J. E. Spencer, chairman of the history department, attended the meeting of the Southern History Association in Houston last weekend.
The purpose of the three-day conference was for professional historians to exchange ideas in the field and for the presentation of new books or studies in the field.
Out of the meetings attended, Spencer found three to be the most interesting and informative. These were “The Colonial Background for Understanding Modern America,” “Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Party in the South,” and “Latin American Governments and the Church.”
“I was particularly impressed with Professor William Harbaugh’s study of the administration of Theodore Roosevelt,” said Spencer.
Among the outstanding historians at the convention were William Harbaugh and Norman Graebner, University of Virginia; Gerold Grob, Rutgers University; Hans Hillerbrand, Graduate Center of the City University of New York; Donald Worcester, TCU; Manoel Cardoza, the Catholic University of America; John Hope Franklin, University of Chicago; Eugene Genovese, University of Rochester; David D. Davis, Yale University; Frank Vandiver, Rice University; Fred Eric Pike, University of Notre Dame; and August Meier, Kent State University.
Spencer said, “Many students are reading works by these historians for outside reading.” John Hope Franklin is the author of one of the textbooks currently in use at TC and is also president of the association for 1971-72.
The next meeting is scheduled to be in Miami, Fla.