When There Were Wards: A Series
Our series “When There Were Wards” will appear over three issues of the print magazine tracing the history of Houston’s ward system and featuring highlights on each of the six wards.
Letter from the Editor: Taking Flight in Song
Dr. Joe Pratt reflects on his favorite part of the Baptist religion–its hymnal.
The Spirit of Giving: Jane Blaffer Owen and the University of Houston
Aimee L’Heureux details the Jane Blaffer Owen’s philanthropy to the University of Houston, as well as her contributions to New Harmony, Indiana.
Upcoming Issue: A Call to Worship
The upcoming issue of Houston History, “Visions of Faith,” explores aspects of the city’s diverse religious heritage and concludes the three-part series on Houston’s wards.
Letter from the Editor: Oil and the Soul of Houston
Last fall the Jung Center sponsored a series of lectures called “Energy and the Soul of Houston.” My friend Beth Robertson persuaded me that I had something to say about energy, if not Houston’s soul. We agreed to share the stage.
Faces of Texas Oil
The history of the oil industry in Texas is comprised of many elements. The towering wooden derricks, both cable and rotary, of the early twentieth century would give way to the even bigger steel-framed derricks of the 1930s and on.
We’re Sticking by Our Union: The Battle for Baytown
Between June 1942, and November 1943, Baytown, Texas, became the backdrop to one of the most dramatic labor confrontations to rock the upper Texas Gulf Coast during World War II.
Witness to the Day of Reckoning: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
On March 24, 1989, the U.S. oil industry encountered a day of reckoning. Just after midnight, the Exxon Valdez supertanker carrying Alaskan crude to California ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling nearly eleven million gallons of oil into one of the nation’s most beautiful coastal habitats. At the time, this […]
Remembering Foley’s
Houston History Archives emerged as a relatively new enterprise in realms of archiving when Joe Pratt relocated The Houston Review: History and Culture of the Gulf Coast journal to the University of Houston (UH) from the Houston Public Library.
Recalling Houston’s Early Days and its Oilmen: A Conversation with Jane Blaffer Owen
Jane Blaffer Owen, an arts patron, social activist, and preservationist, was the daughter of Robert Lee Blaffer, one of the founders of Humble Oil & Refining Company (now ExxonMobil), and the granddaughter of William T. Campbell, who established the The Texas Company, which became Texaco.