News & Events

The Galveston and Texas History Center's oral history collection is about to be much more accessible. 312 cassette tapes have been sent to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) for audio preservation. Once they are digitized, the files will be uploaded to the Archives Catalog where they will be freely available for listening. The cassette tapes contain interviews with notable…

By Sean McConnell, Senior Archivist Staff at the Galveston and Texas History Center continue to digitize manuscripts and photographs that document Galveston’s and Texas’ rich history. Digitization provides patrons both local and remote access to historically valuable material. Digital access remains especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic because many patrons cannot visit the collections on site. Staff at the GTHC…

Casey Edward Greene, Rosenberg Scholar Roller bathhouses were small wood bathhouses on wheels. These picturesque, portable structures graced Galveston’s beaches beginning in the late 1870s. They lasted until the early years of the 20th century. Jesse A. Ziegler (1857-1947), a local historian and author, recalled the bathhouses in the Galveston Daily News, March 26, 1944. They had two rooms intended…

By Casey Edward Greene A mysterious figure, “Yerger,” accompanied by Madamoiselle Viviana, came to Galveston in June 1927. The Galveston Daily News heralded Yerger as a “Hindu Mystic” and “Crystal Gazer.” The newspaper ran announcements of the pair’s forthcoming appearances at the Galveston Advertising Club, Crystal Palace Ballroom, Psychic Research Hal, and other venues. Yerger would demonstrate his “feats of…

By Casey GreeneStarting in 1909, the Galveston Commercial Association organized and hosted an annual Cotton Carnival and Exposition as its main midsummer event. The celebration highlighted the importance of cotton and cotton products to the local and state economy. It also was a means of bringing excursionists and their dollars to the city. The 1916 Cotton Carnival and Exposition was…

By Casey GreeneWhen one thinks of Galveston weather, what typically comes to mind is sunny days on the beach; on a bad day, perhaps tropical storms … but snow? Yet snow and ice storms have indeed befallen the island, wreaking havoc with transportation, disrupting telephone and electrical service, freezing water pipes, giving children a day off from school, and providing…

Most Galvestonians are familiar with the 1900 Storm and other devastating hurricanes which have struck the island over the years. Another catastrophic disaster you may not know about is the Great Fire of 1885 which burned hundreds of homes across 40 city blocks, displacing thousands of residents.This November marks the 135th Anniversary of this catastrophic event. This week, Rosenberg Library's…

By Casey Edward Greene, Rosenberg ScholarRosenberg Library staff recently made a remarkable discovery: an issue of the Galveston Tribune printed on Saturday, September 8, 1900, the day of the 1900 Storm. This issue is among thousands of Tribune issues which belong to Rosenberg Library and are being digitized and uploaded by the Portal to Texas History at the University of…

By Kevin Kinney, Rosenberg Library ArchivistRosenberg Library’s Galveston and Texas History Center has the log book to the steam dredger Texas of New York, captained by James Alexander Minot of Galveston. Built at a cost of $250,000, the ship was to have been employed in the grade raising of Galveston Island, an effort to protect the island from catastrophic flooding…

By Casey Edward Greene, Rosenberg ScholarThe 19th century saw the evolution of two popular forms of entertainment. The first form of entertainment was vaudeville, whose heyday ran from the 1850s to the 1930s. Vaudeville offered something for everyone. Comparable to the modern televised variety show, it offered a smorgasbord of entertainment. Performances included comedy, singing, dancing, juggling, ventriloquism, and other…

By Casey Edward GreenePart 3 examines more Galveston and Galveston Island victims. The profiles include discussion of archival sources and their limitations. Victim lists often contain incorrect, incomplete, and contradictory information, making any effort to identify hurricane casualties a major undertaking.Parts 1 and 2 of this series can be viewed at the following links: Those Who Fell: Part 1 of…

By Casey Edward Greene, Rosenberg ScholarOn January 18, 1916, Galveston voters rejected Charter Amendment “O,” one of a series of fifteen local charter amendments, by a margin of 1,762 voters to 1,238. The Bathhouse Charter Amendment proposed “that no structures of floating materials shall be constructed or maintained outside of the seawall or extension thereof.” “Floating materials” was an oblique term for “wood.”