Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

Many readers may be totally unfamiliar with the Texas History Movies cartoon booklet once used in public schools, but some remember using it, and Bob Leath of Tyler still has a copy in his possession.

That probably puts him in rare company since it likely has been well over half a century since it was last used as a state history teaching aid.

Bob's copy has some tattered edges, clearly showing signs of considerable use and natural aging. Perhaps he thought the black and white cartoons were a little bland because at some point he colored a couple of pages, using mostly blue and red with emphasis on the blue.

"Blue must have been your favorite color," observed Bob's wife, Gretchen.

He pointed out that the choice of colors were more limited.

"Crayolas only came in boxes of eight and six back then," he recalled. After a few weeks of use the color selection usually was even more limited because of breakage and loss, and a lot of students had to wait for a new school year to get another box.

The best Bob can figure, he used the booklet in the High Fourth Grade at Douglas Elementary School in 1937. That 1937 is a date written in the book seems to confirm that timeline.

On the cover of the booklet is an illustration of the battle of the Alamo. At the bottom of the cover page is printed "For Young and Old," so it apparently was not aimed solely at students.

Others who remember the booklet think the cartoons also might have run as a daily newspaper feature at some point.

Early Texas history is covered by the cartoons in the 64-page booklet which was copyrighted in 1928.

The first page features Coronado's voyage to the New World and La Salle's explorations also are subjects of some early pages. The final pages cover the Battle of San Jacinto and the capture of Santa Anna on April 18, 1845, and the arrival of Texas Gov. David Burnet at the San Jacinto battlefield.

Illustrations in the booklet were by Jack Patton and the text was written by John Rosenfeld Jr., who were with The Dallas Morning News.

The reason the old Texas History Movies cartoon booklet has become an item of interest now is the Texas State Historical Association's announcement of the publication of the newest version of the classic. It will feature new cartoon strips and text by the late Jack Jackson, an award-winning scholar and illustrator.

A paperback, the New Texas History Movies is being distributed by the association, with a special Educator's Edition also featured along with an effort to incorporate the book into the seventh-grade curriculum.

If Bob manages to get a copy of the newest edition it should be interesting to compare it with his old version side by side.

In addition to the cartoon booklet, he also is in possession of a publication printed in connection with the 100th anniversary of Douglas school in 2002.

Bob is pictured in one of the class photos from the 1920s and 1930s included in the publication, and his Dad was among those in the cover picture.

One eye-catching historical notation in the 2002 publication is the original Douglas school was built in 1902 for $6,500. A second building was opened in 1917 and a third in 1937, when the school location was moved to 1508 N. Haynie St.

Seven turns out to be a key number in the opening of new Douglas schools since the first. Students are scheduled to start classes in the fall of 2007 in the latest new facility.

Mrs. Leath is chairperson for the Smith County Historical Society's Archives Committee and has recently been involved in an important new project.

The result is an invaluable key to using the information about Tyler and Smith County history contained in "Chronicles," a magazine that is published by the Society.

James Wilkins, a society spokesperson, said the local history group's Greer Fund has provided the printing of 150 copies of the 84-page index to Volumes 31-40, 1992 to 2001.

It was indexed and compiled by Mrs. Leath. The volume contains approximately 16,590 entries, as well as identifying cover illustrations and tables of content for each of the 19 issues.

Copies of this fourth decade index, as well as the three previous index volumes, are available at the Society's museum at 125 S. College.

The Greer Fund was established with a sizeable gift to the Society in 1975 in honor of Jack T. Greer, the first president of the Smith County Historical Society.

(Everett Taylor)