Resources: Dive deeper in Georgetown lore
Learn all about Georgetown’s past with these fascinating resources! They’ll lead you to plenty more stories about people and events that make up our history.
Many, many thanks for the work of all the people who produced these awesome works and preserved so many wonderful photos that help viewers of this website experience the past so much more fully. Grateful thanks to the Williamson County Sun for reportage and photos from the past, as well as Preservation Georgetown and the Southwestern University Library Special Collections.
☛ Learn about the life of Jessie Daniel Ames in the excellent biography Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames and the Women’s Campaign Against Lynching, by University of North Carolina history professor Jacquelyn Dowd Hall. This insightful book provided the bulk of my summation of Jessie’s life.
And browse online to see the wonderful and extensive collection of Jessie’s work at the Jessie Daniel Ames papers at the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina. Many thanks to the knowledgeable staff at UNC who assisted my research trip there! Enjoy the many wonderful photos from their collection.
☛ Get a very detailed history of Williamson County in Land of Good Water (Takachue Pouetsu): A Williamson County, Texas, History, by Clara Stearns Scarbrough, who also published the Williamson County Sun with her husband Don from 1948 until her daughter Linda Scarbrough and husband Clark Thurmond took over in the 1970s.
Linda is also the author of a compelling look at the powers influencing Williamson County development in more recent times: Road, River, and Ol’ Boy Politics: A Texas County’s Path from Farm to Supersuburb. Check out two books with many photos of old-time Georgetown by Clara and Don’s other daughter Donna Scarbrough Josey: Georgetown and Georgetown, Texas Then and Now.
☛ Find loads of historical info and knowledgeable help from librarians expert in local history to research Georgetown and Williamson County at the Georgetown Public Library, particularly in their Clara Scarbrough Texas History Room.
☛ Check out cool podcasts about Georgetown history by Georgetown librarian and history expert Ann Evans and former Georgetown historic planner Britin Bostick. Watch all the shows, including looks at Georgetown schools, festivals, Hispanic and Black neighborhoods, women realty queens, Native Americans, and more.
☛ Love to look at old photos? Find a treasure trove from the City of Georgetown, which houses a wonderful collection from the Georgetown Heritage Society, now Preservation Georgetown. You can also find old city documents such as council meetings going way back.
☛ See old Georgetown photos and interesting collections such as SU’s Jessie Daniel Ames papers (plus hundreds of Jessie’s donated books), as well as other fascinating collections such as cattle entrepreneur Lizzie Johnson at the Southwestern University Library Special Collections room. Townies are welcome to visit.
☛ Drop by the Williamson Museum in Georgetown to see rotating exhibits that have included a focus on African-Americans in Wilco, Hispanic-Americans, Wilco during the Civil War and WWII, and much more. Educators can check out traveling exhibits.
See their amazing collection of Williamson history photos, and order a print from them.
☛ Preservation Georgetown helps with the preservation of Georgetown’s historic homes, carrying on the work of the Georgetown Heritage Society, which began in 1978. Check out historic preservation info and events.
☛ Tons of info about all things historical in Williamson County, including a detailed list of cemeteries and graves, can be found at the Williamson County Texas History website.
☛ Get a comprehensive closeup on how Georgetown’s schools progressed from 1850 to integration in 1966 in former State Representative Marsha Lane Farney’s Phd thesis.
☛ Take a long Southwestern University history trip with the photo-filled fascinating book, To Survive and Excel: The Story of Southwestern University by William B. Jones.
☛ Want to find out about a whole lot of amazing Texas women, their awesome accomplishments, and their fights to get equity? Many thanks to the pioneering sheros at the Texas Women's History Project, who’ve been featuring the overlooked women of Texas since the late 1970s.
☛ Watch an inspiring documentary on how Texas women pursued the vote and got it (including the challenges for women of color) in Citizens At Last: Texas Women Fight for the Vote.
☛ Amazing Texas women are also the focus of The Handbook of Texas Women, from the historians at the Texas State Historical Association who produce The Texas Handbook.