Texas State University System (1911-2011)
Sam Houston State Normal School, the first Normal School in Texas,
established, April 21, 1879. Courtesy of the SHSU Archives.
In 1911, the Legislature established what was to become The Texas State University System by creating a State Normal School Board of Regents responsible for the general control and management of all State normal schools in Texas. With that antiquated legislative charge long since passing into history, The Texas State University System's fundamental mission of educating the State's youth remains as vibrant and imperative today as it was 100 years ago. As we approach the 100th birthday of Texas' oldest higher education system, we celebrate the history of higher education in Texas.
Main Street in Alpine, Texas, 1917. Courtesy of the Archives of the Big Bend.
Centennial Commission
Chancellor Charles R. Matthews has commissioned a system-wide committee to conceptualize, organize, research, and author a publication documenting the life, history and culture of The Texas State University System and its component institutions. In this way, the compelling stories of eight unique institutions become the single history of TSUS.
Since the project is a study in American and more specifically Texan culture, the academic approach is multidisciplinary, employing methodologies of the historian, art historian, sociologist, demographer, biographer, and so on. The study includes discussions of notable personalities with ties to the System, such as Presidents Mirabeau Lamar, Sam Houston, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Civilian Pilot Training, Lamar College 1940-46. Courtesy of the LU Archives.
