Have you done all the research you can online and now need to access information housed at the library but the physical building is closed? The Dallas History & Archives Division, located the seventh floor of the main branch of the Dallas Public Library, offers virtual research at this time. Email them with the information on what you are researching and they will look up information for you!

Normally I start the first email of the year highlighting some of the plans for events for the new year. Well, as we all know this is not a typical year and nor was the last one! There is hope with the vaccine that we will be able to get back to in person events sometime this year, although that timing remains a question. In the meantime, we are looking at some virtual programming to tide us over until we can meet again. And speaking of virtual events, be sure to sign up for the Dallas Legacies History Conference on January 30^th and the Real Places Conference from February 3^rd to 5^th. Both are amazing conferences and worth joining virtually.

Advocacy is already underway for the new year with some carry over from last year and some new items. One of the new items is the Texas Legislature now that they are in session. Preservation Texas is leading the effort to track bills which might impact historic preservation, good or bad, and keeping local preservation nonprofits across the state up to date on the bills. In fact, we had our first group meeting about that last week. Public input on bills this year will be different and we are not exactly sure how all that will work when the bills get to committee hearings. In 2019, I made a couple of trips to Austin to testify for and against bills and to meet with legislators on bills. We’ll see how that goes this year. Now that the DISD bond passed, we are working to get a meeting set up with DISD staff to discuss the schools that are slated for replacement and to see if we can convince them that renovation might be an option instead for some of them. We will also be following the work of the ad hoc committee that has been established by the Landmark Commission to look at changes to the city code regarding historic preservation and the Certificate of Appropriateness process. Board member Jason Harper will be on that committee along with former board member Diane Sherman and former PD Executive Director and former Landmark Commission chair Katherine Seale. So, we are in good hands there! We are also very excited to hear that the Landmark Commission Task Forces and the Designation Committee will be starting up again soon! Both are important to the historic preservation process at the city and public input, so it will be good to have them back.

The 22nd Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference is going virtual this year with the theme of “Law & Order in Dallas Revisited.” There will be six presentations along with video tours of various parts of the Old Red Courthouse shown between presentations.

Presented by Phoenix I Restoration and Construction and hosted by the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, this will be the first virtual Real Places Conference. The robust schedule features 44 speakers from across Texas and the U.S. and 28 sessions on a variety of historic preservation and heritage tourism topics.

This newsletter is sent to all current and past members, and those interested in preservation in Dallas. To become a member or to renew or upgrade your membership, please click here: