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TSHA Honors Excellence in Texas History: 2026 Awards and Fellowships Announced

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 26th, 2026

Contact: Eva Cline

 AUSTIN, TX — The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)—the state’s oldest learned society—proudly recognizes the recipients of its 2026 awards and fellowships. These honors celebrate exceptional contributions to the field of Texas history through groundbreaking research, innovative education, and scholarly excellence.

Leadership in Education and Research

Mary Jon and J.P. Bryan Leadership in Education Award:

  • K-12 Level: Nichole Ritchie
  • College Level: Deborah M. Liles, PhD

John W. Crain Texas History Education Award:

  • Adalberto Guerrero, El Paso ISD

Kate Broocks Bates Award for Historical Research:

  • Jim Burnett – Saltgrass Prairie Saga: A German American Family in Texas (Texas A&M University Press)

Fellowship Recipients

Mary M. Hughes Research Fellowship in Texas History:

  • Vincent A. Lazaro – Segregation Without Statute: Mexican American Educational Access in Early-Twentieth-Century San Antonio

Larry McNeill Research Fellowship in Texas Legal History:

  • Jody Edward Ginn – The Legal History Surrounding the Sherman Race Riot/Lynching of George Hughes

John H. Jenkins Research Fellowship in Texas History:

  • Caroline Wood Newhall – In Revenge for Stealing Freedom: Enslaved People’s Warfare in North America

Cecilia Steinfeldt Fellowship for Research in the Arts and Material Culture:

  • Joshua Yudkin – Seeds of Service

Lawrence T. Jones III Research Fellowship in Civil War Texas History:

  • Vincent A. Lazaro – The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Birth of Public Education in Texas: State Formation and the Foundations of San Antonio’s First High School

Catarino and Evangelina Hernández Research Fellowship in Latino History:

  • Eliza Kravitz – What the Lens Conceals: Bracero Ambitions and Controversy in Post-Revolutionary Mexico

Book and Article Awards

Ron Tyler Award for Best Illustrated Book on Texas History and Culture:

  • James Harkins, Mark Lambert, Dr. Brian Stauffer, Patrick Walsh – Texas Takes Shape: A History in Maps From the General Land Office (University of Texas Press)

Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize for Best Book on Texas History:

  • Sarah K. M. Rodríguez – One National Family: Texas, Mexico and the Making of the Modern United States, 1820–1867 (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Liz Carpenter Award for Best Book on the History of Women:

  • Mary Ellen Curtin – She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press)

Randolph B. “Mike” Campbell Award:

  • 1st Place: Paul M. Lucko – Capital Punishment in Texas
  • 2nd Place: Frank Jackson – The Alamo (1960)

H. Bailey Carroll Award for Best Article in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly:

  • David Huenlich – The German Lives of Black Texans: Language and Interethnic Relations

Al Lowman Memorial Prize:

  • Jeff Roche – The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right (University of Texas Press)

Gail and Chuck Swanlund Award for Best Texas History Anthology:

  • Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr. – Tracking the Texas Ranger Historians (University of North Texas Press)

Lynna Kay Shuffield Memorial Award in Texas Jewish History:

  • Jilllian Glantz – Remember My Soul
  • Barbara Rosenthal – Grit & Grace: How Jewish Women Built a Better Texas

Lifetime Achievement and Special Recognitions

Kay Bailey Hutchison Award for Women’s Achievements in Texas History:

  • Linda Sioux Henley

2026 TSHA Fellowship Inductions:

  • Mary Margaret McAllen, PhD
  • Anne J. Bailey, PhD

The recipients will be formally recognized at the TSHA 130th Annual Meeting in Irving, Texas, March 4–7, 2026. For more information about TSHA awards and fellowships, please visit tshaonline.org/awards.

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Founded as a private, nonprofit educational organization on March 2, 1897, and housed at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is reinforced by more than one hundred years of scholarship. Its mission is to further the appreciation, understanding, and teaching of the rich and unique history of Texas through research, writing, publication, and educational programs. For more information, please visit https://tshaonline.org.

Join us for a weekend of history, heritage, and community at the iconic Menger Hotel—just steps from the Alamo. Join us for a weekend of history, heritage, and community at the iconic Menger Hotel—just steps from the Alamo.

Commemorating 250 years of American independence through the stories, people, and places that shaped Texas and the nation.

Texas America 250 logo

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, Texans have a unique opportunity to reflect on the state’s role in the American story. Through exhibitions, programs, educational initiatives, and community events across Texas, Texas America250 encourages celebration, reflection, and commemoration at both local and statewide levels. At the Texas State Historical Association, we are proud to support this important moment through our mission-driven work in history education and public engagement, including Texas History Day, and we invite students, educators, and communities to explore this milestone in meaningful ways.

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On July 4, 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Long may these ideals live in the heart of every Texan and every American. May God bless all who have defended our freedoms that we enjoy each day. And God bless the United States of America.

Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas

Commemorating 250 years of American independence through the stories, people, and places that shaped Texas and the nation.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, Texans have a unique opportunity to reflect on the state’s role in the American story. Through exhibitions, programs, educational initiatives, and community events across Texas, Texas America250 encourages celebration, reflection, and commemoration at both local and statewide levels. At the Texas State Historical Association, we are proud to support this important moment through our mission-driven work in history education and public engagement, including Texas History Day, and we invite students, educators, and communities to explore this milestone in meaningful ways.

“

On July 4, 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Long may these ideals live in the heart of every Texan and every American. May God bless all who have defended our freedoms that we enjoy each day. And God bless the United States of America.

Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas

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