Protecting Our Shared History

By Kim Barker

Since 1998, Larry Oaks has been at the helm of the Texas Historical Commission. His legacy is one of great achievement.

For the past 11 years, Texans have counted on Larry Oaks, executive director of the Texas Historical Commission (THC), to protect their shared history. With a staff of nearly 250, the THC consults with citizens, organizations, and local governments to preserve architectural, archeological, and other cultural landmarks across the state. Under Oaks’ leadership, the THC initiated innovative programs to protect resources and empower local communities while supporting and expanding its existing programs. He retires this summer after an illustrious career in preservation that spans three states and more than 30 years.

Oaks has been interested in history for as long as he can remember, visiting antique shops from an early age, studying American Studies in college, and later teaching American government and history at the high-school level. In the mid-1970s, his involvement as chair of an organization fighting to save a combination train depot, county store, and post office in Vienna, Virginia, ignited Oaks’ passion for preservation. Successful in both that effort and the passage of a local preservation ordinance, Oaks moved to Waterford, Virginia, a town with such history that he describes it as “living in a museum.” There Oaks became president of the Waterford Foundation, an organization founded in 1919 to protect the town’s 80 historic resources, which are split nearly evenly between those built before the Revolution, between the Revolution and Civil War, and during the last half of the 19th century. He also started a façade and land easement program that has now protected approximately 75 percent of Waterford’s viewshed.1

These efforts spurred Oaks’ career change from high school principal to professional preservationist and influenced his return to Alabama, where he had lived from birth through graduate school, to serve as executive director of the Alabama Historical Commission. During his 18 years at the AHC, Oaks supervised the restoration of the Alabama State Capitol and helped develop the first statewide Ethnic Heritage Council in the nation and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit membership organization. It was also during his tenure at AHC that Oaks helped rescue Belle Mont, a Palladian-style plantation house constructed between 1828 and 1832, and began restoration efforts to return the mansion to its former glory. With a litany of accomplishments under his belt, Oaks retired from AHC in 1998.

But his retirement was short-lived; Oaks joined the Texas Historical Commission as executive director later that year and relocated to Jonestown, Texas. The THC is an organization that reflects the breadth of preservation with focuses in archeology, architecture, history, economic development, heritage tourism, public administration, and urban planning. Originally formed in 1953 with the goal of identifying important historic sites, the THC has evolved through the decades as preservation has come to embrace a variety of cultures and resource types, as well as an arsenal of economic tools and incentives. Oaks took to Texas quickly and traveled the state to communities large and small, recognizing that all are integral to the history and character of the Lone Star State. He has strived to identify resources associated with the history of all Texans and assist the state’s communities through new economic tools.

Wanting to ensure that all aspects of Texas history are represented, Oaks sought to identify, document, preserve, and interpret the best resources associated with all people, including minority cultures. He understands that although we have a lot to learn from each other’s stories and cultures, people want to see their own history represented and interpreted. To this end, Oaks helped form Preservation Fellows, a college grant program to increase diversity among cultural resource professionals, and under his guidance, the THC published African Americans in Texas: Historical and Cultural Legacies, a travel guide highlighting significant historic sites associated with African Americans. Additionally, the THC partners with the Greater Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Texas Tejano.com, an organization that aims to foster awareness and education about early Texas Tejano pioneers, to promote Tejano Heritage Month (September).

Oaks has also supported his staff to further their understanding of history through research. Oaks was heavily involved in the La Salle projects, including the discovery by THC archeologists of the Belle, a ship of 17th-century French explorer René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, that beached in Matagorda Bay in 1686. The survivors established a colony, Fort St. Louis, on the west bank of Garcitas Creek, that had failed by 1689. Spain, asserting claim to the land, established Presidio La Bahia on the site of the French fort in 1722.

The excavation of the Belle took nearly a year, and because of the volume of artifacts uncovered, the shipwreck is now recognized as one of the most important ever discovered in North America. An incredible array of supplies, totaling more than one million, was discovered and represents a “kit” for establishing a colony in the New World. Artifacts included bronze cannons, glass beads, bronze hawk bells, pottery, and skeletal remains. An intact wine bottle was even found. When Fort St. Louis was excavated, additional weaponry, pottery, and coins as well as skeletal and building remains were discovered. The artifacts are now undergoing conservation maintenance; such discoveries are already furthering the understanding of exploration and colonization of the New World.

Oaks also knows well the role of preservation to revitalize local communities— another focus of his work at the THC. He recognizes that the most successful projects are those in which individuals and local governments are invested in their future. The Visionaries in Preservation (VIP) program, begun in 2002, has aimed to do just that and is a great source of pride for Oaks. VIP staff works with local community groups to “vision” a shared goal for the future and develop a Preservation Action Plan to get there. Along the way, communities build partnerships, develop leadership, and examine what makes places special. Once complete, the community works to implement their action plan. The VIP program has been called “a resounding success” by many, including Dr. Eileen Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Museum of Texas Tech University, and a former THC commissioner. “Larry’s convictions and strength of purpose have convinced communities that grass-roots efforts can bring amazing accomplishments.” She continued, “The Visionaries program has…given (these communities) strategies to take control of historic preservation issues.” Carole Romano, president of Castroville Conservation Society, echoed that sentiment when she noted that the VIP program served as “the beginning of empowerment to effectively protect our town’s unique heritage” of Alsatian architecture and was “a beneficial planning tool for the future.”

Promoting those qualities that make places special is central to the heritage tourism industry. As defined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, heritage tourism is traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. To advance heritage tourism in the state, the THC’s Texas Heritage Trails program was created by the legislature to provide technical, financial, and marketing advice to communities. The program publishes guides that highlight the historic resources of each of ten Texas regions and has helped revitalize communities through increased visitation. Heritage tourism had a nearly $5 billion impact within Texas last year alone. As if that financial success was not enough, the Texas Heritage Trails program received Preserve America’s Presidential Award in 2005.
Under Oaks’ guidance, the Texas Historical Commission also recently expanded its impact on heritage tourism with the formation of its newest division, Historic Sites. Most of these sites were recently acquired by the THC from Texas Parks and Wildlife. The Historic Sites Division has 20 properties for which they provide guidance on architecture, archeology, collection management, interpretation, and marketing. Each site is unique, and they range widely in the type of resource, style, and date of construction. They include, but are not limited to, mounds dating to 800 A.D., defensive Army forts, grand mansions, and memorials; nearly all are open to the public.

Perhaps Oaks’ most well-known initiative is the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. Created by the Texas State Legislature and Governor George W. Bush in 1999, the program’s goal was to identify and restore the state’s impressive and diverse collection of historic county courthouses. Oaks views the state’s courthouses and their stately grounds as “emblematic of how Texans think of themselves.” Speaking of the need for the program, Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth Inc., notes that for many years, the majority of Texas courthouses were unfunded and neglected. However, she observed, the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program, instituted under Oaks’ guidance “has fostered pride, heritage tourism, and economic development in Texas and has become a model for other states.” Of the 235 courthouses eligible for the program, almost 60 have been restored in some capacity to date, and 40 of those are full restorations. The program is an unquestionable success, receiving Preserve America’s prestigious Presidential Award and an Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

It would be easy to go on, but Oaks’ accomplishments are too numerous. Perhaps his legacy, in addition to the dynamic programs discussed above, is that, across Texas, communities are now convinced that, as Dr. Johnson said, “grass-roots efforts can bring amazing accomplishments.” Not only are communities now empowered to help preserve the places that are special to them, but in working with the Texas Historical Commission, they have the tools to do so.

Oaks will leave the THC better resourced with innovative programs, a highly capable staff, and a dynamic commission of 17 members. He foresees an easy transition to the leadership of Mark Wolfe, who has been functioning as chief deputy executive director/deputy state historic preservation officer since last fall, and who will become executive director of the THC upon Oaks’ retirement. Because Oaks’ heart will always be in historical preservation, he won’t be able to completely leave it, but for now, his plans for retirement are filled with fly-fishing, bird hunting, and travel with his wife Susan. H

Kim Barker is a preservationist living in Austin.

1 Easements are the donation of certain rights to develop or alter a landscape or building (the façade of a building in the case of a façade easement) in exchange for favorable tax treatment. A viewshed is the land area visible from a specific site or area. Easements are put in place to ensure that non-compatible uses or developments do not mar the landscape within a historic site’s viewshed and thus alter the meaning of the historic resources.