Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas — The Museum of South Texas History invites the community to the first Sunday Speaker Series of 2020 on Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. The presentation features a historical lecture and discussion on “Immigrant Indians in Early Texas,” which will be led by Joseph Chance and Don Drefke.
Throughout the history of this borderland region, a multitude of tribes and nations of first peoples traversed through early Texas. Some immigrated as nomadic hunters and gatherers who used the land to survive, while others traveled due to forced displacement. The presentation will focus on the Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Seminole tribes.
Joseph E. Chance, a retired professor of mathematics, is an author of several published books on Rio Grande Valley history, newspaper columns, and essays. A fifth-generation Texan, Chance was raised in Austin before making the Rio Grande Valley his home. Now a resident of Edinburg, Chance is married with three daughters.
Drefke is a self-described “history nerd.” He has spent the last 10 years as a monthly volunteer at the Palo Alto Battlefield, a National Historical Park in Brownsville, Texas. For 25 years Drefke has been a singer at the powwows put on by members of the local Lipan Apache band. In 1971, he displayed a collection of Indian items in the 1910 Jail building at MOSTHistory.
Sunday Speaker Series is included in the fee for regular museum admission. FRIENDS of MOSTHistory are admitted free as a benefit of FRIENDship and must present their FRIENDship card at the Admissions Desk.
This program is made possible with generous support from the Carmen C. Guerra Endowment. Mrs. Guerra was deeply committed to supporting educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley. This named endowment was created at the museum by her family to honor her memory and to continue her commitment to providing opportunities for education to the community.
About Museum of South Texas History
The Museum of South Texas History is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is located downtown Edinburg at 200 North Closner Boulevard on the Hidalgo County Courthouse square. Hours of operation are Sunday 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Founded in 1967 as the Hidalgo County Historical Museum in the 1910 Hidalgo County Jail, the museum has grown over the decades through a series of expansions to occupy a full city block. In 2003, following the completion of a 22,500 square foot expansion, the museum was renamed the Museum of South Texas History to better reflect its regional scope. Today, the museum preserves and presents the borderland heritage of South Texas and Northeastern Mexico through its permanent collection and the Margaret H. McAllen Memorial Archives and exhibits spanning prehistory through the 20th century.
