Lest we forget: commemorative movements in Texas, 1893-1936

Abstract

This thesis examines how white elite Texans deployed historical memory in constructing their cultural identity from the last decade of the nineteenth century through the Texas Centennial. As a former member of the Confederacy, Texas in many ways adhered to general patterns observable throughout the south, such as participation in Confederate veteran and auxiliary organizations and the regional celebration of the Lost Cause. As the state approached its centenary, memorialization of its frontier and revolutionary eras assumed a higher profile in the state's cultural landscape. This thesis analyzes the interplay of these two memory repertoires, Confederate and Texas frontier/revolutionary, as the state's elite celebrated the two concurrently over a period of several decades.