A larruping good read is in store when “The News in Texas” rolls off the press this month. And the good news for TPA members is that you will receive two complimentary copies of the anniversary anthology.

One of your complimentary copies is yours to keep and I hope you’ll join us at the summer convention where the authors will be on hand for an autograph session. The second copy is yours to give to a public library in your community.

Published by University of Texas Press, the book is titled “The News in Texas: Essays in Honor of the 125th Anniversary of the Texas Press Association.” Fifteen authors contributed chapters on topics ranging from the historical to the humorous to the outrageous.

Planning for the anthology started almost as casually as the legendary origins of the national airline of Texas back in 1973. Thirty years later modern technology saw our anthology evolve over a series of e-mails instead of sketched out on a cocktail napkin.

In the summer of 2003, TPA executive director Mike Hodges and I were talking about what we could do to make the association’s 125th anniversary really special.  

The book deal grew out of our conversation and Mike and I managed to lasso some of our state’s savviest journalists, writers and Texas observers into doing all the work for us. Ed Sterling, TPA’s member services director, primary among them.

It was Ed who wrote much of the original prospectus for the book and was our Austin liaison with UT Press.

On a luminous fall day in October 2003, the authors gathered for lunch in one of the great, windowed Headliners Club’s dining rooms. Taking inspiration from each other and from the view, which seemed to stretch across Texas, we plotted the scope of the book to include four broad themes: culture, history and technology, government, and the economy.

From there, we divvied up specific topics and set about researching, interviewing and procrastinating.

While most of us were old hands or at least acquainted with

Embedded in Carleton’s love of history is a fondness for newspapers and their key role in providing historical context. Much of his professional work at UT includes the preservation of the state’s newspaper. The center has the largest collection of Texas newspapers in existence, including the archive of the Texas Press Association.

Don wrote the foreword to the anthology and introduced us to David Dettmer of his staff, who helped oversee the project, and Teresa Wingfield, the skillful copy editor undaunted by editing a bunch of editors.

The final product is a chorus of rich, true voices, each lending its own vibrant harmony to the lyrical story of Texas newspapering. The chapters are lively and alive, filled with anecdotes and examples that at once seem universal but distinct because of the history lessons they represent.

“The News in Texas” is the hallmark of my year as president of TPA. The authors, the editors, everyone involved in publishing this book have become part of TPA history and part of Texas history.

Happy Anniversary, TPA members, and thank you for the privilege of creating this anniversary present.

The News in Texas anthology essayists and contributors:

• S. Griffin Singer, UT Journalism (retired)

• Don E. Carleton, director, Center for American History, UT

• Tony Pederson, Belo Distinguished Chair in Journalism, SMU

• Jack Loftis, editor emeritus, Houston Chronicle

• Wayne Danielson, UT Journalism

• Mike Cox, historian

• Mary Judson, Port Aransas South Jetty

• Sarah Greene, publisher, Gilmer Mirror

• Pauline Word, publications manager, TPA

• Phil Record, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (retired)

• Ed Sterling, member services director, TPA

• Patrick Cox, assistant director, Center for American History

• Michael Blackman, Fort Worth Star Telegram (retired)

• Mike Cochran, AP special correspondent, (retired)

• Wanda Garner Cash, editor and publisher, The Baytown Sun

With reprinted columns and editorials by Bill Cornwell, Ben Ezzell, Oscar Griffin, Dolph Tillotson, Julie Webb and Willis Webb.