AFFAIRS OF THE ASSOCIATION.

The passing of Dr. George Pierce Garrison, the senior member of the Faculty of the University of Texas and head of the Department of History, is one of the severest losses that the state of Texas could have sustained. He was equipped by nature for the wonderful study of history. He was broad-minded, liberal, understanding personal values, at the same time sympathetic and keenly observant.

As the author of several volumes on various periods of American history, of a most attractive and resourceful volume “Texas”; as editor of two large volumes of the “Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas,” and as an explorer of the archives of Mexico and of Texas, he has contributed to our historical treasures as no teacher or student before him has done. He was the leading spirit of the Texas State Historical Association and editor of The Quarterly.

He was an excellent judge of human nature—an indispensable quality in the successful teacher—making due allowance for all of its frailties, as well as giving full appreciation for its strength.

Few men in the South were as well prepared from the stand-point of scholarship. His educational opportunity in this country and in Europe was of the best, and he held high place in the estimates of his fellow educators.

In the class-room his dignity, quiet reserve, but positive interest in each individual student, impressed every member of the class with the feeling that his privilege to be present in that particular class on that particular day was a very valuable one. Always genuine, full of a kind understanding of the overzealous student, or the one of passive interests, he made his presence felt and remembered.

His students, as they passed from his class-room, kept their places in his affectionate regard, and his interest followed them wherever their duties called. Busy as he was, he constantly assisted the absent ones who were inclined to follow up historical work after leaving the University.

He was a blessing and a strength, and well may the hundreds of students of the University of Texas place a memorial to their dear friend. Let those men and women who have profited by his training honor themselves by expressing their appreciation of him in some noble, substantial form.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have been his student, to have followed his wise guidance, and to have enjoyed his friendship.

Such lives do not end, for such service as he gave is eternal, and the good which he accomplished will be felt by the uncounted hundreds, who, in the years to come, will have the advantage of studying history in our University. The direction which he gave to this department will be felt every day that the University exists.

Katie Daffan.

How to cite:
"AFFAIRS OF THE ASSOCIATION.", Volume 014, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 170 - 171. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v014/n2/back_8.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 12:03:04 CST 2008]