News and Events - May 2022 | Museum of North Texas History

May 2022

News and Events from

The Museum of North Texas History

MUSEUM OF NORTH TEXAS HISTORY

DIRECTOR'S LETTER

Dear Members,

We are excited to be open for another After Hours Art Walk this week! Stop by the Museum between 5:30 PM and 9:00 PM! There will be loads of vendors and artists set up all over downtown. We hope that you are able to join.

On Thursday, May, 19, we will be opening the Rural Texas Women at Work: 1930-1960 from Humanities Texas. We are so excited to host this exhibit and we hope you’re able to stop by and see it!

Madeleine

After Hours Art Walk 2022

Tom Roberts sculpting in the Museum of North Texas History during the April After Hours Artwalk.

Next After Hours ArtWalk - Thursday, May 5th

Rural Texas Women At Work

The Museum of North Texas History is excited to announce the Rural Texas Women at Work Exhibit: 1930-1960 from Humanities Texas will open on Thursday, May 19. It will be on display until June 11.

“Rural Texas Women at Work” pays tribute to our rural grandmothers and their families in the middle third of the 20th century. Industrious and enterprising, rural Texas women performed the common tasks of housewives everywhere—cooking, housekeeping, and doing laundry. In addition, they raised large gardens, tended flocks of poultry, canned and preserved foods for their families, made and repaired furnishings, picked cotton, drove tractors, and took over the men’s work during World War II.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME

Membership for the Museum of North Texas History extends from January to December. Now is the time to renew your membership. You should have received your membership envelope in the mail-out of the January newsletter. If you didn’t receive your newsletter, please let us know!!

You can renew your membership in multiple ways. You can return your check in the membership envelope. Memberships can be dropped off at the Museum during regular business hours. The easiest way to renew is through the links provided at the Museum of North Texas History website.

Your membership is the “energy” we need to keep the Museum “running.” Thanks for keeping us on the move!!

Renew your membership online.

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Bit of History

Each month we will highlight "bits" of North Texas history.

Bauch Family

Saddlery and Harness Since 1889

Existing for several years, the Wichita County Archives began as a repository of paperwork related to Wichita County. Housed in the Museum of North Texas History, the Archives is a destination for those researching property, family, cultural, and business history of North Texas and Wichita County.

As the Archives became known, people began donating items. As families wondered what to do with bits and pieces of family estate relating to Wichita County, they brought artifacts to the Archives. Items found in garage sales and estate sales, such as scrapbooks, photo albums, etc., were donated to the Archives. Some of these items have been real finds for the history researchers of Wichita County.

A few weeks ago, North Texas Genealogical Association member and friend of the Archives, Mike Moody, brought in items purchased at an estate sale. The items included an ornate Bible and a finished wooden box. The box contained letters, most handwritten in German, some dating back to 1875. Though printed in the United States, the Bible is largely written in German.

The Archives reached out to Midwestern State University Texas to translate some of the letters. Dr. Lee Gagum, Assistant Professor of German, offered to assist in translating some of the letters. We look forward to the results.

Arriving in Texas in 1882, Karl Emil Bauch came from Saxony in Germany and settled in Waco. Trained as a harness maker’s helper, Karl opened his harness shop in 1886 in Hillsboro. Coming to Wichita Falls in 1889, Karl opened a harness shop on Seventh Street, later moving to a location on Indiana Street.

In an article from 1933 honoring Karl and his wife, Bessie, on their 50th wedding anniversary, Karl remembered selling harnesses and saddles to Burk Burnett, W. T. Waggoner, the Coleman Ranch, and other cattlemen of the area. He recalled selling his entire stock of saddles, totaling 26, to Burk Burnett in “one throw.” Karl’s sons, Karl Junior and G. F. W., also went into the leather business in Wichita Falls. Karl Senior passed away in 1941.

Karl Emil Bauch, Jr. joined his father’s leather works business, retiring in 1971. Karl was born in Hillsboro and came to Wichita Falls with his family. He ran away to join a circus band at age 13. Returning to Wichita Falls, Karl helped form one of the first bands in Wichita County. Described as the head of the oldest business establishment in Wichita Falls, Karl passed away in 1971.

There is much more to the Bauch family story. We plan to share more as we receive translations of the letters.

The photo below was found in one of the letters.

We don't know who this is or where the photo was taken.

Here is one of the letters and its envelope. The letter is dated 1921.

The Nat's Hat Project

Contact us at the Wichita County Archives at 940-763-0020

email archives@co.wichita.tx.us

UPCOMING EXHIBITS

100^th Anniversary of MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY-TEXAS

Wichita Falls Junior College opened in September 1922, the second municipal junior college in Texas. It was operated by the Wichita Falls Independent School District and superintendent Randolph Lee Clark. Its liberal arts curriculum drew fifty-five freshmen that fall. Classes met in the high school on Broad Street. What a change 100 years brings!

(Photo from MSU Texas; Text from Texas State History Online)

German-Texas Settlers

The largest ethnic group in Texas derived directly from Europe was persons of German birth or descent. As early as 1850, they constituted more than 5 percent of the total Texas population, a proportion that remained constant through the remainder of the nineteenth century.

From their first immigration to Texas in the 1830s, the Germans tended to cluster in ethnic enclaves. A majority settled in a broad, fragmented belt across the south-central part of the state.

(From Texas State History Online)

National Preservation Month

The 2022 Preservation Month theme is “People Saving Places.” Dedicated to everyone doing the great work of saving places—in ways big and small—and inspiring others to do the same.

On National Historic Marker Day, April 29th, the Landmark Commission of Wichita Falls sponsored a kick-off event for refinishing historic markers in Wichita County.