This blog post was written by Jake Hiserman, graduate assistant working on Congressman Alan Steelman’s papers. Mark Twain, the illustrious American journalist and satirist, once quipped: “It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.”[1] A constant theme in American…
This blog was written and photographed by Alyssa Chariva, the Poage Library Graduate student in Museum Studies. Bob Platt passed away February 23. We at the Poage Library express our deepest condolences to his wife Ruth and his family. This blog is dedicated to him with gratitude for his love of political memorabilia and the…
The United States government officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, but did you know the celebration actually has its roots much earlier? In 1926 historian Carter G. Woodson, co-founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), declared the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” Woodson…
The following is an interview of Hannah Engstrom conducted by Zach Kastens. She is in her second semester of the Baylor Museum Studies masters’ program. Q: Where did you come here from? A: I was born in Minnesota and I got an undergraduate degree in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in art history and women’s studies. Q:…
This week, we here at the W.R. Poage Legislative Library have been reflecting on the long, sometimes tumultuous history of the Presidential Inauguration. You might not imagine that choosing a date to swear in the President would inspire much debate among legislators, but the forward march of progress has always necessitated discussion. In 1937 the…
The holiday season is upon us here at the W.R. Poage Legislative Library, and we’d like to wish you all hearty season’s greetings. As the semester winds down, many of our staff are looking forward to spending some quality time with their families over the winter break. In that spirit, we’ve decided to look at…
During his time in office, Congressman Chet Edwards worked hard to see to the needs of American veterans and their families. One of his most lauded acts was the creation of the Machine Gunnery Sgt. John David Fry Scholarship, which grants the GI Bill college tuition benefits of soldiers killed on active to their children.…
After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the relationship between the United States of American and Fidel Castro’s regime began to suffer. This was due in part to Communist influence and the nationalization of private industry in Cuba – two factors which weakened American influence on the island nation. By early 1960, the United States had begun…
For our final week of American Archives Month, we took a look at the papers of Sam B. Hall. When long-time Congressman Wright Patman died in 1976, Sam B. Hall, Jr. was chosen in a special election represent Texas’s First District. He held this seat in the House of Representatives until 1984 and was re-elected…
This post was researched and written by Jacob Hiserman, one of our BCPM @ Poage Library graduate student assistants, who uncovered these documents while processing our Alan Steelman collection. Imagine a twenty-two-year old freshman Congressman in one of the House of Representatives’s iconic wooden chairs listening to a speech on an appropriations bill. Could an…