of arranged where that might be placed in the community and then it could be considered. And what's nice about that is that it's a pretty quick process. It's not too much information. Turn in. And 15 of them a year are selected to be cast for free.
00:05:59:21 - 00:06:17:11
Speaker 2
It comes out of those application fees and that fundraising. And so if, we encourage people to just, turn in things I think are interesting and we've just we've learned a lot of things where we thought we knew something or we had tangentially seen a reference to something and what got turned in for us and told really fleshed out the story.
00:06:17:12 - 00:06:20:05
Speaker 1
What kinds of markers are being surfaced is the.
00:06:20:05 - 00:06:38:06
Speaker 2
Way we score them here in our agency is if we get somebody from different divisions. So background in architecture and archeology and community heritage, then in history programs, and we score them separately and we kind of all come up with the same top eight or 10 or 12. It's interesting how the same ones kind of rise to the top that we recognize.
00:06:38:06 - 00:06:59:17
Speaker 2
You know, those are really good ones and there's different criteria. So our community heritage, they're interested in the visitor experience. So they might think something is a fantastic topic, but it's on private land. And so there's nothing to really see there. And so they score that lower. We might score something as kind of the topic as a hypothetical about that is so significant.
00:06:59:17 - 00:07:19:20
Speaker 2
But yeah, again, maybe there's no place to put the marker and maybe that will come down the line. But one of the first ones we did in the first year, it was, 2008 and it was, Cold War missile silo. So it had just turned 50 years or so, old around that time. And one of our subsets of markers of things that we marker are for landmarks.
00:07:19:20 - 00:07:41:08
Speaker 2
So it's for buildings and structures, bridges, different manmade objects. So this was a landmark for the missile silo that is about ten feet above ground for a covering for a door and then almost 200ft below ground for the concrete. And the rebar and everything that housed, an Atlas missile. So it was the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
00:07:41:10 - 00:08:07:01
Speaker 2
Easy for you to say that could reach the Soviet Union from different places in the US. They created a dozen of these around different strategic sites in the US. So there are 12 around Abilene, Texas. And this was one of those, and the person who had acquired it, he came to us. He says, I've done all this history, and, you know, these sites were not necessarily even noticed as they were being built in the 60s because they were sort of secretive.
00:08:07:01 - 00:08:27:05
Speaker 2
And then, they had been given back to the landowner, whoever else. But he acquired that one and was interested in telling the history and making it accessible to people. So it's something that people can tour now. We did, some educational workshops there about Texas and the Cold War to actually do them on that site, but it's a place where they could they would launch that missile.
00:08:27:05 - 00:08:49:05
Speaker 2
There was a control room. I understand there were like young cadets from the air base poised there on like a 24 hour shift. And there was a red button and there was a phone. And if the phone rang, you said, yes, sir, and hit the button, and those missiles would be in Russia in 30 minutes. Scary time and highly significant and a little bit off the road.
00:08:49:05 - 00:09:06:06
Speaker 2
But the turn off is right there. And I think you can kind of see the top of it from there. But yeah, the structure is still underground. It's still something that you would notice as you drive along the road without this marker saying, hey, something actually globally important happened here. But here's the local connection to it to really pin down and say.
00:09:06:06 - 00:09:11:11
Speaker 1
Charles, have you seen, you know, in your local area, we've seen some markers pop up that were unexpected for you.
00:09:11:11 - 00:09:28:21
Speaker 3
You kind of mentioned, oh, is it okay to pick favorites like, as if you can't pick your favorite kid? But I do have a favorite. And, it's a favorite because this one I submitted when we first had the, when, when we had the very first cycle. And it was a topic that was important to me, which is, a Korean Texans.
00:09:29:02 - 00:09:53:01
Speaker 3
And we didn't have a, marker marking Korean Texans and and I'm half Korean. And so the marker talked a lot about the kind of immigration patterns and how they came over. A lot of it had to do with military history. That's how I ended up here. My my dad was, in the U.S. Army, and then my mother, when he was stationed at Korea and then, was, sent to Fort Bliss in El Paso.
00:09:53:01 - 00:10:14:21
Speaker 3
And that's where I was born and raised. So, that was an important marker to me. And, we put it up in, Dallas, Texas in this, kind of shopping district, kind of a little Koreatown area. And I still shoot up there quite often, get some good food. And every time I go around the circle and sometimes I, I take a snapshot, put on LinkedIn or something, say, hey, look, check out what we got going on here.
00:10:14:23 - 00:10:26:20
Speaker 3
So yeah, I do have a favorite. All the other ones are pretty good to know that I see the one, maybe that story beats this one, but but, but yeah, that's that's definitely one that I'm very proud of.
00:10:27:01 - 00:10:37:07
Speaker 1
I'm curious about actually, is, just the the physical size that you're working with and how you condense and collapse a complex story like that into what? What kind of space are we talking about here?
00:10:37:09 - 00:11:03:15
Speaker 2
A little over two feet times three feet wide. So, like 280 words? You're right. Sometimes we scratched the surface of name dropping the key terms and things like that. But we're excited by that because, like, the typical thing for, historical topics, to kind of consider things is, is usually 50 years, especially for buildings. But even, we do have one for 30 years for events, but ten years for individuals after they're deceased.
00:11:03:17 - 00:11:38:13
Speaker 2
And so it gets tricky with things that are 50 or 30 years old. Well, maybe everybody involved is still alive and you can't really tell their story because their story is not done yet. But yeah, we like the challenge of keep, keep moving that mark forward. And part of this, these undertones are a county may have been really active with markers in the 60s or the 80s, and they kind of stopped and they tell all their 1800 stories, but there's no 1900 stories, and now there's World War one and World War two and Art Deco architecture and even, ranch style 50s architecture to talk about that might be significant.
00:11:38:15 - 00:11:59:18
Speaker 2
And so not only the the 15 undertones chosen each year, and we usually get something between 60 and 100, applications for that. But even the regular applications we get and the other times of the year are starting to reflect that kind of first time told in a county or in a region, topics where they're thinking about things they haven't talked about yet.
00:11:59:19 - 00:12:07:13
Speaker 1
When it comes to folks that are submitting, I'm imagining there's a letter in the mail, or maybe it's an email. What are you hearing back from them? When they hear that their marker has been accepted.
00:12:07:14 - 00:12:41:03
Speaker 2
They're usually very appreciative. The undertone is it's, you know, 15 to 20% are selected. We have a regular application in the spring where if all the materials are there and it qualifies, that's a lot higher acceptance rate. And that that means that they have identified, the funding source to pay for the marker. And so it's descendants or it's a community group or, some county governments give their county historical commission enough money to work on a few projects each year, including markers or restoring cemeteries or publications.
00:12:41:05 - 00:12:48:03
Speaker 2
And so they'll prioritize what are their important stories to tell? Because maybe they get to do only one a year, one every 2 or 3 years.
00:12:48:03 - 00:13:16:11
Speaker 3
I think what's really nice is that, you know, the with the cost of everything rising, including of metal. Right. For our metal markers, the, the regular markers are pretty expensive. And, so to be told that, hey, first of all, the the story that that you've uncovered, oftentimes connected to your family or, or something that was just really important to you, not only being honored with, official types of historical marker, but we've got it.
00:13:16:13 - 00:13:44:06
Speaker 3
We'll pay for it. You know, and sometimes what's really cool is that, well, engage students are well, engaged researchers. And so Bob mentioned that the application form is, is very short. All you have to do is submit 250 words max. That's what we're asking for. And then the research happens at that point after is selected. And we have partnerships with different, institutions around here that have public history programs or the people that submit the applications themselves may want to do the historical research.
00:13:44:06 - 00:13:57:23
Speaker 3
And so we'll work with them and they'll develop that kind of narrative. And the research was some questions. Well, I'll let them know what kind of information we want. We'll have them sometimes confirm information and then really build, the story that we use to them, write the inscription.
00:13:57:23 - 00:14:02:22
Speaker 1
Say, I'm going to Dallas or Houston. How do I find these markers beyond kind of stumbling upon them?
00:14:02:22 - 00:14:23:08
Speaker 2
On our website, we have a, inventory of all the resources that we keep track of. So historical markers, National Register listings, cemeteries survey properties, where we've kind of done an initial drive by and a little index card of information, you know, 40 years ago or ten years ago to kind of get a first pass of things.
00:14:23:10 - 00:14:41:01
Speaker 2
That's on our website, the Texas Historical Commission called the Atlas. And so from there at your desktop, you can search all sorts of ways geographically or by topic or by keyword, and select the kind of resources you want. We also have, mobile app for phones now called Texas History Navigator. There it is. Charles, I was it.
00:14:41:01 - 00:14:57:10
Speaker 3
For those of you who are watching my video, you'll see a bunch of dots here so that all those gray dots, those are historical markers. That's the city of Austin, where we are right now. But yeah, the the Texas Navigator app is, something that we put out there last year, I think, and we're really put in right now.
00:14:57:10 - 00:15:15:23
Speaker 3
And you can you can find all our historic resources, the, the circle markers, but also museums and NAS for sites and all sorts of stuff on there. So in Texas, it's probably just this way all around the country. I hear this all the time. People come up to us and say they love the historical markers.
00:15:15:23 - 00:15:38:09
Speaker 3
They grew up stopping by the road and reading the markers as they went. They went across, the state on a trip. And that's just a really common story here in Texas. And, we have the Atlas primarily for professionals, but anyone can use that. And then we have the app now that people can use so that they can aim for certain markers rather than just kind of bumping into them as they're driving along.
00:15:38:09 - 00:15:56:03
Speaker 1
It's a fantastic resource that you're providing. I mean, not just in terms of the physical interpretation, but the digital as well. Where do you kind of see the future of, of the marker program going? It's seen evolution, you know, from the centennial markers to aluminum. What does it look like in 20 or 30 years?
00:15:56:03 - 00:16:07:18
Speaker 2
We'll have to repaint some faded ones, because some of the a while. And we have instructions for that on the website, too. Anybody can volunteer and repaint them. And we would appreciate that because we can't get to all 17,000 in a given year.
00:16:07:18 - 00:16:29:20
Speaker 3
I think Mr.. Technology is interesting, right? Possibly with some of these. And, and I would say we take, we're taking baby steps into it, but we've, we've looked at things like we're talking this morning, Bob and I, about the use of QR codes to provide further information about some topics. We're known for these these this very specific design and type of markers.
00:16:29:20 - 00:17:02:10
Speaker 3
But there are all sorts of other markers that are historical markers that be created that, that have a lot more use of color, different types of paneling, and we'll do different types of interpretation, different sites that are apart from historical marker programs. So, you know, you can see the technology developing there too. That's really neat. And and then, Bob, I mean, Matthew, you mentioned the Centennial markers, but as we're looking forward, we're also kind of looking back because our bicentennial of Texas independence is coming up in 2036.
00:17:02:12 - 00:17:12:09
Speaker 3
I'm looking at what year it is and 11 years is not a lot of time. So, we're kind of, we're kind of looking towards the centennial as we're, looking to the future.
00:17:12:09 - 00:17:32:12
Speaker 2
The state, state and federal funding for 1936, paid for not only and, exhibition grounds in Dallas at the state fair, which is still there. And now it's like one of the best collections of Art Deco architecture in the country. It's a National Historic Landmark because most of those buildings and that whole campus is still intact from the 30s.
00:17:32:12 - 00:17:51:10
Speaker 2
But also to put these markers all out on the, on the highways, up to that point, Texas and other places in general would mark grave sites. They would mark a few kind of substantial homes. There might be a plaque at Mount Vernon for George Washington and kind of working their way down from the national level down to local.
00:17:51:12 - 00:18:17:15
Speaker 2
But the idea was to put one along all the roads in, in almost every county, 254 counties. They got as far as marking all but four of them. I don't know if they had something against those counties or they ran out of time or money. There's a pink granite block in almost every county that says this is the name of the county when it was created, who it's named for, and some good basic information, and then some, gray granite markers, kind of shoulder high with one to 2 or 3 sentences about.
00:18:17:20 - 00:18:37:11
Speaker 2
This was a battle site. This was somebody's homestead. And really just a variety of topics. They weren't all 1836 Texas revolutionary topics. They were all through the 1800s, the cattle drive and even, an oil strike from 1930, which at that point was six years old, but is now also we still recognize that a significant.
00:18:37:11 - 00:18:41:13
Speaker 1
Have you had to go back and make any adjustments or amendments to to markers?
00:18:41:13 - 00:19:03:14
Speaker 3
We absolutely have had to. So that's that's really interesting. We, a few years ago on our administrative code, we wrote in a new rule, that had to do with factual, errors on our markers. And so once again, anyone can bring that forward if they see, some sort of error on one of our markers, they can, submit, a request to have us take a look at that.
00:19:03:16 - 00:19:20:17
Speaker 3
They need to provide kind of the background research and evidence, and that goes to our agency to take a look at and, approve the correction or not. And if again, if it's if it's something that we identify. Yeah. You're right here. You've you've made the, we were the ones who made that error or typically what happens.
00:19:20:17 - 00:19:45:07
Speaker 3
Right. Is that 50 years later we look back on like, oh, we have more information now that that's that was more folklore than actual truth or that the truth was something totally different. And we'll go and pay for the replacement for that marker if we have the funding for it. So or we'll put, like a supplemental plate by the marker and say, hey, yeah, this is all accurate, but the birth date was actually this or, you know, the, the name was it was actually spelled this way.
00:19:45:07 - 00:19:49:06
Speaker 3
So that's how we address a lot of the, the issues with some of our older markers.
00:19:49:11 - 00:19:53:11
Speaker 1
How are you monitoring the most popular spots when we place the markers.
00:19:53:17 - 00:20:06:07
Speaker 3
And it's really important for us, for people to be able to see them and get information, you know, to get a lot of the public to, to see them. Bob, what what kind of what kind of things do you consider when when we're talking about location of these markers?
00:20:06:07 - 00:20:30:15
Speaker 2
There's definitely consideration and a push and pull there of the accurate site versus the one people can access, like, is it a little bit removed. And then we refer to it was along this riverbank that's, you know, visible down on the trees there, but you can't get there. So is that the ferry crossing or do you or do you mark the literal site because that's going to become a neighborhood and you really want to protect, you know, the sensitivity of a particular site.
00:20:30:17 - 00:20:47:20
Speaker 2
And we do. Right? Are all of our markers that aren't about a cemetery or about a building where we can say, this building is Art Deco, or this cemetery is one acre. If it's any kind of septic. We write in general terms because we know it might move around like this is a rural area today, but that's going to be a neighborhood in 5 or 10 years.
00:20:47:20 - 00:21:03:12
Speaker 2
And so if it's a significant individual or this was their homestead, we'll just say they were a long, young creek. And as long as, creek is there and even when it gets channelized, there's still, creek. And that's something to understand. But we want to say they were right here because right here might not be the same place.
00:21:03:12 - 00:21:04:08
Speaker 2
And ten years.
00:21:04:09 - 00:21:09:22
Speaker 1
How does the marker program kind of fit into the overall remit of your department? Charles, we've got six.
00:21:09:22 - 00:21:34:08
Speaker 3
Or seven different programs in this division and they all work with each other so much. You know, we've got, a National Register program that runs through all the states. We're having work at the National Register program at the state level to the federal level, and that runs through our division. Well, we'll consult each other in different programs to talk about the significance and different properties and people.
00:21:34:10 - 00:21:54:08
Speaker 3
We mentioned the cemetery program. So to get a cemetery marker, you first have to get a historic Texas cemetery designation. That's a requirement to get that marker, because we want to make sure that your cemetery is recorded in deed records at the county level, which is what that designation does, and that all alerts, present future landowners, that there's a cemetery here.
00:21:54:12 - 00:22:17:19
Speaker 3
So be careful as you're doing construction. We have a county historical Commission outreach program which works with the marker program as well. So while the Undertale program could be submitted by any individual, the regular marker cycle, the applications must come in through their county historical commission. So they're the ones who are kind of vetting the research, working with sponsors, getting their approval before it gets sent on to us.
00:22:17:19 - 00:22:37:23
Speaker 3
So we work very closely. Those two programs work very closely with each other as well. So, they all they all jive together and, and not just in our division, but then we'll work with the division of architecture as well. They're they're the ones that are reviewing the, the applications for, structures and buildings, to say, hey, this one has enough integrity.
00:22:37:23 - 00:22:46:09
Speaker 3
This one maybe does attention and get this marker. So, we have to work all across the agency to make sure that we're achieving our goals and and meeting our mission.
00:22:46:09 - 00:23:04:11
Speaker 1
I understand you have 17,000 markers, in the state and about 1500 of those are cemeteries. Are they sprinkled all over or other concentrations? And since it's a cemetery show, how can visitors make the most of their time and get a sense of like a representative cemetery in Texas? That's historic.
00:23:04:11 - 00:23:19:21
Speaker 2
Cemetery markers have to be at the cemetery, or at least close enough that you can see it in the grove of trees in the field. And even there, they need to give us a waiver saying, why? Why can it not be like at the gate or in there? We've got some landowners that are friendlier than others to the one acre cemetery that's within their field.
00:23:19:21 - 00:23:40:05
Speaker 2
And so we don't want to antagonize anybody. And and, you know, maybe now's not the right time. Again, we'll try to be clever the way we work, the marker that it works here on the road. And it also works if you're standing there in describing it. We also want the language on the marker to make sense when you're standing there and not waste your time, but also to make sense when you're reading it remotely.
00:23:40:05 - 00:23:59:14
Speaker 2
So if somebody up in Amarillo is reading about, you know, this coastal cemetery and somebody standing on the coast say, well, I can see it's on the coast, we're like, yeah, but they're reading it remotely and they're trying to understand if it has historic trees or if the layout is significant or there was a historic school or church associated with it on the other acre, and that's why it's shaped the way it is.
00:23:59:14 - 00:24:21:05
Speaker 2
And so we try to describe that in certain ways. But, sometimes the, description that we want to put is not a good idea. So there are some between Austin and Houston. There's a lot of historically German and Czech towns, and some of them will have the German or Czech language or Polish language markers, for the gravestones.
00:24:21:07 - 00:24:46:17
Speaker 2
And there's some that had just elaborate metalwork from the 1880s or 1890s that were simulated, arbors and, trees and, ivy and vines and in metal around these graves. And we thought, well, that'll be we need to describe that on the marker because they're so unique. But then we thought, that's a terrible idea, because then we're telling people with, nefarious, reasons, hey, here's where we can come get some good stuff.
00:24:46:17 - 00:25:00:11
Speaker 2
And so it's kind of strange that we describe it and like, we're missing the point of, hey, this is the thing you should see, but we can't give it away on the marker. If you're if you're there, you know, if that's your family and you know, or you're in that community, you know why that one's important. So the descriptions.
00:25:00:11 - 00:25:31:01
Speaker 3
Are sometimes a little bit more basic, right. Like the vertical stones would near the World Memorial, all, veterans from the Civil War and, World War One are buried here. And so some of that, some of the language stays is relatively I mean, it's going to switch between cemeteries but stays relatively the same. And what you see a lot of that's different is, the context behind how the cemetery was founded, what the community was, or the school or the church or whatever that that led to this or the family.
00:25:31:01 - 00:25:59:06
Speaker 3
There's a lot of family cemeteries as well. And so we'll give a lot of that information, will give information about who deeded the land, and what are the kind of major families they're represented here. And, and sometimes, sometimes a lot of that information is more expanded if it's on a larger marker. A lot of times we suggest, the smaller marker for cemeteries, not only because, we can't go into that level detail, but also because we want you to spend the money on other things to help protect that cemetery.
00:25:59:06 - 00:26:18:02
Speaker 3
We're thinking about kind of a whole preservation plan. You may need some fencing. You may need some some work done to to, to help take care of the landscaping. You may need, to put money into, developing out your, your nonprofit that takes care of the cemetery as well. And not everything needs to go towards this, this mark for the cost thousands of dollars.
00:26:18:03 - 00:26:27:22
Speaker 1
I want to turn the lens to the future to 2026. We're looking toward your regular cycle for for markers. And of course, you have the upcoming deadline. What else is going on in 2026?
00:26:27:22 - 00:26:49:15
Speaker 2
The regular period is March 1st to May 15th, so it's a longer application window for that. People need to have, things more developed. So they've got to have an owner permission of where it's going to go. They've got to have the money to pay for it, to do the foundry cost of the marker. And we need at least a five page double spaced narrative cited at least, as well as your high school term paper.
00:26:49:17 - 00:27:17:09
Speaker 2
And most people haven't written anything since our high school term paper. So we have lots of help on our website about this is how we would do it if it was a community, or if it was an individual, or if it was, a World War Two story. And we have some sample things. And as if 254 counties wasn't enough, we created the fake postal county to be number 255 so that these histories live in that fictional county so that we weren't, taking stories from any real stories, by.
00:27:17:09 - 00:27:36:09
Speaker 3
The way, all those narratives that Bob's talking about, we have those for a lot of the markers, especially the markers that have been written over the last 15 years. We have all these histories behind these markers. And and you can always email staff to ask for that. Some of this is available online. Bob. Like, that you can you can also grab so we've got these histories here ourselves.
00:27:36:14 - 00:27:56:10
Speaker 3
And so we got that coming up. The other big thing with the agency I would say is our, real Places conference. And so this is the historic preservation conference in Texas. It draws people from all different, fields, all there from businesses. They come in and and go to workshops, panels. It's it's about it's over three days.
00:27:56:10 - 00:28:15:00
Speaker 3
They brought a through 10th. So registration is not up yet, but it usually comes up in about 15 to 30 days. So it's it's coming up soon. It's put on by our agency and the friends of the Texas Historical Commission. We have incredible speakers that come, and it's a really good chance to connect with other people.
00:28:15:00 - 00:28:28:08
Speaker 3
We have about a thousand attendees that come every year. And also to connect with staff, learn more about historic preservation principles and also what the THC is doing in Texas. And that's something that's all hands on deck with our staff that we really support and we're really passionate about.
00:28:28:09 - 00:28:31:20
Speaker 1
How can people follow what you're working on and what's keeping you visit.
00:28:31:20 - 00:28:58:01
Speaker 3
Easiest way to find us is to just search for Texas Historical Commission under told markers. And so if you have an interesting story that you want to submit, or you just kind of still want to see more about what we do, just do the go Google search will be the first thing that pops up if you're interested in supporting the program financially, because as Bob mentioned, we pay for these markers through application fees from the normal markers, but then also through fundraising.
00:28:58:03 - 00:29:16:00
Speaker 3
You can go to THC friends.org, which is our the nonprofit that's that raises money for agency initiatives that we can't fund on our own. So that's that's a really good, place to go to as well. And I would say that, we've got all sorts of really cool, like, social media stuff going on.
00:29:16:00 - 00:29:36:12
Speaker 3
We have Facebook presence, we have Instagram presence. We have this really cool webinar program for museums that hits all sorts of interesting kind of, topics that they can find by looking at museums. And the Texas Historical Commission. We have, a newsletter for historical markers that goes up periodically that gives you an interesting story about one of the markers.
00:29:36:12 - 00:30:01:12
Speaker 3
You can sign up for that through our website. We've got, also, a really good museum services newsletter. And since this is cemeteries, maybe you'll like this. Matthew, the name of our cemetery newsletter is Grave Concerns. So we're very proud about that title there. That's one that talks about, the various activities that are going on in our, in our, preservation program for, for cemeteries throughout the state of Texas.
00:30:01:17 - 00:30:06:04
Speaker 3
And we launched that last year. So that's that's a relatively newsletter, new newsletter for us.
00:30:06:06 - 00:30:13:20
Speaker 1
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today, to share more about the program. Again, the deadline November 15th to get your submissions and
00:30:19:10 - 00:30:38:20
Speaker 1
Thanks so much for tuning in. Story. Behind the Stone is available on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on the Rise Across America Radio Network on iHeartRadio. Audacity and tune in to search for wreath. We air every Thursday at 10 a.m. eastern on the Red Cross Radio Network. Thank you for tuning in.