Events and News Archive
Focus on History - November 12, 2018
Andy Hollan, Robert Roten and Ken Poston; Texas City Explosion, 1947: Lessons from Disaster and Recovery
Seventy-one years ago, the largest industrial disaster in the nation's history occurred in Texas City. A fire broke out on the French ship the Grandcamp, which was being loaded with ammonium nitrate, and it exploded. Shortly after, the High Flyer, another ship, exploded. The blasts were felt in Galveston. Houses were shaken off their foundations. About 600 people died and more than 5,000 were injured. Robert Roten, Andy Hollan and Ken Poston will present a panel discussion on that fateful day and the lessons learned from the tragedy.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception and Panel, Reaud Event Center
Focus on Boundaries - October 22, 2018
John P. Evans, Jr.; Evolution of the Texas-Louisiana Boundary: In Search of the Elusive Corner"
John Evans, Jr. will present a fascinating collection of historical sources illuminating the surveying and mapping of the Texas-Louisiana-Arkansas boundary from the early nineteenth century to the present. Mr Evans will discuss the research for his book, which offers a treasure of riches for readers interested in locality and the technological, scientific, and hands-on business of geographic demarcation in a region of uncertain and often contested boundaries.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Lecture and Book Signing, Gray Library, 8th Floor
Focus on Space - September 10, 2018
Richard Scheer; "Meeting the Men Who Went Where No Man Had Gone Before: A Collector's Journey Through the NASA Moon Program"
Join Richard Scheer, a retired local attorney, for an engaging discussion of the NASA Moon Program through the personalities and photographs of the men who walked on the moon, as well as a few of the many others who made those landings possible. A long-time, avid collector of astronaut pictures and autographs, he has met and talked with most of the original seven astronauts and the twelve men who have walked on the moon. He will display significant parts of his collection and will provide insights into these men's missions, accomplishments, and personalities, as well as the role of NASA in this region.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception and Lecture, Reaud Event Center
Neches River Boat Tour - May 6, 2018
Join the Lamar University Center for History and Culture for a Neches River Boat Tour on the Ivory Bill. The tour will be narrated by noted Author and Historian, Judith Linsley. Tickets are $35 per person and include the tour, food and drink. Ticketholders will board the boat at Collier's Ferry Park at 2pm and return at approximately 4pm.
You can purchase your tickets in Archer 200 or mail a check to PO Box 10048 Beaumont, Texas 77710. Limited tickets available, payments by May 1st appreciated.
Focus on Community - April 23, 2018
Marilyn Manson-Hayes, Center Fellow;1930s Beaumont Voices
Multi-media program with costumed actors presenting Beaumont, Texas citizen written essays from the 1930s, accompanied by historically pertinent commentary and enhanced with radio, movie clips, music and pictures from the time.
The uniqueness of the essays comes from the uniqueness of the writers. Chester A. Easley, a Baptist, Texas born, owner of Seaport Coal Company, and Samuel Rosinger, 1900 Russian immigrant and Rabbi of Temple Emanuel, who wrote, as volunteers, weekly essays for the Rotarygrams newsletters for about 7 years.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. University Theatre
Focus on History - April 12, 2018
Penny Clark, Center Fellow; Desperate People, Desperate Times: Civil War Women's Work to Free Confederate Prisoners
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reaud Event Center
Focus on Literature - March 26, 2018
Lisa Sandlin, Gretchen Johnson, Jim Sanderson; Beaumont and Southeast Texas Fiction
A series of panel discussions focusing on literature, Southeast Texas, and the connections between regional history and fiction. Panelists include author Lisa Sandlin, author and assistant professor Gretchen Johnson, and author and professor Jim Sanderson.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Panel in the John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Focus on Music - March 24, 2018
Dr Bryan Proksch, Center Fellow; John Phillip Sousa Meets Beaumont's Magnolia Petroleum Band
Bring your lawn chairs and picnic baskets and join the Lamar University Bands for an outdoor afternoon band festival commemorating the "March King" John Phillip Sousa's four Beaumont visits in 1906, 1919, 1924, and 1928. This concert will celebrate the music of the Magnolia Band, a local Beaumont band conducted by Dentist Harry Cloud and his Magnolia Refinery bandsmen (now a part of ExxonMobil) as conducted by Sousa in January 1924. At that time, Lamar University was beginning its second semester and the Magnolia Band was nationally famous for playing the inaugural broadcast of KFDM ("For Dependable Magnoline") on Beaumont's first radio station.
The afternoon festival will feature all three of Lamar University's bands playing music from America's "Golden Age" while Beaumont was a booming oil town in the historical reproduction setting of the Spindeltop Museum.
2:30 p.m. Beaumont's Magnolia Brass Band Festival at Spindletop/Gladys City Boomtown Museum
Focus on Film - February 26, 2018
J.D. Feigelson, David Hooker, Gordon Williams, O'Brien Stanley; Film and Southeast Texas
A series of panel discussions focusing on film, Southeast Texas, and the connections between regional history and film. Panelists include producer-screenwriter, J.D Feigelson, producer-director Gordon Williams, and actor-professor (and local film historian) David Hooker. The panel will be moderated by Lamar Communication-Film Professor O'Brien Stanley.
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway Building
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Panel in the John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Focus on History - January 29, 2018
Dan Utley, Humor in Aluminum: Twisted Tales from the Texas Historical Marker Files
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Talk, and Book Signing in the John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Focus on Music - November 16, 2017
Kevin Fontenot and Carolyn Gnagy, Singing the Dream: Cajun and Prison Music
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Talk, and Book Signing in the Reaud Event Room
Focus on Texas - The Great War - November 6, 2017
Lila Rakoczy, The Golden Triangle and the Great War
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Public session, Reception and Talk in the Reaud Event Room
Few states were as transformed by World War I as Texas. This was especially true of the southeast region of the state, particularly the communities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. As the nation mobilized for war in 1917, the "Golden Triangle" responded not just through military enlistments, but through its shipbuilding, oil, and timber industries. This concentration of labor, both black and white, also brought the watchful eye of a government intent on suppressing labor and racial activism, as well as anti-war sentiment. What emerges is a complicated picture of a region grappling with great change amidst the pressures of war over 100 years ago.
Free and open to the public.
Part Two: Focus on Water - October 23, 2017
David Falloure, Deep Water: The Story of Beaumont and Its Port
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Talk, and Book Signing in the Reaud Event Room
Oil and Water: Economic Linchpins of Southeast Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast
Part One: Focus on Oil - September 25, 2017
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Talk, and Book Signing at Spindletop - Gladys City Boomtown Museum
Focus on Art - April 24, 2017
Keith Carter, Ghostland: Myth, Mojo, and Magic
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Dishman Art Gallery Lecture Hall
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Public Session, Reception and Lecture, Dishman Art Gallery Lecture Hall
From Flannery O'Connor to Muddy Waters, Ghostland explores the ways myths and legends rooted in East Texas lore help give voice to creative expression and a rich cultural legacy. Free and open to the public. Cosponsored by the Dishman Art Gallery
Focus on Archaeology - March 7, 2017
Dr. James E. Bruseth, LaBelle: the Ship that Changed History
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception, Talk, and Book Signing in the University Reception Center, Mary and John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Focus on Food - February 13, 2017
Dr. Rebecca Boone, "Culinary Traditions of Southeast Texas and Louisiana"
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Student session, Landes Auditorium, Galloway
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception and Talk in the University Event Center, Mary and John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Center for History and Culture Launch - January 30, 2017
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. University Event Center, Mary and John Gray Library, 8th Floor
Join us to celebrate the rich history, art, literature, music, and cuisine of the region as we launch the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and Upper Coast.
Door prizes, music, regional food, and remarks by Dr. Sam Monroe.
Free and open to the public.
Focus on History - November 9, 2016
Ellen Rienstra and JoAnn Stiles, The Long Shadow: The Lutcher Stark Lumber Dynasty
2:00p-3:00p Student Talk in Archer Physics Building 108
5:00p-7:00p Reception, Talk, and Book Signing in the University Reception Center, Mary and John Gray Library, 8th Floor
