Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas — The Museum of South Texas History will host the Sunday Speaker Series Online presentation, “Saving History: Preserving Community Archives,” featuring Manuel Hinojosa, Eduardo Martinez and Gabriel Sanchez at 2 p.m. on April 26 on Facebook Live.
This presentation is to kick off Preservation Week. During the presentation panel members will discuss their experiences as community archivists. The museum will share information from each panelist throughout the week through the social media accounts Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
According to ala.org, every year the American Library Association (ALA) encourages libraries and other institutions to use Preservation Week to connect communities through events, activities, and resources that highlight what can be done to preserve collections. The 2021 theme for Preservation Week is “Preserving Community Archives.” Community archives are organized by members of physical or self-identified communities—specifically those marginalized by traditional collecting institutions—and are focused on documenting and interpreting their own histories.
Hinojosa, a graduate of Mission High School, was voted into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame for his mission in preserving the history of RGV sports. Hinojosa is also a well-known painter. His most famous artwork is the Tom Landry mural in Mission which was dedicated by Tom Landry 22 years ago. Hinojosa, his wife Norma, and his brother Rick own Doubleday’s Bar of Champions and Museum in Port Isabel. The RGV Sports Hall of Fame Museum is currently housed at Doubleday’s Bar of Champions.
Martinez is a writer, photographer, and disc jockey from Pharr, Texas. He is best known for the weekly series “Regional Ramblings” in The Monitor newspaper, as a content creator for Netargv.com, and his “Pharr From Heaven” blog.
Sanchez is a native of the Rio Grande Valley. For the past several years, Gabriel has been researching, documenting, sharing and writing about the LGBTQ+ history of the Rio Grande Valley. In sharing this rich, but under documented history, Gabriel has presented at museums and colleges, and curated an annual exhibit highlighting local queer history and culture. Gabriel is currently co-directing “Pansy Pachanga: a documentary on the history and evolution of the Valley’s LGBTQIA+ community,” in addition to curating a digital collection on Instagram (@pansypachanga) highlighting this history.
Sunday Speaker Series Online can be found at www.facebook.com/mosthistory/live or on the museum’s website at mosthistory.org/sunday-speaker-series-online.
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. 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. For more information about MOSTHistory, including becoming a FRIEND, visit MOSTHistory.org, like us on Facebook and Instagram, follow on Twitter, find on YouTube or call +1-956-383-6911.
