Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas — May 11, 2018 — The Museum of South Texas History welcomes Dr. Joseph E. Chance for another informative and engaging Sunday Speaker Series presentation. Chance will present, “The Journal of Dewitt Clinton Thomas: A Voice from the Grave,” Sunday, May 20, at 2 p.m. at the Museum of South Texas History.
This short presentation is taken from The Journal of Dewitt Clinton Thomas (Chance, Suerte Press, 2010) and presents the viewpoints and observations of a man dead for more than 100 years. Thomas offers advice to his children on topics that range from morals and dancing to the handling of money. In his lifetime he notes the changes that he sees in “the paradise” he finds in Texas as an 1845 immigrant to the disappointing condition of the land in 1870. Thomas chronicles the extinction of the buffalo in Texas and predicts the ecological disaster that would later be brought on by the advent of the railroads to west Texas, creating the genesis of the dust bowls of the 1930s. Thomas, a lifetime Democrat, courageously battled the Progressive Party and its free silver coinage platform as proposed by William Jennings Bryan which Thomas correctly identified as an inflationary measure designed to relieve the financial pressures felt by the debtor class.
Chance is an author of several published books on history, newspaper columns and essays. A fifth generation Texan, Chance was raised in Austin before making the Rio Grande Valley his home. Currently, he is a retired professor residing in Edinburg with his wife.
Sunday Speaker Series is included in the fee for regular museum admission. FRIENDS of the MOSTHistory are admitted free as a benefit of FRIENDship.
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 in downtown Edinburg at 200 North Closner Boulevard on the Hidalgo County Courthouse square. Hours of operation are from 1 p.m.–5 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday. 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, follow on Twitter, find on Google+or call +1-956-383-6911.
