Robert Griffith is a fifth-generation resident of Johnson County, Texas. He is a member of the Burleson Heritage Foundation, North Texas Historic Transportation, Birdville Historical Society, Childress County Heritage Museum, and an appointed member to the Johnson County Historical Commission and the City of Burleson Old Town Design Standards Review Committee. Robert is a history major at the University of Texas at Arlington and a graduate of Tarrant County College, where he is now employed in the Records & Reports Office.
Since 2005, Robert has been restoring a Model 14 Linotype from The Burleson Dispatcher. He has been active in the rebuilding of a 1902 Kuhlman Car Co. Interurban Express Motor which once rode the rails of the Northern Texas Traction Company's interurban line from Fort Worth to Cleburne. He has represented the Burleson Heritage Foundation at the Tarrant County Historical Commission Summit since 2006 and relishes every opportunity to interact with residents, school children, and anyone else he meets at the Burleson Heritage Visitors Center.
Robert has visited more than two dozen Texas museums ranging from large institutions like the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore to the McLean/Alanreed Area Museum in McLean. Among other museums he has haunted are the Wharton Co. Historical Museum, Jefferson Historical Museum, Lee County Museum, Red River Valley Museum, White Deer Land Museum, Buffalo Gap Historic Village, The Depot Museum (Henderson), Mills Co. Historical Museum, Collingsworth County Museum, Edgewood Heritage Park, Corsicana Pioneer Village, Roaring Ranger Oil Boom Museum, Medicine Mound Museum, National Museum of the Pacific War, Bosque Museum, Coryell Museum and Historical Center, Bell County Museum, Fannin County Museum, and the Lamar County Historical Society Museum.As much as he loves local history, Robert also enjoys studying what makes local museums and historical organizations a success. Recently, he spent a week in Childress, learning from JoAnn De La Cruz, Executive Director of the Childress County Heritage Museum, how she administers the very attractive museum in her town.
Historic preservation and education are important to Robert. Generations of his family have lived, worked, and died in Johnson County. His mother recalls a Burleson of less than a thousand residents. When he was born, Burleson had what seemed like a huge population of over 14,000. Today, Burleson has more than doubled in size, and there is no limit to how large it will get. Robert's goal is to preserve as much of Burleson's past as possible, from stories to structures, to the homes and hopes of generations past. Robert's purpose in this is to inspire the kind of respect one has for their parents. That sense of ownership one has for their family and their town makes it possible to manage Burleson's tremendous growth with an eye turned to the past.
Robert believes this quality of leadership and education is possible through taking history to the people. Fostering school, neighborhood, and community-wide educational programs through partnerships with entities like the City of Burleson, Burleson Independent School District, Burleson Area Chamber of Commerce, Parent Teacher groups (PTO/PTA), service organizations (Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, etc...), businesses, county and state-wide historical groups, churches, and youth organizations can benefit not only the proliferation of Burleson History but build a network of able volunteers, businesses, and interests which can serve the wider interests of the community.
What should an "educational program" look like? Hold a Burleson History Week culminating in Founders Day which involves the entire city. During this week, host lectures, tours of historic homes and sites, demonstrations of old-fashioned sewing, cooking, and other period practicies, a parade, car show, a classic movie night, a community dance, and cook-offs and other contests. Put together a book of historic Burleson pictures, a website offering downloadable curriculums, and community education classes that weave Burleson History into wider themes. What about a leadership seminar where the former mayors of Burleson and other local communities speak about what got them into government? The opportunities are endless.
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