For a good part of this year, I’ve been working with my colleague Josh Conrad (Clio GIS) on the Texas Dance Hall Database that currently lives at the University of San Antonio’s Center for Cultural Sustainability. Josh, who is a GIS wizard and one of the smartest people I know, assembled lists of dance halls from many different sources to create a map of these historic resources which we plan to make public once we’ve cleaned up the data. Right now, I have a pretty big Excel spreadsheet that I’m getting ready to work in, once Josh and I have the chance to discuss and agree upon some conventions for how the data will be presented (consistently) so that it can be easily queried down the road. Getting to dig into this data will be pretty exciting, once we’ve done some “data hygiene”.
Becoming an Author, For Real
Yesterday, I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a PhD in Public History. My dissertation was titled, “Equity for the Ancestors: African American Cemeteries in Southern Urban Spaces and the National Register of Historic Places.” One chapter focused on my analysis of cemeteries listed in the National Register and the different strategies used for African American cemeteries versus White (not Hispanic) cemeteries. Eventually, I plan to use that portion of my dissertation as a jumping-off point for a scholarly book.
But first, I am working on a book about Texas dance halls. I also have been invited to submit a book proposal to a series at Texas A&M University Press, and I have several ideas for trade publications. Ultimately, I would like to develop a state-by-state encyclopedia of American ballrooms and dance halls.
My previous publications include Lighthouses of Texas, for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series — which functions as sort of a “starter” book experience for many of us in historic preservation. I also was invited to write two sidebars for Buildings of Texas, Volume 1, edited by Gerald Moorhead and published by the Society of Architectural Historians and am credited for that very minor contribution.
I’m excited about finally getting to focus on writing books (in addition to working my day job as a historic preservation professional).