Thomas Heard Kreneck, Ph.D.

Thomas Heard Kreneck, Ph.D.

A native of South Texas, Thomas H. Kreneck earned a B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Houston and a Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University. From 1976-1990, he served as an archivist historian at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), which documented the development of the Houston urban region. During the last ten years with HMRC he was its assistant head. Notably, he founded and developed HMRC’s Mexican American archival component and helped HMRC to launch The Houston Review: History and Culture of the Gulf Coast. He also taught history as adjunct instructor at Houston-area colleges and universities.

From 1990–2012, Kreneck directed Special Collections & Archives within the library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. There he administered the university's rare Texana books as well as its manuscripts dealing with Corpus Christi and its environs. He maintained a focus on gathering Mexican American research materials. He was also the Joe B. Frantz Lecturer in Public History for the university’s history program. Kreneck served as chair of the campus committee at A&M-Corpus Christi delegated to erect the statue of the civil rights leader Dr. Hector P. García. After leaving A&M-Corpus Christi, Kreneck remained active in historical and other public educational endeavors.

An author of articles, book chapters, and books, Dr. Kreneck is most recognized in Texana circles for co-editing with Gerald D. Saxon Collecting Texas: Essays on Texana Collectors and the Creation of Research Libraries (Dallas: The Book Club of Texas, 2010). He has been chosen three times as a Featured Author at the Texas Book Festival in Austin. In 2015, he received the Premio Estrella de Aztlán from the Texas Foco of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, a lifetime achievement award for fostering the well-being of the Mexican American community.