As the first woman editor for Dallas Morning News, Pauline Periwinkle was a catalyst for numerous local reforms and was widely read by women across Texas. Viewing women's clubs as an ideal vehicle for familiarizing women with the needs of their communities, she was a driving force behind the establishment of the Women's Congress, the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs, the Equal Suffrage Club of Dallas, the Dallas Women's Forum, and the Texas Women's Press Association.
Newspaper publishers played a crucial role in transforming Texas into a modern state. By promoting expanded industrialization and urbanization, as well as a more modern image of Texas as a southwestern, rather than southern, state, news barons in the early decades of the twentieth century laid the groundwork for the enormous economic growth and social changes that followed World War II. Yet their contribution to the modernization of Texas is largely unrecognized. This book investigates how newspaper owners such as A. H. Belo and George B. Dealey of the Dallas Morning News, Edwin Kiest of the Dallas Times Herald, William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby of the Houston Post, Jesse H. Jones and Marcellus Foster of the Houston Chronicle, and Amon G. Carter Sr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram paved the way for the modern state of Texas. Patrick Cox explores how these news barons identified the needs of the state and set out to attract the private investors and public funding that would boost the state's civic and military infrastructure, oil and gas industries, real estate market, and agricultural production. He shows how newspaper owners used events such as the Texas Centennial to promote tourism and create a uniquely Texan identity for the state. To balance the record, Cox also demonstrates that the news barons downplayed the interests of significant groups of Texans, including minorities, the poor and underemployed, union members, and a majority of women.
From the ruthless deals of the Ewing clan on TV's "Dallas" to the impeccable customer service of Neiman-Marcus, doing business has long been the hallmark of Dallas. Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Dallas business leaders amassed unprecedented political power and civic influence, which remained largely unchallenged until the 1970s. In this innovative history, Patricia Evridge Hill explores the building of Dallas in the years before business interests rose to such prominence (1880 to 1940) and discovers that many groups contributed to the development of the modern city. In particular, she looks at the activities of organized labor, women's groups, racial minorities, Populist and socialist radicals, and progressive reformers—all of whom competed and compromised with local business leaders in the decades before the Great Depression. This research challenges the popular view that business interests have always run Dallas and offers a historically accurate picture of the city's development. The legacy of pluralism that Hill uncovers shows that Dallas can accommodate dissent and conflict as it moves toward a more inclusive public life. Dallas will be fascinating and important reading for all Texans, as well as for all students of urban development.
From its founding one hundred years ago by a group of dedicated women working to better life and opportunity in their fledgling metropolis, the Dallas Public Library has provided essential services to the people of Dallas. In The Dallas Public Library, Michael V. Hazel presents the centennial history of this landmark institution, from its genesis as a single library with a staff of five, to a central library and twenty-two branch libraries with a staff of more than five hundred. This is the story of committed leaders like May Dickson Exall, who persuaded Andrew Carnegie to give $50,000 to build Dallas's first free public library, and director Cleora Clanton, who stretched a shoestring budget to provide service to all citizens of Dallas at a time when minorities were often shunned and intellectual freedom challenged. It is also the story of beloved director Lillian Bradshaw, who built a major central library facility and a network of branches that reflect the interests of the neighborhoods they serve. More than just a repository of books, the Dallas Public Library has offered many people a place for lifelong learning, practical skills development, pursuit of personal interests, and recreation. Through the years, the library has grown and changed with the city of Dallas and is ready once again--as technology drives the information market--to adapt its services to meet the needs of Dallas citizens. This is the centennial history of a landmark institution, from its genesis as a single library with a staff of five to a central library and twenty-two branch libraries with a staff of more than five hundred. Richly illustrated with two hundred black-and-white photographs and ten color plates.
"The coming woman in politics"--Domestic revolutionaries -- Every mother's child -- Cities of women -- "I wish my mother had a vote"--"These piping times of victory" -- Conclusion : gender and public cultures
