THL January February 2008

“The preservers of history are as heroic as its makers.”
–Pat M. Neff1

The Houston Bar Association enjoys an illustrious history built by countless volunteers over 138 years. It won’t surprise you that the HBA Historical Committee is charged with preserving the history of the Houston bar and the bar association. While over the years the committee has worked on a variety of projects to further the preservation of history, most of the efforts fall into two primary categories -- a living history program and the expansion and preservation of the HBA archives. Both of these ongoing projects serve an important role in preserving our rich history.

The committee has focused on the living history program for many years, with committee members conducting one- to two-hour video interviews of prominent senior bar members or bar leaders. These interviews provide a unique preservation of history by hearing the stories of events from the key players who lived and helped make the history. Over 40 prominent lawyers have been interviewed since the start of the program, and almost half of those interviews have occurred during the last year and a half. These interviews have included fascinating discussions with key bar leaders like Jim Sales, who is known for his illustrious trial career and his never ending work to increase pro bono efforts and professionalism in Texas and nationwide.

Other interviewees include Joe Reynolds, who shared everything from his experiences as a World War II and Korean War veteran to his work with Bracewell, Reynolds & Patterson (now Bracewell & Giuliani); and the Honorable Ruby Sondock, a talented lawyer who holds many “firsts” for women lawyers in Houston and Texas. These video interviews will be included in the digital archives -- the second major ongoing project for the Historical Committee.

Various members of the HBA have saved pictures, newspaper clippings, minutes, documents and other memorabilia over the years. The HBA staff has done a great job of saving these items, but most pictures and print degrade significantly and rapidly over time. This concern prompted the start of the archive preservation project last year. In addition, the archives are presently inaccessible and unsearchable for most purposes. To address these issues, the Historical Committee, thanks largely to the efforts of committee member Grady Cayce, is in the process of implementing a detailed plan to organize and preserve the archives.

This preservation includes organizing and indexing a room full of materials, and then scanning and digitizing the materials so the archive contents are available in digital format. This provides the double benefit of preserving the information in the documents, as well as taking the first important step to making the information searchable and sortable electronically. Much of these efforts are made possible due to the generous donation and contribution of RLS/LIT Group which is donating the professional services of scanning and digitizing the materials. The long-term goals include adding the living history interviews to the digital archives so that all the information will be preserved and accessible to current and future HBA members.

We hope the fruits of these projects will eventually be made available to the public and part of a public display or museum. Perhaps these materials will ultimately be part of the restored civil court house.

We also hope that these continuing efforts will result in the continued publication of historical articles through The Houston Lawyer Magazine and other publications as the preservation of the archives yields interesting stories to share. Sometimes the committee is asked why it invests so much effort in preserving the archives and the history of the Houston Bar. The short answer is, in a city that has already lost so much of its history, the history that we fail to preserve is history lost forever. If you want a longer answer, please join us at our next Historical Committee meeting! Either way, we will have to wait until tomorrow to see all the benefits of preserving history today.

The HBA Historical Committee is always in need of additional volunteers. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Brad Allen at allen@mdjwlaw.com or at 713-632-1790 or contact Tara Shockley at the Houston Bar Association, 713-759-1133 or taras@hba.org.

Brad Allen is a partner at Martin, Disiere, Jefferson & Wisdom, L.L.P. His practice includes civil litigation, insurance, and health law. Brad is also the current chair of the HBA Historical Committee.

Endnote
1. Pat M. Neff was an avid historian, Texas Governor, and President of Baylor University. These words are inscribed on one side of Pat Neff hall at Baylor University. These statements were included in speeches by Governor Neff urging the inauguration of the Texas Centennial in 1936.