Adele Briscoe Looscan (; February 5, 1848 – November 23, 1935) was a club organizer, writer, and historical preservationist from
Harris County, Texas
Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...
. She was president of the
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...
(19151925).
Early life
Adele Briscoe Looscan was born Adele Lubbock Briscoe on 5 February 1848.
Her father was
Andrew Briscoe
Andrew Briscoe (November 25, 1810 – October 4, 1849) was a merchant, revolutionary, soldier, and jurist. He was an organizer of the Texas Revolution, attending the Convention of 1836 and signing the Texas Declaration of Independence. He foug ...
, signer of the
Texas Declaration of Independence
The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and was formal ...
and the first Chief Justice of Harris County. Her mother, Mary Jane (Harris) Briscoe, descended from an early settler and namesake of Harris County,
John Richardson Harris. He also founded
Harrisburg, Texas
Harrisburg is a community that is now (originally documented as Harrisburgh, then shortened to Harrisburg in 1892) located within the city of Houston, Texas, United States.
The community is located east of downtown Houston, south of the Brays Bayo ...
, which was taken over and overseen by her grandmother, Jane Birdsall Briscoe. She was named for one of her country neighbors, Adele Lubbock, the wife of Harris County Clerk and future Texas Governor,
Francis Richard Lubbock.
[McLemore (2015), p. 153.]
Adele's father died when she was less than two-years old. The family moved to Mississippi to live with her paternal grandfather, General
Parmenas Briscoe.
After his death in 1851, Mary Jane Briscoe lost their residence in Mississippi and moved to
Anderson, Texas
Anderson is a city and county seat of Grimes County, Texas, United States. The population was 193 as of the 2020 census. The town and its surroundings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Anderson Historic District.
Th ...
in 1852. Seven years later she returned with her family to her hometown of Harrisburg, Texas. With the school at Harrisburg closed, Adele attended Miss Browne's School for Young Ladies (Houston) from 1861, where she graduated as valedictorian in 1866.
Adele married Major Michael Looscan on September 13, 1881.
[
]
Clubs and preservation
In February 1885, Looscan started a club at her mother's home in Houston to promote “intellectual and social culture.” A few months later her club had attracted thirty-five members, and become known as the Ladies’ Reading Club. Members collaborated in collecting periodicals and books to create a club library. By 1900, Looscan organized a coalition of local clubs to form the City Federation of Woman's Clubs, which sponsored social events and raised money to buy a lot in Houston. The club's land purchase, combined with city of Houston and Carnegie grants, culminated in the opening of Houston's first public library on March 2, 1904.[
Looscan and her mother hosted meetings to establish the Daughters of the Lone Star Republic (DRT) in 1891.] She poured her energy into recruitment for new members. She met resistance from many prospects, but persuaded Adina De Zavala, a granddaughter of the first Vice-President of Texas. Looscan published writings in major Texas newspapers and some Texas literary magazines. Most famously, she published her mother's memoir of the “First Anniversary Ball of the Battle of San Jacinto.” She wrote frequently about Texas history, but also submitted essays about education and gender issues. Her works caught the attention of Dora Fowler Arthur, editor of ''Texas Magazine'', who offered column space to the DRT in 1896. She wrote articles for Dudley G. Wooten's ''Comprehensive History of Texas'' and for his ''New History of Texas for Schools''. Looscan was a charter member of the Texas State Historical Association, the Houston Pen Women, and the Texas Woman's Press Association.[
Looscan was a combatant in a schism within the DRT about the Alamo site in ]San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
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. De Zavala, who had established an eponymous chapter of the DRT, was adamant about historical restoration and preservation. Looscan supported De Zavala and her principles. Clara Driscoll advocated remaking the site as an urban park. The acrimony of the debate resulted in Looscan withdrawing from the DRT.
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), organized in 1897, recruited Looscan and other writers from the women's clubs and trained them for scholarly historical writing. After the Alamo dispute, Looscan and De Zavala remained engaged with the TSHA, though many other women dropped out in reaction to the Alamo dispute. Looscan continued to write and recruit other writers for the TSHA. In 1915, Eugene C. Barker
Eugene Campbell Barker (November 1, 1874 – October 22, 1956) was an American historian at the University of Texas, the managing director of the Texas State Historical Association, and the editor of the ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly''. He ...
appointed Looscan to serve as president of the Texas State Historical Commission. She promoted TSHA's magazine, with a focus on Houston as a base of expansion, approaching Rice Institute
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its work ...
and various women's clubs.
Looscan resigned as president of TSHA in 1925, but remained active in the Association for the Preservation of the Historical Landmarks in Texas and the United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...
.[McLemore (2015), pp. 170–171.]
Death and legacy
Looscan died in Houston on November 23, 1935 and was interred at Glenwood Cemetery.[ She donated an extensive collection of Texas history books to the ]Houston Public Library
Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States.
History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library
The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 18 ...
and the Looscan Neighborhood Library in Houston is named in her honor.[
]
Selected works
* Heroes of Texas: Micajah Autry, a soldier of the Alamo, 191
* A brief sketch of the life and characteristics of Mrs. Mary Jane Briscoe : showing the estimation in which she was held by her friends and the public generally, 1903
* Harris County, Texas 1822-1845, 1915
* The pioneer Harrises of Harris County, Texas, 1928
* The Work of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in Behalf of the Alamo, 1904
* The old fort at Anahuac, 1899
References
Further reading
*
External links
Adele Briscoe Looscan Collection, San Jacinto Museum of History.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Looscan, Adele Briscoe
1848 births
1935 deaths
Historians of Texas
People from Texas
Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy
American women historians
People from Harris County, Texas
19th-century American women
Historians from Texas
Texas State Historical Association presidents
People of the Republic of Texas
Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)
Texas State Historical Association charter members