April 16, 2024 • 32 mins
Scott and Gene talk with Misty Lanham, a dedicated public historian at Texas's most iconic monument. Misty sheds light on tales often lost in the shadows of the Alamo's grand narrative. She takes us behind the scenes on the painstaking efforts to protect the Alamo and reveals the ambitious projects underway. This episode is a tribute to the unsung heroes of historical conservation, as Misty shares the complexities and triumphs of curating an authentic experience for visitors from all corners of the world.
The Alamo's Website: https://www.thealamo.org/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is not sponsored by and does not
reflect the views of theinstitutions that employ us.
It is solely our thoughts andideas, based upon our
professional training and studyof the past.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to Talking Texas History, the podcast that
explores Texas history beforeand beyond the Alamo.
Not only will we talk Texashistory, we'll visit with folks
who teach it, write it, supportit, and with some who've made it
and, of course, all of us wholive it and love it.
Welcome to another edition ofTalking Texas History.
(00:39):
I'm Gene Price.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm Scott Sosby.
Gene, in our opening bit youalways mention the Alamo.
It's our standard opening, butwe've never had anything on the
Alamo before, have we?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, no, I mean I say you know beyond the Alamo
and we've never gotten to theAlamo.
So I guess it's time we look atthe Alamo.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think it is.
And so we have a guest today,Misty Lanham, who is a former
SFA student.
So we, that's that's oneconnection.
But she actually works at theAlamo and she helps to take care
of the Alamo every day and hasgreat Alamo stories.
So, Misty, welcome to TalkingTexas History.
Why don't you tell ourlisteners first, just to get to
(01:21):
know a little bit about yourself, your education, how you came
to work at the Alamo, thingslike that in your position as
well?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely Well.
First off, thanks for having me.
And so for my background, Iwent to undergrad at Sam Houston
.
I did history and geology andthen I'm sure the people at SFA
would say I got smart and I wentover to Stephen F Austin for
public history and I actually Ireally shopped around for that
program there are a couple inthe state and I felt that SFA
(01:52):
just had really fantasticopportunities and so that's why
I chose to go there.
Um, I was drawn to publichistory.
I think so many of us have astory similar to this.
I was in eighth grade and Iwent with my grandmother to
Johnson City and we went to theSarah Beckman farm and I saw a
woman there make it like dressedout in 1800s attire making
(02:14):
peach cobbler over a fire, and Iwas like man.
That's what I want to do withmy life.
I haven't quite made it to that.
I'm sure there areopportunities that I could grasp
if there was, but I eventuallycame to work at the Alamo.
I, um, I got out of grad school, I went and worked contract for
(02:36):
the military for a while inGermany and whenever I got back
I just started applying to asmany jobs as possible.
I probably applied to over ahundred of them.
Um, and very thankfully, theAlamo gave me a call.
I didn't even hope that I wouldhear back from them, because
it's kind of like the dream jobin Texas in so many ways and, um
(02:58):
, I was just really fortunatethat my resume stuck, I guess.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was the fine education that you got.
That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, I guess that you know everybody talks about
the Alamo and you know that'skind of the icon of Texas and
Texas history.
Uh, you're at that site everyday and you see not only it from
a uh, you know somebody who iscoming to the Alamo, but also as
a historian and, uh, behind thescenes, uh, professional.
(03:31):
So tell us something peopledon't know about the Alamo.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think something that is so fantastic about the
Alamo and the Alamo story andour interpretation is that often
with historic sites or historicevents, you get the complaint
that, oh well, this story comesfrom a bunch of old, dead rich
white guys.
Um, and that's that actually iskind of relevant and it tells a
(03:59):
lot about the time period,because they were often the most
educated, they were writingcorrespondence, they were active
in society, and so they doleave a bigger um written record
than some of the others.
But what's so fantastic aboutthe Alamo is that the majority
of the story that we get on thetext and behalf comes from an
enslaved person and women and,um, that's just so very
(04:23):
different from other, especiallybattlefields, and so a lot of
our story comes from Joe, who isallowed to leave after the
battle.
He goes and he tells theconvention, he goes and he tells
the convention, he goes andtells everybody that will listen
.
Basically, here's what happenedat the Alamo.
This is kind of a warning,because they're headed your way
and we have the same withSusanna Dickinson and Wanda
(04:45):
Owlsbury and so many of thesewomen.
They go along and they sharetheir story and that's how we
know about what was taking place.
There are gaps, because thoseindividuals went into hiding
during the battle, and so wehave to take into account the
fact that none of them wereliterate and so they were not
able to write their own story.
(05:05):
Somebody else had to write thatdown for them, so we have to
take into consideration.
Well, did that person embellisha little?
Did they put it into their ownwords?
We know, um, because WilliamFairfax Gray wrote that he felt
that Joe was a very well-spokenindividual, and so we feel that
that's a pretty truetranscription of what he wrote.
It's just, it's such a greatopportunity to tell the story of
(05:28):
kind of the historical other aswell.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know that's a that's a great response.
Let me ask, ask you a follow-upquestion to that.
And, and that is because You'reabsolutely right, the people,
the men who fought defending theAlamo did not survive, and so
the story, as you point out, isreally the story of the
(05:56):
participants, who people whodidn't participate but were in
hiding, and I think that's, youknow, that's an interesting
point that I'm very glad youbrought up, because you know so
much of what people do thinkthey know about the Alamo is
based upon, you know, waltDisney movies from the 50s.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I have to say also there there's absolutely value
in Disney and John Wayne AlamoBecause that brought attention
to the story.
There there's embellishment,there's not a hundred percent
accuracy, but so many of thepeople who support our site I
mean Phil Collins is a fantasticexample of this because he
(06:39):
watched Disney's Davy KrockeKing of the Wild Frontier.
I believe that I read that thatwas the first song that he sang
in public and he won a talentshow when he was five and that
just created a lifelong love ofthe subject.
And he goes off, he becomesfamous, he has money and
suddenly he can buy this historyand help preserve it.
(07:00):
And now it's come back to usand so, while we laugh at Disney
and John Wayne, it's absolutelyhelpful to the story and
building the love of the story.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I guess exactly right , mean we do like to you know as
as professional story, andsometimes we probably are too
hard on Disney and all.
We don't think about the factthat, hey, at least this builds
interest, and people have, andthat's been a big interest to
that.
The management of the Alamo isundergone change and starting in
2011, it shifted fromManagement by the daughters of
(07:35):
the Republic of Texas and cameunder the umbrella of the Texas
General Land Office, and theyreally embrace the
interpretation, the Alamo andenhancement of the Alamo
experience for visitors.
So won't you let us know, sinceyou're involved in that, what
are some of the projects thatare going on right now, the
Alamo things?
I guess Jean and I'll be dead,probably, but you're young,
(07:58):
you'll be around for a long timein 2034, 2044, what might be
some things that people will seeat the Alamo that we don't see
now?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Oh, my goodness, I hope they y'all are, because I
would love for y'all to get tosee all of this.
But if we let's bring it intothe a little bit more near
future, let's say 2027, becausewe've got some big deadlines
coming up, and so the firstthing that is going to pop up is
should be open summer next yearis a brand new education center
.
So in the past, school groupsbasically pulled their buses up
(08:32):
to the front of the site.
They open the doors and theylet the kids run, and that's, of
course, not for lack ofteachers trying.
But you know, field tripsthey're all jacked up on sugar.
You just do your best sometimes, and so what the education
center is going to be able tooffer is an orientation before
going on to site.
I think that one of the reallygreat experiences that I had in
(08:54):
visiting a historic site waswhen I went to Pearl Harbor.
You have to go into the theaterand you have to watch the video
so that you understand whatyou're about to see, so that
when you're standing on theArizona, you know the, the scope
and you know the weight of thathistory that you're on, and so
that will be helpful.
It'll have classrooms, it'llhave demonstration areas and
(09:16):
from what I hear, they're evenplanning a demonstration garden
with a working as a key so thatwe can talk about mission farms
and things like that.
So that's coming up very soon.
We are currently in the processand this will be an ongoing
project Conservation work on thehistoric structures.
So we call the church in thelong beric artifact one and two,
(09:37):
and we absolutely have to takecare of those, and so we've done
moisture monitoring.
Our conservator did what shecalled the black paper project,
and so she put black paperaround the edges of the room and
measured wall loss and it wasactually a very significant
amount.
And so they're going throughand they're trying to figure out
(09:57):
what we can best do to keep thebuildings in the best condition
possible.
Sometimes it involvesarcheology to look down on their
foundations, and so we'llcontinue doing that work and I
know, coming up pretty soonwe'll have some work on the
facade, because these ice stormsthat come through really can do
some damage, and so taking careof our buildings, it's a huge
(10:19):
priority, of course.
And then the biggest, literallythe biggest is our visitor
center and museum, which we'rehoping will be open by 2027.
And so this building, it's anentire city block to start off
with, and so we're going from aone room museum, which we
formerly had Now we have thecollection center, to a full
(10:41):
city block and we'll have a freelobby, and so that'll give some
educational opportunities.
It has eight galleries, therewill be a 40 theater that goes
over the entire 300 plus yearhistory, and then over to the
side where the Woolworthbuilding once stood, we'll have
a civil rights counter to talkabout that important history
that took place on Alamo Plaza,and so all of those things
(11:04):
coming together, I'm sure thatwe'll add more to these projects
, but actually in the very nearfuture we have some incredibly
exciting stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, it's really is exciting.
It's been what the GLO's beengoing on.
People may not realize that howmuch has changed since the GLO
took it over in 2011.
And all these landcommissioners have.
That's been a big part of whatthey've been doing in the office
and they've done great work atthe Alamo.
I think that this is excitingfor anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know, missy, I'm curious about the age of the
Alamo walls.
I guess I don't know exactly.
Do they have?
What is the date on the walls?
Do they date to the 1700s orare they more recent than that?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So it really depends on the area.
So if we're talking about thechurch, the majority of the
walls on the church I believe wesay about 80% do date back to
the Mission era and the church.
They attempted to construct itin 1744.
Part of it collapsed in andthey relocated and started again
, and so the majority of thewalls date to 1756.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
OK On the long.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's good to know.
Yeah, yeah, on the long barric,it's less than that, because
the US military came in theyused that as storage, as they
did with the church.
But the church was a little bitsturdier.
The long barric, they built itup.
They put a second story all theway around.
Then it was a mercantile for awhile and so that one got a
(12:35):
little rougher treatment.
And so I believe we say that'sabout 30% possibly original and
that's mostly that front wallthat faces the plaza.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, I think most people you know just assume that
it was all built 1718.
Or maybe aren't aware of theage.
And it's good that you guysknow the dates of that, because
then to figure out how much ofit is lost, that's something I
had never really considered.
Is that some of that is goingto deteriorate over time?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Well, it's funny that you bring that up, because so
often I think people go on likethe riverboat tours and a few
other things, and they learnthat the Alamo was established
in 1718.
It moved a couple of times andthen we have the current Alamo
and from that they take wepicked up the church and we
relocated it to the site, and soa lot of times visitors come up
(13:33):
and they say oh my gosh, Ican't believe you move this into
downtown, not understandingthat the plaza and all of these
buildings built up around it andit actually shows the
continuing significance of thesite that it is so built up
around it because everybody wascoming in the US military and
then it was a warehouse and allof these different things.
(13:54):
And so whenever they say 1718,they're not realizing that's
when it was established.
It was closer to the river,there were floods, so they had
to move it, and now we're on thesite that these particular
buildings have always been on.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And many people just think of the chapel as being the
Alamo, but it was actually amuch larger complex.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Absolutely, and that's another thing we hear
very often.
You know it's so sad that thecity of San Antonio didn't save
all of the Alamo.
Well, the city of San Antonioas we know it now didn't exist
at that point.
But also I'm reading through afew resources right now and it
talks about the different areasin history.
As these outer buildings weretaken down, and really soon
(14:35):
after the Battle of the Alamo,the Mexican army didn't want
this to be a defensible positionagain and so they welcomed to
the people from the town tobring their carts and to gather
stone and to take down thoseexterior buildings and use them
for their own building projects.
So one it's cool because theremight be Alamo stone and other
historic buildings around town,but also the demolition of the
(14:57):
Alamo site as a whole began atvery long time ago.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Very interesting.
Now you have been part of a newexhibit that has, you know,
come home to the Alamo, so canyou tell us a little bit about
this exhibit and how you goabout curating such an exhibit
to get these items on display?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Absolutely so.
The exhibit that we currentlyhave centers around one very
important artifact, and that isthe Travis letter from February,
february 24th 1836, the secondday of the siege.
This was an exciting projectfor me personally, because when
it was last year, 10 years ago,I was a student at SFA and so I
(15:46):
drove all the way to see it andmy cohort was like you're crazy,
we have assignments doing it,but what if it never comes back?
And so whenever I got the callfrom our executive director this
summer that said, hey, whydon't you put in a request and
see if we can get it again, itreally felt like this whole full
circle moment is like well, Iguess I do get to see it.
(16:07):
It's not a once in the lasttime, it's a twice in my
lifetime, and so that was veryexciting.
There are so many considerationsthat go into bringing that
caliber of an artifact to thesite, and so one of the
advantages that we had this timearound is that we have this new
(16:27):
collection center.
Previously it was displayed inthe church, which were not able
to climate control to the degreethat we came to modern building
, and so the fact that we have areally great HVAC system in
here is helpful.
We also did many walkthroughswith DPS to check security.
If we needed to evacuate it Forsome reason, what we would do,
(16:52):
we had all sorts of contingencyplans in place.
And then the main thing, goingback to climate control, is just
being sure that with the crazyTexas weather I mean in
wintertime it can be 30 or itcan be 80.
It can be in 100% humidity howdo we mitigate all of those
different factors?
And so we had to dig into allof that.
(17:13):
A lot of it is owed to a reallyfantastic case that is properly
sealed up, but just making surethat we take care of that we
have the proper lightingcontrols.
We had T-slack come and visit acouple of times they're the
ones that have the letter andprotect it and so they came to
make sure that everything wasgoing well.
(17:33):
And so we have that about onemore week and then we'll be
switching out to a brand newexhibit.
But the exhibit that we created, we wanted to make sure that it
went along with the theme ofthe letter, and so we also
talked about couriers and thehorses of the Texas Revolution,
and since that letter wascarried by courier and helped
spread the word of the siege.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's really interesting.
I saw the letter when peacelike put it up what a couple of
years ago maybe or somethinglike that.
And you know, it's one of thosethings you can get cynical when
you do this for a living.
It's a letter, it's not thatbig of a deal, but I actually
got a little tingle when Iactually got over to look at it.
It was something that I wasn'texpecting to have, of course.
That doesn't that's.
That's.
That's great.
(18:16):
These type of things can comehome and and be displayed on
this.
Did you all have to?
I mean, when you said you putin a request to put it up, was
it simply hey, call peace likeand said, hey, can we see the
out?
The have the Travis letter overhere.
What steps did you have to gothrough to actually make that
happen?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
It is a little bit more intense than that.
So we had to write a letter ofrequest that talked about why
this was a good time to bring itout, how we felt that it would
contribute not only to what wehave going on on the site right
now but also to the Travisletter and to T slack that
(18:57):
really that it's worthwhile andit's worth I don't want to say
the potential damage, but everytime you take that document out
and it's potentially exposed tothe sun, that does cause a
degree of damage, and so reallyhaving to justify why they
should take it out of a darkroom and let us display it, and
(19:17):
so sending in that letter, andthen it had to go before their
commission a couple of times,and then it had to.
The contract had to bounce backand forth between legal a few
times as well, and then theydelivered it kind of in the
middle of the night with the DPSescort and that's how it's
going to go home as well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What was the response ?
Like, I mean, y'all haveincreased and visited people
specifically come to to see theletter.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Oh, absolutely, and I would say that our, our members
have gotten the best deal outof it.
So you buy a membership and youget to get into the collection
center free, every day, as manytimes as you want, and so we had
a few people, especially whocame down for the commemoration
of the battle, who would justbop in a couple of times a day
and check it out.
(20:06):
But overall, especially lastweek was our big spring break
week and I I have not seennumbers like that in this
building.
This building is only a yearold, but I walked out into it
and I was like man COVID's over.
I was planning to go to SanAntonio.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
We were planning to go to San Antonio last week when
we decided not to.
I guess if it was big crowds,I'm glad that we didn't at all.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
What are some of the standard questions, or maybe
even the, the, the, the, the,the, the, the most unusual
questions you get?
I mean, I'm sure people ask tosee the line in the sand, right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Oh, yes.
So that can be broken into many, many things.
I will say the majority ofpeople who visit, especially who
come from other places andhaven't gone through Texas
history like we get to if youlive in the States, they come
(21:09):
here because someone told themthat they should, or because
they know it's a significantsite, but often they don't know
why.
Or they know about the battle,but they don't know more of the
context.
Maybe they don't know about themission, or they don't know
that the battle of the Alamowasn't a standalone.
It was within a biggerrevolution.
(21:30):
And so oftentimes one of thecommon questions that we get, or
kind of one of the challenges,is tell me the history of the
site in two minutes, or whathappened here, and it's like how
long do you have?
And that's when you get thelimit of like two minutes,
because we could go on and on.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, what's the elevator speech on the Alamo?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Right, and so I think they want to know why the Alamo
is talked about in pop culture,why it's referred to in history
so often, why they shouldremember it, why Peewee Herman
came here, all of thosedifferent things.
And so trying to build up thatcontext for them, which I feel
is going to be a little biteasier in the future because of
(22:17):
the projects that we've hadgoing on so recently, we
reconstructed the Palisade, weare currently in the process of
reconstructing the South Gateand Lunettes and we've
reconstructed the 18 pound linenplatform.
Yes, oh wow, when you walk ontothe plaza they're still doing a
little bit of work, but whenyou walk onto the plaza and you
(22:39):
see those things and they lookvery odd for an urban center,
you're like wait, I'm walkinginto something.
And so as we continue those, Ithink that that context will
start to build and maybe peoplewill have a little bit more
understanding by the time theyget into the church.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's great.
That's great.
I didn't know that.
That's fantastic.
I'll have to go back now forsure to do that.
Joe, just as an aside, as weall referenced, there's certain
people you know.
We talk about Peewee and comingand the basement.
They won't get it.
Next summer it will have been40 years since that movie came
out.
Can you believe that, 40 yearssince that movie came out?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So there's a whole lot of people don't even know
about the basement to the Alamo,and Scott still shows it in
class as true history?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, I think it's history.
You know, let's shift gearsjust a little bit.
Can I talk?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
about one more thing.
I'm sorry, sure sure I want toget into unusuals real quick.
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So one of the things and I think that it's because
people don't sometimes know whythey're coming to the Alamo and
they lump all of this kind oflike wild west, cowboys and
Indians type history in with oneanother, and so we really get
asked pretty frequently aboutDaniel Boone, custer and Little
(24:03):
Bighorn.
And then also one of the thingsthat has been most shocking to
me is that I've been askedmultiple times about things that
are in the Holy Land, and so Ihad somebody come up to me one
time and they said where is thestone?
And I'm like we're in thechurch, it's all around ya.
(24:24):
And they were like no, theAlamo stone.
And I was like, yes, here.
They said no.
Whenever the whole place wasblown up and there was the one
stone that survived and it'ssuper special and that's why we
remember it I was like I don'tthink that's here.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Wow, it's like there's a sword coming out of it
.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Right.
And so I had another instancewhich kind of made me bring that
back around.
A little boy walked up to me.
He was about six years old andhe just had tears streaming down
his face.
Now it's not uncommon for kidsto cry when they go into the
church, because you go fromlight to dark and they're not
sure what they're going into andthat sort of thing.
But this little boy walked upto me crying and said is this
(25:11):
where Jesus died?
And he's like oh honey, likeit's very important to us Texans
, but it's not quite that level.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Jesus, that's the Alamo.
Well, don't give certain peoplethat some ideas.
You know what I'm saying.
Let's shift gears just a littlebit, because I want us to get
in Cause.
We have a lot of students wholisten to our podcast, or so I'm
told.
You're a trained publichistorian.
You went through a program.
Tell our audience how yourtraining helps you to get this
(25:41):
job and prepare you for this job.
And if a student came to youright now and said I'm thinking
of going into public history,what advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So I think back to school there.
Quite often you would start onthe first day of your classes
and the professor I'm thinkingabout, dr Sandel, would say what
is public history?
And you really feel like asmart elic when he looks around
and it's like, okay, well, I'mgonna raise my hand.
Public history is how we createhistory for the public.
(26:13):
It's like well, duh, but it'squite different than academic
history, because in publichistory you can't work under the
assumption that your visitorhas any sort of context or
background for it, and so inyour presentation you have to
make it approachable andunderstandable for all ages,
knowledges, language levels, andone of the terms it's just one
(26:36):
word that we run into quiteoften here at the Alamo that
makes that come back to us issecularization.
I mean, there's not anothergood word for it.
It's closing the mission,closing down the church, giving
the lands to the former missioninhabitants and that sort of
(26:57):
thing.
But the average person, theaverage eight-year-old, doesn't
know what secularization is.
Somebody who speaks a foreignlanguage probably doesn't know
what that is.
And so making that historyunderstandable and approachable
for everybody.
And so, going back to thinkingabout SFA, and why I chose the
program was that there were somany great hands-on
(27:20):
opportunities in Nacodotius andthe surrounding area and so
through our classes and throughinternships and those sort of
things, we learned how to writehistorical markers, iclean
gravestones for many summers,did historic structure surveys,
we learned how to do oralhistory interviews.
We process collections, wedigitize collections, present
(27:41):
papers, research, all of thesethings.
And it gave such a well-roundededucation that when
opportunities have popped uphere at the Alamo, I either
already know how to do them or Ihave the skill set to figure it
out and do a pretty good job.
And so the other day I wasasked by one of our employees
hey, should I go to school for amuseum studies degree?
(28:04):
And while that's great and thatgives you some specialization
that I didn't get, publichistory is so well-rounded that
if I wasn't able to find a jobat a historic site, there's an
archive, there's a library,there's research opportunities,
and so in that way I think thatit's just it's a really great
path and so kind of what I wouldpass along and I remember you
(28:26):
saying this, dr Stacey is thatyou take the opportunities that
you can and you build up yourskill sets.
You can't assume that you'regonna graduate and you get to go
right into curation.
People work their entirecareers to get those jobs.
So, as nicely as possible, getin line.
(28:48):
Take the job that you can getthat pays your bills.
Learn some skills and build up.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
That's a good, that's great advice, and I'm gonna say
so everybody we're on publicforum, for everybody can see
you've done that better thanalmost any graduate we've had.
You have really taken the balland run with it.
We're very proud of you here,that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Oh my gosh, thank you .
I just kind of going into that.
I don't wanna be the mean meanparade, but for an example for
people who maybe don't believethat that process works.
I started here at the Elmo as atour guide, but because of
those experiences that I had atSFA and previously I mean even
(29:31):
Sunday school and Vacation,bible School and little
volunteer things that I didbecause of that I was able to
move into the educationdepartment and I helped to
coordinate field trips, I madelesson plans, we did virtual
learning, we did summer camp andthen I moved into marketing.
People don't think of marketingand history, but when I was
(29:52):
working social media, I had anaudience of 150,000 people who
had to listen to me talk abouthistory every day, which is
pretty cool.
It's a little intimidating alsobecause everybody has an
opinion.
And then I was able to comeinto collections manager.
I'm still not a curator I'm onyear eight and a half but with
(30:13):
building that skill set,building up the CV and doing the
work and taking theopportunities as they present
themselves, it really can leadyou to great places.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
When we wrap up our show, we like to ask our guests
one question, and that is MistyLanham, what do you know?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Do y'all know that this is a very intimidating
question for everybody, but Ithink that what I know, and I
hope that many people realize,is that we have some incredibly
wonderful, fantastic, amazingminds working in history,
(30:59):
specifically Texas history andpublic history.
Right now we have theopportunity here at the Alamo to
work with some of the othersites and museums in Texas, and
so we've done events in the pastwhere we ask the other Texas
Revolution sites to come andrepresent their sites here on
(31:19):
the ground to help build thatcontext and help people to
understand that the Battle ofthe Alamo wasn't stand alone.
And when you get the people fromthe Independence Trail and you
get Scott McMahon from Goliath,brian McCauley from San Felipe,
all the wonderful people over atSan Jacinto who are shooting
canons on the weekends and theLiving History Farm at
(31:40):
Washington on the Brassus, andwe all come together, it creates
this really fantasticexperience because we're all
kind of in these adjacent areasthat are so interrelated but
also very different andcontribute very well to one
another.
And then on top of that youhave the Forge Trail and Cody
(32:02):
Mowbly out there figuring outhow to make an amber type
machine and taking pictures ofpeople on glass and all of the
museums and historic sitesaround the state that when we
come together and we worktogether, we are so much better
off for it because of theseincredible minds and the passion
(32:22):
and the work that everybody'sputting in.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
This is great.
This is fantastic.
I'm glad you came on.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Okay, thank y'all All right, bye-bye.
Bye-bye, okay, bye.
This podcast is not sponsored by and does not
reflect the views of theinstitutions that employ us.
It is solely our thoughts andideas, based upon our
professional training and studyof the past.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to Talking Texas History, the podcast that
explores Texas history beforeand beyond the Alamo.
Not only will we talk Texashistory, we'll visit with folks
who teach it, write it, supportit, and with some who've made it
and, of course, all of us wholive it and love it.
Welcome to another edition ofTalking Texas History.
(00:39):
I'm Gene Price.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm Scott Sosby.
Gene, in our opening bit youalways mention the Alamo.
It's our standard opening, butwe've never had anything on the
Alamo before, have we?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, no, I mean I say you know beyond the Alamo
and we've never gotten to theAlamo.
So I guess it's time we look atthe Alamo.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I think it is.
And so we have a guest today,Misty Lanham, who is a former
SFA student.
So we, that's that's oneconnection.
But she actually works at theAlamo and she helps to take care
of the Alamo every day and hasgreat Alamo stories.
So, Misty, welcome to TalkingTexas History.
Why don't you tell ourlisteners first, just to get to
(01:21):
know a little bit about yourself, your education, how you came
to work at the Alamo, thingslike that in your position as
well?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Absolutely Well.
First off, thanks for having me.
And so for my background, Iwent to undergrad at Sam Houston
.
I did history and geology andthen I'm sure the people at SFA
would say I got smart and I wentover to Stephen F Austin for
public history and I actually Ireally shopped around for that
program there are a couple inthe state and I felt that SFA
(01:52):
just had really fantasticopportunities and so that's why
I chose to go there.
Um, I was drawn to publichistory.
I think so many of us have astory similar to this.
I was in eighth grade and Iwent with my grandmother to
Johnson City and we went to theSarah Beckman farm and I saw a
woman there make it like dressedout in 1800s attire making
(02:14):
peach cobbler over a fire, and Iwas like man.
That's what I want to do withmy life.
I haven't quite made it to that.
I'm sure there areopportunities that I could grasp
if there was, but I eventuallycame to work at the Alamo.
I, um, I got out of grad school, I went and worked contract for
(02:36):
the military for a while inGermany and whenever I got back
I just started applying to asmany jobs as possible.
I probably applied to over ahundred of them.
Um, and very thankfully, theAlamo gave me a call.
I didn't even hope that I wouldhear back from them, because
it's kind of like the dream jobin Texas in so many ways and, um
(02:58):
, I was just really fortunatethat my resume stuck, I guess.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
It was the fine education that you got.
That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, I guess that you know everybody talks about
the Alamo and you know that'skind of the icon of Texas and
Texas history.
Uh, you're at that site everyday and you see not only it from
a uh, you know somebody who iscoming to the Alamo, but also as
a historian and, uh, behind thescenes, uh, professional.
(03:31):
So tell us something peopledon't know about the Alamo.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I think something that is so fantastic about the
Alamo and the Alamo story andour interpretation is that often
with historic sites or historicevents, you get the complaint
that, oh well, this story comesfrom a bunch of old, dead rich
white guys.
Um, and that's that actually iskind of relevant and it tells a
(03:59):
lot about the time period,because they were often the most
educated, they were writingcorrespondence, they were active
in society, and so they doleave a bigger um written record
than some of the others.
But what's so fantastic aboutthe Alamo is that the majority
of the story that we get on thetext and behalf comes from an
enslaved person and women and,um, that's just so very
(04:23):
different from other, especiallybattlefields, and so a lot of
our story comes from Joe, who isallowed to leave after the
battle.
He goes and he tells theconvention, he goes and he tells
the convention, he goes andtells everybody that will listen
.
Basically, here's what happenedat the Alamo.
This is kind of a warning,because they're headed your way
and we have the same withSusanna Dickinson and Wanda
(04:45):
Owlsbury and so many of thesewomen.
They go along and they sharetheir story and that's how we
know about what was taking place.
There are gaps, because thoseindividuals went into hiding
during the battle, and so wehave to take into account the
fact that none of them wereliterate and so they were not
able to write their own story.
(05:05):
Somebody else had to write thatdown for them, so we have to
take into consideration.
Well, did that person embellisha little?
Did they put it into their ownwords?
We know, um, because WilliamFairfax Gray wrote that he felt
that Joe was a very well-spokenindividual, and so we feel that
that's a pretty truetranscription of what he wrote.
It's just, it's such a greatopportunity to tell the story of
(05:28):
kind of the historical other aswell.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know that's a that's a great response.
Let me ask, ask you a follow-upquestion to that.
And, and that is because You'reabsolutely right, the people,
the men who fought defending theAlamo did not survive, and so
the story, as you point out, isreally the story of the
(05:56):
participants, who people whodidn't participate but were in
hiding, and I think that's, youknow, that's an interesting
point that I'm very glad youbrought up, because you know so
much of what people do thinkthey know about the Alamo is
based upon, you know, waltDisney movies from the 50s.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I have to say also there there's absolutely value
in Disney and John Wayne AlamoBecause that brought attention
to the story.
There there's embellishment,there's not a hundred percent
accuracy, but so many of thepeople who support our site I
mean Phil Collins is a fantasticexample of this because he
(06:39):
watched Disney's Davy KrockeKing of the Wild Frontier.
I believe that I read that thatwas the first song that he sang
in public and he won a talentshow when he was five and that
just created a lifelong love ofthe subject.
And he goes off, he becomesfamous, he has money and
suddenly he can buy this historyand help preserve it.
(07:00):
And now it's come back to usand so, while we laugh at Disney
and John Wayne, it's absolutelyhelpful to the story and
building the love of the story.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I guess exactly right , mean we do like to you know as
as professional story, andsometimes we probably are too
hard on Disney and all.
We don't think about the factthat, hey, at least this builds
interest, and people have, andthat's been a big interest to
that.
The management of the Alamo isundergone change and starting in
2011, it shifted fromManagement by the daughters of
(07:35):
the Republic of Texas and cameunder the umbrella of the Texas
General Land Office, and theyreally embrace the
interpretation, the Alamo andenhancement of the Alamo
experience for visitors.
So won't you let us know, sinceyou're involved in that, what
are some of the projects thatare going on right now, the
Alamo things?
I guess Jean and I'll be dead,probably, but you're young,
(07:58):
you'll be around for a long timein 2034, 2044, what might be
some things that people will seeat the Alamo that we don't see
now?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Oh, my goodness, I hope they y'all are, because I
would love for y'all to get tosee all of this.
But if we let's bring it intothe a little bit more near
future, let's say 2027, becausewe've got some big deadlines
coming up, and so the firstthing that is going to pop up is
should be open summer next yearis a brand new education center
.
So in the past, school groupsbasically pulled their buses up
(08:32):
to the front of the site.
They open the doors and theylet the kids run, and that's, of
course, not for lack ofteachers trying.
But you know, field tripsthey're all jacked up on sugar.
You just do your best sometimes, and so what the education
center is going to be able tooffer is an orientation before
going on to site.
I think that one of the reallygreat experiences that I had in
(08:54):
visiting a historic site waswhen I went to Pearl Harbor.
You have to go into the theaterand you have to watch the video
so that you understand whatyou're about to see, so that
when you're standing on theArizona, you know the, the scope
and you know the weight of thathistory that you're on, and so
that will be helpful.
It'll have classrooms, it'llhave demonstration areas and
(09:16):
from what I hear, they're evenplanning a demonstration garden
with a working as a key so thatwe can talk about mission farms
and things like that.
So that's coming up very soon.
We are currently in the processand this will be an ongoing
project Conservation work on thehistoric structures.
So we call the church in thelong beric artifact one and two,
(09:37):
and we absolutely have to takecare of those, and so we've done
moisture monitoring.
Our conservator did what shecalled the black paper project,
and so she put black paperaround the edges of the room and
measured wall loss and it wasactually a very significant
amount.
And so they're going throughand they're trying to figure out
(09:57):
what we can best do to keep thebuildings in the best condition
possible.
Sometimes it involvesarcheology to look down on their
foundations, and so we'llcontinue doing that work and I
know, coming up pretty soonwe'll have some work on the
facade, because these ice stormsthat come through really can do
some damage, and so taking careof our buildings, it's a huge
(10:19):
priority, of course.
And then the biggest, literallythe biggest is our visitor
center and museum, which we'rehoping will be open by 2027.
And so this building, it's anentire city block to start off
with, and so we're going from aone room museum, which we
formerly had Now we have thecollection center, to a full
(10:41):
city block and we'll have a freelobby, and so that'll give some
educational opportunities.
It has eight galleries, therewill be a 40 theater that goes
over the entire 300 plus yearhistory, and then over to the
side where the Woolworthbuilding once stood, we'll have
a civil rights counter to talkabout that important history
that took place on Alamo Plaza,and so all of those things
(11:04):
coming together, I'm sure thatwe'll add more to these projects
, but actually in the very nearfuture we have some incredibly
exciting stuff going on.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, it's really is exciting.
It's been what the GLO's beengoing on.
People may not realize that howmuch has changed since the GLO
took it over in 2011.
And all these landcommissioners have.
That's been a big part of whatthey've been doing in the office
and they've done great work atthe Alamo.
I think that this is excitingfor anybody.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know, missy, I'm curious about the age of the
Alamo walls.
I guess I don't know exactly.
Do they have?
What is the date on the walls?
Do they date to the 1700s orare they more recent than that?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So it really depends on the area.
So if we're talking about thechurch, the majority of the
walls on the church I believe wesay about 80% do date back to
the Mission era and the church.
They attempted to construct itin 1744.
Part of it collapsed in andthey relocated and started again
, and so the majority of thewalls date to 1756.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
OK On the long.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's good to know.
Yeah, yeah, on the long barric,it's less than that, because
the US military came in theyused that as storage, as they
did with the church.
But the church was a little bitsturdier.
The long barric, they built itup.
They put a second story all theway around.
Then it was a mercantile for awhile and so that one got a
(12:35):
little rougher treatment.
And so I believe we say that'sabout 30% possibly original and
that's mostly that front wallthat faces the plaza.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Well, I think most people you know just assume that
it was all built 1718.
Or maybe aren't aware of theage.
And it's good that you guysknow the dates of that, because
then to figure out how much ofit is lost, that's something I
had never really considered.
Is that some of that is goingto deteriorate over time?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Well, it's funny that you bring that up, because so
often I think people go on likethe riverboat tours and a few
other things, and they learnthat the Alamo was established
in 1718.
It moved a couple of times andthen we have the current Alamo
and from that they take wepicked up the church and we
relocated it to the site, and soa lot of times visitors come up
(13:33):
and they say oh my gosh, Ican't believe you move this into
downtown, not understandingthat the plaza and all of these
buildings built up around it andit actually shows the
continuing significance of thesite that it is so built up
around it because everybody wascoming in the US military and
then it was a warehouse and allof these different things.
(13:54):
And so whenever they say 1718,they're not realizing that's
when it was established.
It was closer to the river,there were floods, so they had
to move it, and now we're on thesite that these particular
buildings have always been on.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
And many people just think of the chapel as being the
Alamo, but it was actually amuch larger complex.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Absolutely, and that's another thing we hear
very often.
You know it's so sad that thecity of San Antonio didn't save
all of the Alamo.
Well, the city of San Antonioas we know it now didn't exist
at that point.
But also I'm reading through afew resources right now and it
talks about the different areasin history.
As these outer buildings weretaken down, and really soon
(14:35):
after the Battle of the Alamo,the Mexican army didn't want
this to be a defensible positionagain and so they welcomed to
the people from the town tobring their carts and to gather
stone and to take down thoseexterior buildings and use them
for their own building projects.
So one it's cool because theremight be Alamo stone and other
historic buildings around town,but also the demolition of the
(14:57):
Alamo site as a whole began atvery long time ago.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Very interesting.
Now you have been part of a newexhibit that has, you know,
come home to the Alamo, so canyou tell us a little bit about
this exhibit and how you goabout curating such an exhibit
to get these items on display?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Absolutely so.
The exhibit that we currentlyhave centers around one very
important artifact, and that isthe Travis letter from February,
february 24th 1836, the secondday of the siege.
This was an exciting projectfor me personally, because when
it was last year, 10 years ago,I was a student at SFA and so I
(15:46):
drove all the way to see it andmy cohort was like you're crazy,
we have assignments doing it,but what if it never comes back?
And so whenever I got the callfrom our executive director this
summer that said, hey, whydon't you put in a request and
see if we can get it again, itreally felt like this whole full
circle moment is like well, Iguess I do get to see it.
(16:07):
It's not a once in the lasttime, it's a twice in my
lifetime, and so that was veryexciting.
There are so many considerationsthat go into bringing that
caliber of an artifact to thesite, and so one of the
advantages that we had this timearound is that we have this new
(16:27):
collection center.
Previously it was displayed inthe church, which were not able
to climate control to the degreethat we came to modern building
, and so the fact that we have areally great HVAC system in
here is helpful.
We also did many walkthroughswith DPS to check security.
If we needed to evacuate it Forsome reason, what we would do,
(16:52):
we had all sorts of contingencyplans in place.
And then the main thing, goingback to climate control, is just
being sure that with the crazyTexas weather I mean in
wintertime it can be 30 or itcan be 80.
It can be in 100% humidity howdo we mitigate all of those
different factors?
And so we had to dig into allof that.
(17:13):
A lot of it is owed to a reallyfantastic case that is properly
sealed up, but just making surethat we take care of that we
have the proper lightingcontrols.
We had T-slack come and visit acouple of times they're the
ones that have the letter andprotect it and so they came to
make sure that everything wasgoing well.
(17:33):
And so we have that about onemore week and then we'll be
switching out to a brand newexhibit.
But the exhibit that we created, we wanted to make sure that it
went along with the theme ofthe letter, and so we also
talked about couriers and thehorses of the Texas Revolution,
and since that letter wascarried by courier and helped
spread the word of the siege.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
That's really interesting.
I saw the letter when peacelike put it up what a couple of
years ago maybe or somethinglike that.
And you know, it's one of thosethings you can get cynical when
you do this for a living.
It's a letter, it's not thatbig of a deal, but I actually
got a little tingle when Iactually got over to look at it.
It was something that I wasn'texpecting to have, of course.
That doesn't that's.
That's.
That's great.
(18:16):
These type of things can comehome and and be displayed on
this.
Did you all have to?
I mean, when you said you putin a request to put it up, was
it simply hey, call peace likeand said, hey, can we see the
out?
The have the Travis letter overhere.
What steps did you have to gothrough to actually make that
happen?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
It is a little bit more intense than that.
So we had to write a letter ofrequest that talked about why
this was a good time to bring itout, how we felt that it would
contribute not only to what wehave going on on the site right
now but also to the Travisletter and to T slack that
(18:57):
really that it's worthwhile andit's worth I don't want to say
the potential damage, but everytime you take that document out
and it's potentially exposed tothe sun, that does cause a
degree of damage, and so reallyhaving to justify why they
should take it out of a darkroom and let us display it, and
(19:17):
so sending in that letter, andthen it had to go before their
commission a couple of times,and then it had to.
The contract had to bounce backand forth between legal a few
times as well, and then theydelivered it kind of in the
middle of the night with the DPSescort and that's how it's
going to go home as well.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What was the response ?
Like, I mean, y'all haveincreased and visited people
specifically come to to see theletter.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Oh, absolutely, and I would say that our, our members
have gotten the best deal outof it.
So you buy a membership and youget to get into the collection
center free, every day, as manytimes as you want, and so we had
a few people, especially whocame down for the commemoration
of the battle, who would justbop in a couple of times a day
and check it out.
(20:06):
But overall, especially lastweek was our big spring break
week and I I have not seennumbers like that in this
building.
This building is only a yearold, but I walked out into it
and I was like man COVID's over.
I was planning to go to SanAntonio.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
We were planning to go to San Antonio last week when
we decided not to.
I guess if it was big crowds,I'm glad that we didn't at all.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
What are some of the standard questions, or maybe
even the, the, the, the, the,the, the, the most unusual
questions you get?
I mean, I'm sure people ask tosee the line in the sand, right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Oh, yes.
So that can be broken into many, many things.
I will say the majority ofpeople who visit, especially who
come from other places andhaven't gone through Texas
history like we get to if youlive in the States, they come
(21:09):
here because someone told themthat they should, or because
they know it's a significantsite, but often they don't know
why.
Or they know about the battle,but they don't know more of the
context.
Maybe they don't know about themission, or they don't know
that the battle of the Alamowasn't a standalone.
It was within a biggerrevolution.
(21:30):
And so oftentimes one of thecommon questions that we get, or
kind of one of the challenges,is tell me the history of the
site in two minutes, or whathappened here, and it's like how
long do you have?
And that's when you get thelimit of like two minutes,
because we could go on and on.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, what's the elevator speech on the Alamo?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Right, and so I think they want to know why the Alamo
is talked about in pop culture,why it's referred to in history
so often, why they shouldremember it, why Peewee Herman
came here, all of thosedifferent things.
And so trying to build up thatcontext for them, which I feel
is going to be a little biteasier in the future because of
(22:17):
the projects that we've hadgoing on so recently, we
reconstructed the Palisade, weare currently in the process of
reconstructing the South Gateand Lunettes and we've
reconstructed the 18 pound linenplatform.
Yes, oh wow, when you walk ontothe plaza they're still doing a
little bit of work, but whenyou walk onto the plaza and you
(22:39):
see those things and they lookvery odd for an urban center,
you're like wait, I'm walkinginto something.
And so as we continue those, Ithink that that context will
start to build and maybe peoplewill have a little bit more
understanding by the time theyget into the church.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's great.
That's great.
I didn't know that.
That's fantastic.
I'll have to go back now forsure to do that.
Joe, just as an aside, as weall referenced, there's certain
people you know.
We talk about Peewee and comingand the basement.
They won't get it.
Next summer it will have been40 years since that movie came
out.
Can you believe that, 40 yearssince that movie came out?
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So there's a whole lot of people don't even know
about the basement to the Alamo,and Scott still shows it in
class as true history?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, I think it's history.
You know, let's shift gearsjust a little bit.
Can I talk?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
about one more thing.
I'm sorry, sure sure I want toget into unusuals real quick.
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So one of the things and I think that it's because
people don't sometimes know whythey're coming to the Alamo and
they lump all of this kind oflike wild west, cowboys and
Indians type history in with oneanother, and so we really get
asked pretty frequently aboutDaniel Boone, custer and Little
(24:03):
Bighorn.
And then also one of the thingsthat has been most shocking to
me is that I've been askedmultiple times about things that
are in the Holy Land, and so Ihad somebody come up to me one
time and they said where is thestone?
And I'm like we're in thechurch, it's all around ya.
(24:24):
And they were like no, theAlamo stone.
And I was like, yes, here.
They said no.
Whenever the whole place wasblown up and there was the one
stone that survived and it'ssuper special and that's why we
remember it I was like I don'tthink that's here.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Wow, it's like there's a sword coming out of it
.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Right.
And so I had another instancewhich kind of made me bring that
back around.
A little boy walked up to me.
He was about six years old andhe just had tears streaming down
his face.
Now it's not uncommon for kidsto cry when they go into the
church, because you go fromlight to dark and they're not
sure what they're going into andthat sort of thing.
But this little boy walked upto me crying and said is this
(25:11):
where Jesus died?
And he's like oh honey, likeit's very important to us Texans
, but it's not quite that level.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Jesus, that's the Alamo.
Well, don't give certain peoplethat some ideas.
You know what I'm saying.
Let's shift gears just a littlebit, because I want us to get
in Cause.
We have a lot of students wholisten to our podcast, or so I'm
told.
You're a trained publichistorian.
You went through a program.
Tell our audience how yourtraining helps you to get this
(25:41):
job and prepare you for this job.
And if a student came to youright now and said I'm thinking
of going into public history,what advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So I think back to school there.
Quite often you would start onthe first day of your classes
and the professor I'm thinkingabout, dr Sandel, would say what
is public history?
And you really feel like asmart elic when he looks around
and it's like, okay, well, I'mgonna raise my hand.
Public history is how we createhistory for the public.
(26:13):
It's like well, duh, but it'squite different than academic
history, because in publichistory you can't work under the
assumption that your visitorhas any sort of context or
background for it, and so inyour presentation you have to
make it approachable andunderstandable for all ages,
knowledges, language levels, andone of the terms it's just one
(26:36):
word that we run into quiteoften here at the Alamo that
makes that come back to us issecularization.
I mean, there's not anothergood word for it.
It's closing the mission,closing down the church, giving
the lands to the former missioninhabitants and that sort of
(26:57):
thing.
But the average person, theaverage eight-year-old, doesn't
know what secularization is.
Somebody who speaks a foreignlanguage probably doesn't know
what that is.
And so making that historyunderstandable and approachable
for everybody.
And so, going back to thinkingabout SFA, and why I chose the
program was that there were somany great hands-on
(27:20):
opportunities in Nacodotius andthe surrounding area and so
through our classes and throughinternships and those sort of
things, we learned how to writehistorical markers, iclean
gravestones for many summers,did historic structure surveys,
we learned how to do oralhistory interviews.
We process collections, wedigitize collections, present
(27:41):
papers, research, all of thesethings.
And it gave such a well-roundededucation that when
opportunities have popped uphere at the Alamo, I either
already know how to do them or Ihave the skill set to figure it
out and do a pretty good job.
And so the other day I wasasked by one of our employees
hey, should I go to school for amuseum studies degree?
(28:04):
And while that's great and thatgives you some specialization
that I didn't get, publichistory is so well-rounded that
if I wasn't able to find a jobat a historic site, there's an
archive, there's a library,there's research opportunities,
and so in that way I think thatit's just it's a really great
path and so kind of what I wouldpass along and I remember you
(28:26):
saying this, dr Stacey is thatyou take the opportunities that
you can and you build up yourskill sets.
You can't assume that you'regonna graduate and you get to go
right into curation.
People work their entirecareers to get those jobs.
So, as nicely as possible, getin line.
(28:48):
Take the job that you can getthat pays your bills.
Learn some skills and build up.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
That's a good, that's great advice, and I'm gonna say
so everybody we're on publicforum, for everybody can see
you've done that better thanalmost any graduate we've had.
You have really taken the balland run with it.
We're very proud of you here,that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Oh my gosh, thank you .
I just kind of going into that.
I don't wanna be the mean meanparade, but for an example for
people who maybe don't believethat that process works.
I started here at the Elmo as atour guide, but because of
those experiences that I had atSFA and previously I mean even
(29:31):
Sunday school and Vacation,bible School and little
volunteer things that I didbecause of that I was able to
move into the educationdepartment and I helped to
coordinate field trips, I madelesson plans, we did virtual
learning, we did summer camp andthen I moved into marketing.
People don't think of marketingand history, but when I was
(29:52):
working social media, I had anaudience of 150,000 people who
had to listen to me talk abouthistory every day, which is
pretty cool.
It's a little intimidating alsobecause everybody has an
opinion.
And then I was able to comeinto collections manager.
I'm still not a curator I'm onyear eight and a half but with
(30:13):
building that skill set,building up the CV and doing the
work and taking theopportunities as they present
themselves, it really can leadyou to great places.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
When we wrap up our show, we like to ask our guests
one question, and that is MistyLanham, what do you know?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Do y'all know that this is a very intimidating
question for everybody, but Ithink that what I know, and I
hope that many people realize,is that we have some incredibly
wonderful, fantastic, amazingminds working in history,
(30:59):
specifically Texas history andpublic history.
Right now we have theopportunity here at the Alamo to
work with some of the othersites and museums in Texas, and
so we've done events in the pastwhere we ask the other Texas
Revolution sites to come andrepresent their sites here on
(31:19):
the ground to help build thatcontext and help people to
understand that the Battle ofthe Alamo wasn't stand alone.
And when you get the people fromthe Independence Trail and you
get Scott McMahon from Goliath,brian McCauley from San Felipe,
all the wonderful people over atSan Jacinto who are shooting
canons on the weekends and theLiving History Farm at
(31:40):
Washington on the Brassus, andwe all come together, it creates
this really fantasticexperience because we're all
kind of in these adjacent areasthat are so interrelated but
also very different andcontribute very well to one
another.
And then on top of that youhave the Forge Trail and Cody
(32:02):
Mowbly out there figuring outhow to make an amber type
machine and taking pictures ofpeople on glass and all of the
museums and historic sitesaround the state that when we
come together and we worktogether, we are so much better
off for it because of theseincredible minds and the passion
(32:22):
and the work that everybody'sputting in.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
This is great.
This is fantastic.
I'm glad you came on.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Okay, thank y'all All right, bye-bye.
Bye-bye, okay, bye.
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