FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2009
Contact: Molly Dannenmaier, 409-765-7834
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
molly.dannenmaier@galvestonhistory.org

Historian Michael V. Hazel to Present Lecture March 20 on Early Days of Galveston Daily News and Dallas Morning News

Part of Galveston Historical Foundation’s Menard Lecture Series

Galveston Historical Foundation will host another in its popular series of Menard Lectures on Friday, March 20 at 5:30 at Galveston’s oldest residential dwelling, the Michel B. Menard House. The lecture is entitled “First Links in a Chain: The Galveston Daily News and The Dallas Morning News.” It will focus on the early relationship between these two important newspapers, exploring how the Galveston paper founded the Dallas newspaper, inaugurating one of the first "chain" newspapers, and eventually how the Dallas paper became dominant and sold the Daily News in the 1920s.

The speaker, historian Michael V. Hazel, has concentrated on local Dallas history for the past 25 years. In 1992 he began organizing the historical archives for the Belo Corporation. The author of seven books on Dallas history, Dr. Hazel has taught history at SMU and museum studies at the University of North Texas. He recently received the Award for Excellence in Creative Arts from the Dallas Historical Society.

This lecture is the second of a two-part spring lecture package focusing on the Belo Corporation’s history and its connection to Galveston. On February 27, former Belo Corporation archivist Judith Garrett Segura will give a lecture entitled “Belo from Newspapers to New Media.”

Segura is the author of a new book, “Belo from Newspapers to New Media,” published by the University of Texas Press, September 2008. It is available for sale online at www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/segbel.html. A full description of that lecture can be found at www.galvestonhistory.org.

The venue for these lectures is the Michel B. Menard House, Galveston’s oldest surviving residential dwelling, recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the finest examples of historic preservation in the United States. The Menard House is furnished with museum-quality 19th-century Empire pieces and is located at 1605 33rd Street in Galveston. The event begins at 5:30 with light refreshments. The lecture begins promptly at 6 p.m.

The ticket price for each Menard Lecture is $10 for GHF members, $12 for non-members, with proceeds going to support GHF’s work in Galveston’s recovery from Hurricane Ike. Seating is limited; reservations are recommended, and may be made by calling Becky Maixner at 409-765-7834.