The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is pleased to announce two recipients of the 2019 Research Fellowship in Texas History. The 2019 TSLAC Research fellows are Maggie Elmore for her project, “Claiming the Cross: How Latinos and the Catholic Church Reshaped America,” and Deborah Liles for “The Beefmasters: Confederate Contractors, Texas Cattlemen, and Civil War Trade.” First awarded in 2018, the fellowship supports scholars who require the use of State Archives collections and includes a $2,000 stipend.

Maggie Elmore holds a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley and is a postdoctoral research associate at the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. Elmore studies the Latino experience with social and political exclusion in the 20^th century United States.

Deborah Liles, who obtained her doctorate from the University of North Texas, serves as an assistant professor at Tarleton State University where she is the W.K. Gordon Chair of Texas History. Her current research focuses on the livestock trade and slave ownership during the Civil War.

State Archivist Jelain Chubb coordinates the fellowship in conjunction with the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). “The number and quality of proposals we received this year was impressive,” said Chubb.  “These projects highlight the range of materials the State Archives offers scholars and I look forward to reading their publications,” she said.

The TSLAC Research fellowship in Texas history is administered in partnership with TSHA and made possible by the Friends of Libraries and Archives of Texas through a generous donation from the Edouard Foundation. The awards were announced March 1 at the TSHA annual meeting held in Corpus Christi, Texas.