Texas Historical Commission

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Texas Historical Commission is an agency within the State of Texas dedicated to historic preservation.
The organization employs personnel in various fields, including archeology, architecture, economic development, heritage tourism, history, public administration and urban planning. These personnel consult with citizens and organizations to preserve Texas's architectural, archeological and cultural landmarks.

A bimonthly publication, The Medallion is published by the agency as state-wide preservation newsletter.

1 History of the Commission
2 Personnel
3 Historical Markers
4 External links

[edit] History of the Commission

Established in 1953, The Texas State Legislature created a State Historical Survey Committee with the task to identify important historic sites across the state. The Texas Legislature changed the agency's name to the Texas Historical Commission in 1973.

[edit] Personnel

Today, the agency employs about 100 personnel. The Texas Historical Commission leadership is composed of 18 members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, serving overlapping six-year terms. All members must be citizens of Texas, and together represent all geographical areas of Texas.

In the late 1990's, the agency was restructured to have seven divisions that carry out the responsibilities of the agency. The divisions are:

Administration Division
Staff Services Division
Archeology Division
Division of Architecture
History Programs Division
Community Heritage Division
Marketing Communications Division

There are several boards associated with the Texas Historical Commission:

The State Board of Review
The Antiquities Advisory Board
The Guardians of Texas Preservation Trust Fund
The Advisory Board of the Texas Preservation Trust Fund
The Main Street Interagency Council

[edit] Historical Markers

Sponsors may apply for official historical markers through their county historical commissions. The purpose of the markers, which are available in a variety of types (cemetery, building, subject) and sizes, is to educate the public. An application must meet certain requirements to be approved by the THC commissioners as qualifying for a marker.

Beginning in November 2006, the Texas Historical Commission adopted a new marker program. The following are some of the major changes to the program:

All applications are to submitted electronically
There is now an annual application deadline
An application fee is required
The inscription process has been reworked

[edit] External links

	State of Texas Austin (capital)
Topics	History \| Geography \| Government \| Politics \| Economy \| Demographics \| Culture \| Transportation \| Education \| Texans
Regions	Ark‑La‑Tex \| Big Bend \| Brazos Valley \| Central Texas \| Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex \| Deep East Texas \| East Texas \| Edwards Plateau \| Galveston Bay \| Golden Triangle \| Greater Houston \| Llano Estacado \| North Texas \| Northeast Texas \| Permian Basin \| Piney Woods \| Rio Grande Valley \| South Texas \| South Plains \| Southeast Texas \| Texas Hill Country \| Texas Panhandle \| West Texas
Metropolitan areas	Abilene \| Amarillo \| Austin–Round Rock \| Beaumont–Port Arthur \| Brownsville–Harlingen \| Bryan–College Station \| Corpus Christi \| Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington \| El Paso \| Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown \| Killeen–Temple \| Laredo \| Longview–Marshall \| Lubbock \| McAllen–Edinburg–Mission \| Midland–Odessa \| San Angelo \| San Antonio \| Sherman–Denison \| Texarkana \| Tyler \| Victoria \| Waco \| Wichita Falls
Counties	See: List of Texas counties