Dr. Paul H. Carlson, Texas Tech University professor emeritus of history, will discuss the importance of a humanities education in a modern global world at the 18th Georgiana and Max S. Lale Lecture presented by the East Texas Historical Association.
The presentation titled “Painting Tom Sawyer’s Fence: Lessons from Literature, Sports and the Humanities” will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Grand Ballroom of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend.
Carlson, a native of Minnesota, received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 1973. He taught at Texas Lutheran College for more than a decade before returning in 1986 to Texas Tech, where he remained on the faculty until he retired in 2009. He has taught courses and researched on such American West and Texas topics as Native Americans, the military in the West, ranching and stock raising, and archeology. He also has been honored as a Fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association and the Texas State Historical Association. He and his wife reside in Ransom Canyon, Texas, near Lubbock.
Carlson is an active and prolific researcher and writer. He has published well over 150 articles, essays and book reviews, as well as 19 books. His work “The Plains Indians” was named one of the 100 Most Outstanding Books on the American West published in the 20th century in 2005. Some of his other award-winning books include: “Pecos Bill: A Military Biography of William R. Shafter,” “Texas Woollybacks: The Range Sheep and Goat Industry,” and “Deep Time and the Texas High Plains: History and Geology.” He has been recognized for his publication excellence by the Texas Institute of Letters, the Western Historical Association and the Texas State Historical Association.
Carlson also is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas and was named the “Outstanding Professor” by Residence Life at Texas Tech University and the “Outstanding Faculty Member of the Texas Tech History Department.” He will be only the second Lale Lecturer who also is a Life Member of the East Texas Historical Association. (Journalist Bill Moyers was the first).
The Association presents this annual lecture through a generous gift by the late Max Sims Lale, a noted Texas journalist, lay historian and newspaper publisher. Lale endowed the series in the name of his late wife, Georgiana, with the intention of allowing the East Texas Historical Association to bring renowned scholars, journalists and public figures to Nacogdoches. Past lecturers include journalist Bill Moyers, Congressman Charlie Wilson, historian T.R. Ferenbach, Texas Monthly senior editor Paul Burka and Houston Mayor Annise Parker. If you have any questions about the lecture, please call the ETHA office at (936) 468-2407 or email Association secretary Christal Gill at gillci@sfasu.edu.
