Austin
Genealogical Society

Monthly Meeting

September 28, 2010

50th Anniversary Celebration

6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

Help us celebrate the history of the Austin Genealogical Society by joining us for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary as a society.

The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with special refreshments, historical displays, and visiting. Photos for the Anniversary Quarterly will be taken of all past board members, all members present and special guests. Dr. David B. Gracy II, son of charter member and first AGS president, Alice Duggan Gracy, will be the featured speaker. His presentation will cover the organization of AGS and his research of the Littlefield family.

 

David B. Gracy II is the Governor Bill Daniel Professor in Archival Enterprise in the School of Information of the University of Texas at Austin and the son of Alice Duggan Gracy, a founder of the Austin Genealogical Society.

David is a Fellow and life member of both the Texas State Historical Association and the Society of American Archivists. He holds a doctorate in History from Texas Tech University, where the subject of his dissertation and of the book that is his current focus was and is Austin cattleman and banker George Washington Littlefield. This study is a labor of special love for two reasons: David is a great, great nephew of Littlefield, and the substantial genealogical foundation of the story represents the dedicated work pursued over decades by his mother.

Gracy served as State Archivist of Texas, 1977-1986. For service to the genealogical community during these years he was recognized in 1981 by being named a Fellow of the Texas State Genealogical Society. Also during these years, he served as president of the Society of American Archivists.

Gracy has written extensively in both archival enterprise and history, his history monographs including:

• Littlefield Lands: Colonization on the Texas Plains, 1912-1920 (University of Texas Press, 1968), which for genealogists lists all of the buyers;
• Moses Austin: His Life (Trinity University Press, 1986), which traced Austin’s genealogy back four generations to his great, great grandfather who brought the line to America;
• The State Library and Archives of Texas: A History, 1835-1962 published by the University of Texas Press earlier this year. Gracy has lectured and taught short courses on archival enterprise at universities in the Philippines, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Hong Kong, and at the Dutch Archives School.

In 2005, he received the Katherine Drake Hart History Preservation Award from the Austin History Center Association.

All monthly meetings are held at the Highland Park Baptist Church, 5206 Balcones Drive, in Austin.

Future Meetings

• October 26, 2010
  "School Records"
  by Karen Matheson


• November 30, 2010
  "To Post or Not to Post: The Good, Bad, & Ugly"
  by Cindy Foreman & Sara Gredler