Join the DHS in welcoming Alamo historian Ernesto Rodriguez & Alamo Director of Education Sherri Driscoll as they discuss Texas’ most famous historic site, as part of the Dallas Historical Society’s Texas Independence Day Celebration.
- FREE CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
- CPE CREDIT AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATORS
Ernesto Rodriguez III
Ernesto Rodriguez III is the Senior Historian at the Alamo. He is a San Antonio native and has devoted over 25 years to historical research at this incredible site. His deep knowledge and love for the Alamo’s story and Texas history was recognized in 2019 when he was promoted from Associate Curator to Curator. As Curator, Ernesto is dedicated to the scholarly research that underpins both interpretive planning for the Alamo museum and a greater understanding of the Alamo’s archive and artifact collections. He has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in History from Saint Mary’s University in San Antonio.
Sherri Driscoll
From 2010 to 2024, Sherri Driscoll served as the Director of Education for the Alamo, designing and coordinating programming for students, contributing to their understanding of Texas History. She also created training programs for Texas History teachers and other history professionals.
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Join the DHS as we welcome Dr. Maria Esther Hammack and Dr. Rolanda Teal as they discuss the brave women who created a hidden part of nineteenth-century Atlantic World History: many runaway slaves from the antebellum south found safe havens across the southern frontier into Mexico especially after the country officially abolished the institution in 1829. African Americans were often helped by Native Americans, who themselves were also subjected to slavery on both sides of US/Mexican border and also in the Caribbean. The speakers present Mexico’s role as a sanctuary for African American slaves during the nineteenth century.
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April 29, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Museum of the American Railroad
Join us for this FREE lunchtime lecture with Bob LaPrelle who will share insight on how the cities infrastructure was shaped by railroad industry and discuss the creation of the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas, and it’s connection and history to Fair Park.
About the speaker
Bob LaPrelle is the president of Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas. Bob LaPrelle is the president of Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, Texas. Bob LaPrelle is a 30-year veteran in the field of historic railway preservation and museums. He has served as Executive Director/CEO of the Museum of the American Railroad since 1988, and three prior years as a board trustee. Mr. LaPrelle has placed an emphasis on the cultural history and technology aspects of railroad museums and their role in communities as an educational resource and tourism destination. LaPrelle recently led the successful effort to move the Museum to a significantly larger venue in North Texas to expand collections and serve a broader audience.
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This lecture series supported by:
Belmont Village Senior Living is designed for seniors who need some assistance with daily activities. Residents enjoy chef-prepared meals, housekeeping, transportation, and social activities.
CLICK HERE for more information
Fires, Floods, Explosions, and Bloodshed: A History of Texas Whiskey
By Andrew Braunberg
A book-signing and whiskey-tasting hosted by the author. More information about this event is coming soon.
May 20, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Framing Oak Cliff
In this stunning collection of black-and-white photographs, photographer Richard Doherty takes a deep visual dive into Oak Cliff, the southwest Dallas neighborhood where he has lived for the past four decades. Using a variety of film cameras, Doherty combines vivid, sweeping panoramic images on the main business drag, Jefferson Boulevard, with intimate portraits of people in their workplaces, homes, and yards. These evocative, richly detailed images reveal the unique character of the diverse people, social landscapes, and personal spaces in this often-overlooked section of Dallas.
Doherty’s photographs are a testament to his love of Oak Cliff, a place where he has made his home and raised his family. They are also a powerful reminder of the beauty and complexity of everyday life in a modern city.
In addition to Doherty’s photographs, the book features a concise history of Oak Cliff by bestselling author Bill Minutaglio, as well as essays by curators John Rohrbach of the Amon Carter Museum and Christopher Blay of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. These essays provide context for the photographs and anchor them in the landscape of contemporary photography. Framing Oak Cliff: A Visual Diary of a Dallas Neighborhood is a must-have for anyone who loves photography, history, or the city of Dallas. This photographic work is a beautiful and insightful portrait of a unique and vibrant place.
About the Author
Richard Doherty is a Dallas-based photographer who has lived in the city for over forty years. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he taught photography at Louisiana State University and Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, where he is currently professor emeritus. Doherty’s photographs are held in esteemed museum and private collections worldwide and have been exhibited internationally.
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This lecture series supported by:
Belmont Village Senior Living is designed for seniors who need some assistance with daily activities. Residents enjoy chef-prepared meals, housekeeping, transportation, and social activities.
CLICK HERE for more information
June 3, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Ride shotgun with writer-photographer Randy Mallory on his fifty-year road trip exploring the endlessly fascinating people and places of Texas. The fourth-generation Texan spent a five-decade career traveling every part of the Lone Star State on assignments for statewide magazines and tourism agencies. In more than two hundred photos and four reflective essays, his first photo retrospective offers what he found. At the turn of every page—just like the rounding of every bend—there are delightful and surprising places: a thunderhead billowing behind a spinning Ferris wheel, a Volkswagen Beetle hung from a giant oak, a steam-powered riverboat gliding through mossy swamps, and yard art of a pregnant woman playing electric guitar. Meet the proud and diverse people he encountered: an organic farmer with a UFO museum, rural church members at a foot-washing ceremony, an adventurer riding the highway in a wind-powered sail trike, and five US presidents sharing the same stage.
The Fifty-Year Texas Road Trip: On Assignment from Earth to Uncertain is drawn from thousands of images contained in the Randy Mallory Collection at the University of North Texas. The collection and this book serve as a colorful and telling record of one photographer’s attempt to capture Texas’s sense of place during an important and ever-changing half century. The breadth of his career (1972–2022) allows the book to showcase many aspects of Texas history and culture that are gone or are rapidly fading away. A foreword by Dan K. Utley, former chief historian for the Texas Historical Commission, places Mallory’s photography in perspective as a valuable resource in the necessary work of chronicling history as it evolves around us every day.
About the Author
Randy Mallory is a fourth-generation Texan who spent fifty years as a travel writer and photographer for publications such as Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, and the Dallas Morning News and for agencies such as the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Mallory donated his photography archive to UNT Special Collections in 2021. This is the first book of his work.
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This lecture series supported by:
Belmont Village Senior Living is designed for seniors who need some assistance with daily activities. Residents enjoy chef-prepared meals, housekeeping, transportation, and social activities.
CLICK HERE for more information