Miles of History and Moments of Impact
Past Matters, Summer 2026, Published 6/12/2026
Greetings! We are so happy to reach you as the summer begins, to reconnect as we refine our communications cycle and better connect with supporters like you.
We hope your summer travel plans take you across the state to explore the fun and educational opportunities that Texas state historic sites offer. Summertime is when the Texas Historical Commission’s site staff gear up for visitors and families with exciting programming, summer camps for children, and the many ways for you to experience the varied and complex stories of Texas. 2026 marks our nation’s 250th anniversary—the semiquincentennial—and our historic site’s programming and activities will pull you in to celebrate this special occasion.
Just a couple of weeks ago, during our May virtual event, we were thrilled to have the THC Heritage Tourism Program Coordinator, Sarah Page, join us to share information about how the Texas Heritage Trails Program and TexasTimeTravel.com can connect you to the places and stories that shape Texas. Sarah talked about how across our great state, there are small towns, historic sites, and cultural landmarks connected in ways most travelers rarely see. The Texas Heritage Trails Program brings those connections to life, inviting you to slow down, look more closely, and experience Texas in a more meaningful way. TexasTimeTravel.com will help you discover curated itineraries, hidden gems, and meaningful experiences, that will turn a trip with family or friends into something you will remember forever.
As you visit our sites, you will also see that the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission continues to support these historical gems in many different ways – with traditional fundraising for capital and programmatic support, as well as out-of-the-box, innovative ways to improve the visitor experience. One of these is by securing site perimeters, through acquisition of adjacent lands, to provide much needed buffers for the precious historical and archeological resources that THC preserves for all Texans.
Just in the last several weeks, the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission has worked to acquire several sensitive properties as additions to some of the Texas state historic sites. At the Presidio La Bahía State Historic Site, 81 acres of land – one of the three known massacre sites in Goliad – was acquired as a critical addition the state historic site. In Washington County, 5.78 acres of land adjacent to the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site – critical to the improvement of the visitor experience a the recently redeveloped site – was secured with the help of the Washington on the Brazos Historical Foundation. At Fulton Mansion State Historic Site, a small but critical tract of land, now secured, will significantly improve access for visitors from the visitor center and parking lot to the Mansion. We continue to work on additional priorities for other sites and look forward to sharing these successes with you as well.
The Friends of the Texas Historical Commission is deeply grateful to the engaged landowners and stakeholders, all of whom worked closely with us to ensure that our state historic sites provide the best possible experience for all who visit. These Texans are collectively building a legacy that will ensure that our future generations experience the full impact of Texas history.
Speaking of legacy, I want to take this moment to once again underscore the importance of legacy gifts – once-in-a-lifetime transformational gifts made by donors like you – which can elevate and transform an organization forever. These gifts are inspiring, not only to us as the organization that benefits from them, but also for our donors and their families. As we have shared with you before, research shows that planning for legacy gifts is not just the purview of high net-worth individuals – it makes philanthropy accessible to people of all income levels. The majority of donors who make planned or legacy gifts to organizations are not among the wealthiest.
For individuals interested in exploring a legacy gift, the first and easiest way is to include your favorite preservation organization or historic site in your bequest. August is “Make-a-Will” Month. Should you like to explore your options regarding a bequest – to possibly include life insurance and IRA beneficiary designations, please feel free to reach out to us through our website. We will be happy to share sample bequest language with you, as well as provide you with additional options you may want to consider, such as Qualified Charitable Deductions (QCDs), gifts of assets (stocks and securities), Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) or other more complex options. While some planned gifts may be deferred, gifts of assets can be put to work immediately, allowing a donor to be personally involved in making a huge impact based on their personal values.
As we celebrate this special year of our nation’s 250th anniversary, and work towards Texas’ bicentennial in March of 2036, we continue to be deeply grateful for your continued support. We still have more work to do to make sure that our Texas Historic Sites are ready – with all of the educational resources necessary – to provide Texans and visitors with the full, varied, and complex stories of our great state. We hope you will continue to help us with this ambitious endeavor with an annual or a recurring monthly gift, so we can continue to build community through storytelling.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the staff of the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission—warm regards and best wishes!
Anjali Zutshi, Executive Director
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