Introduction
Old Red Museum's story-line and exhibits are based on research conducted for the museum by a panel of research faculty lead by Project Director Thomas H. Smith, Ph.D.
Five historians (Robert Fairbanks, Ph.D., Michael Hazel, Ph.D., Ms. Jackie McElhaney, Darwin Payne, Ph.D., Mr. Donald Payton) met with Dr. Smith weekly through the Museum research phase to develop a coherent, comprehensive and concise analysis of Dallas County and its 31 cities and towns.
A review panel comprised of specialists (Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, Mr. Robert Edison, Dr. Mamie McKnight, Ms. Mercedes Olviera, and Ms. Pat Peterson) ensured that the research was representative of all communities.
Thomas H. Smith, Ph.D.
Thomas H. Smith, Ph.D., Project Director, was most recently the founding director of the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum at the Ballpark in Arlington, the first club-owned museum to be in a major league ballpark. During his tenure, he administered a number of special exhibits including the history of Japanese baseball (in coordination with "Sun and Star"). He was director of Old City Park in Dallas from 1980 to 1993, a period of dramatic growth for the museum. Before coming to Texas, Dr. Smith was director of the Ohio Historical Society, managing 60 sites, two presidential libraries, the state's archives and historical collection. Dr. Smith is author or editor of five books, has written articles for encyclopedias and scholarly journals, and has written of Dallas' history for local publication.
Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney
Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney is currently chairman of the Department of History at the College of Charleston, South Carolina. Previously, he was associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington; curator of the Juanita Craft House; volunteer curator of history at the African American Museum, and is author of Black Police in America (1996). He is working on a history of African Americans in Dallas.
Mr. Robert Edison
Mr. Robert Edison is currently director of Student Support Services at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell. He has served as director of Social Studies at DISD, and director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston; first Curator of the Juanita Craft House, Curator for three years of African American Cultural Centers for DISD; first Project Director for Black Dallas Remembered for Dallas Historical Society; and he wrote the curriculum guide for Zora Neale Hurston African American Folk Lore.
Robert Fairbanks, Ph.D.
Robert Fairbanks, Ph.D. is professor at the University of Texas at Arlington where he teaches urban history courses including one on the history of Dallas-Fort Worth. Author of For the City as a Whole: Planning, Politics, and the Public Interest in Dallas, Texas, 1900-1965, he has recently co-edited a volume entitled Making Sense of the City: Local Government, Civic Culture and Community Life in Urban America that contains a chapter on Dallas planning. He is editor for the Americas of the journal Planning Perspective: An International Journal of History, Planning, and the Environment.
Michael Hazel, Ph.D.
Michael Hazel, Ph.D. is editor of Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas and coordinator of the annual Legacies Dallas History Conference. Among his books are Dallas: A History of Big D, Dallas: A Dynamic Century, and The Dallas Public Library: Celebrating a Century of Service.
He has served as Interim Director of both the Dallas Historical Society and Old City Park and has taught Dallas history at SMU.
Ms. Jackie McElhaney
Jackie McElhaney is author of Pauline Periwinkle and Progressive Reform in Dallas. She has been research consultant for projects of Old City Park, the Dallas Historical Society, the Dallas County Historical Commission, Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field, the Heritage Farmstead in Plano, and on the creative team that designed the Sixth Floor Museum. Her major field of scholarly inquiry is women and children- particularly the part they played throughout Dallas history. Other topics of interest include the history of efforts to make the Trinity River a navigable stream and the Great Dallas Flood of 1908. Ms. McElhaney co-authored with Mike Hazel the entry for the City of Dallas in the Handbook of Texas.
Dr. Mamie L. McKnight
Dr. Mamie L. McKnight has written numerous articles and authored or edited three books on local African American heritage. She is a member of the Texas Historical Commission, the Museum of Dallas History Advisory Board, and was Founding Director of Black Dallas Remembered. She is the Director of the Juanita Craft Civil Rights House. Dr. McKnight currently serves the University of Texas at Dallas as Coordinator of Special Programs for the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering.
Ms. Mercedes Olivera
Ms. Mercedes Olivera has been a weekly columnist at the Dallas Morning News since 1975. The first Hispanic woman to write a weekly column for a major metropolitan newspaper, she writes about local, state, national and international issues related to Latinos. A 1996 Fulbright Scholar in Mexico, she taught communication classes at the Universidad de las Americas-Puebla.
Darwin Payne, Ph.D.
Darwin Payne, Ph.D. is professor emeritus of communications at Southern Methodist University, and the author of Big D: Triumphs and Troubles of an American Supercity in the 20th Century and many other books on Dallas history. He is currently writing about the life and career of Judge Sarah T. Hughes.
Mr. Donald Payton
Mr. Donald Payton is a foremost researcher of oral history and genealogy in the diverse communities of Dallas. A former commissioner of the Dallas County Historical Commission and a founding member of Black Dallas Remembered, Payton promoted history education through outreach programs at the Dallas Historical Society for eleven years. Currently, he is president of the African American Genealogy Interest Group, a component of the Dallas Genealogical Society.
Pat Peterson
Pat Peterson, director of the American Indian Arts Council, Inc., has been instrumental in twelve American Indian Arts Festival and Markets.