Saturday, January 25, 2014

A Celebration!

Today at Bayou Bend, Ima Hogg’s former home, now a part of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, there is a celebration of THE HOGGS OF TEXAS: LETTERS AND MEMOIRS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY TEXAS FAMILY, 1887-1906, published in November 2013 by the Texas State Historical Association. www.tamupress.com/Catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?search=Hoggs 
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         I began work on it in 2008--the year of Hurricane Ike. In archives in Houston and in Austin I sorted through hundreds of letters the Hoggs and their close relatives had written to each other. Ima had seen to it that most of them were carefully preserved. Sometime in the 1970s she also began a memoir, working diligently, composing many drafts. It begins with her recollectios of life in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, and ends with her descriptions of student days at the University of Texas and music studies in New York in the early 1900s. We are much the poorer because she did not live long enough to finish it.
         Portions of the memoir are woven into the book, stitching together the narrative of a remarkable family. If Ima had been present at Bayou Bend on January 25, 2014, I think that she would have been pleased.
         She would also be pleased to have visitors at Bayou Bend. You can go to this site to find out more.

http://www.mfah.org/visit/bayou-bend-collection-and-gardens/


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