Texas history on the move

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum , using items borrowed from outside collections, tells the state's history.

Many people, though, realize that before Texas was part of the United States, it was a nation unto itself. From the Texian victory over Mexican President Santa Anna's troops at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836 to December 29, 1845, when Texas became a state, its citizens spent nine years as citizens of their own country. That history is preserved by an organization called the "Daughters of the Republic of Texas" or DRT.

"Texas is so unique in its character, and of course, we're arrogant about it, maybe," said DRT "Vision Committee" member Gayla Lawson, "but the whole point of it is that that period in history developed who we are today and we want to share that."

The Daughters have been sharing that since they began safeguarding historic items in their own homes in 1894. In 1903, they scored a room behind the Senate Chamber in the Capitol building. That led to second floor exhibit space in the old General Land Office building in 1917, a spot the Daughters laid claim to for over seven decades, until they were forced out for a major restoration of the building in 1989. Two years later, the organization bought its own building, a former savings and loan on U.S. 183, just east of Interstate 35. There they reestablished their museum and there it remains today. There are problems, though.

"We have drug deals; they were just recently caught by the police out here in the back," said Vision Committee chair Nancy Shurtleff. "We've had them sleeping on the front porch, the homeless. Last year, they caught a man, he was hiding in our flower bed; there were seven police cars. We just have all kinds of excitement."

Then, there is the location, location, location issue.

"You know, we're basically buried under a flyover," said Lawson. "It's hard to find; it's hard to get to. Driving a school bus here is a real chore and so school kids can't come anymore and we don't have places for school busses to park."

So "A Vision for the 21st Century: Gateway to Where Texas History Happened," was born. Six women are trying to shepherd that vision into reality, one dollar at a time. All they need is 9.5 million of those dollars, but they need almost 1.5 million of them before February 5. That's when time runs out on the option they have to purchase four lots just north of the French Legation homestead, near downtown. The Daughters also run the Legation, the oldest wooden homestead in the city, leasing it out for special events, conducting tours and operating summer camps for children.

The new museum, alongside the Legation, would form the Republic of Texas History Complex .

"That whole area between the Capitol and the State Cemetery is a historic path that has all sorts of things that can be developed and are in the process of developing," said Lawson. "So it's an ideal time and location for us."

Big plans are already being made.

"We will do historical reenactments on the grounds and that would be very unique for Austin," said committee member Cynthia Anderson. "It's a place to do research and expand that story of Texas, not the one we all know and love and has been our tradition, but the expanded story. Research is a part of our effort, as well."

There will even be a center for genealogical research, open to everyone. The primary goal, though, is to preserve and share a multitude of documents, recorded by people who were actually there when Texas was a country.

"They need to be out; they need to be digitized; they need to be available," said committee member Patricia Horridge. "I mean, they are such an asset, and we don't have the room to grow so people could walk in and go to a computer and get the information that they need."