Press Women of Texas

Press Women of Texas (PWT) was started on May 10, 1893 in Dallas and was originally named the Texas Woman's Press Association (TWPA).{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eat03|title=Texas Press Women|last=Anderson|first=H. Allen|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=5 April 2016}} Aurelia Hadley Mohl, a journalist from Houston invited 38 women to hear a proposal to form the TWPA in 1893.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeF7WAdIOAUC&q=%22texas+woman%27s+press+association%22&pg=PA4|title=Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0890967652|editor-last=Grider|editor-first=Sylvia Ann|pages=4|editor-last2=Rodenberger|editor-first2=Lou Halsell}} Mohl had been a member of the Woman's National Press Association and felt that a similar group in Texas would be good for women writers in that state.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tBR_FyWTe8C&q=%22aurelia+hadley+mohl%22&pg=PA73|title=Lone Star Chapters: The Story of Texas Literary Clubs|last=Wesepape|first=Betty Holland|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2004|isbn=9781585443246|pages=73}} Forty-three women would become charter members of TWPA. Mohl was the first president of TWPA, elected in 1895.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmoae|title=Mohl, Aurelia Hadley|last=McArthur|first=Judith N.|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=5 April 2016}} Originally, the group was created in order to provide professional encouragement for Texas women writers of all types and included illustrators.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/01551/cah-01551.html|title=A Guide to the Press Women of Texas Records, 1909-2003|website=Briscoe Center for American History|publisher=Texas Archival Resources Online|access-date=5 April 2016}} TWPA allowed women in Texas to be full participants of a press club. TWPA would meet annually for an assembly session which included networking and speeches.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/galveston/galveston-daily-news/1906/06-21/page-8?tag=texas+woman%27%27s+press+association&rtserp=tags/?pep=texas-woman%27s-press-association|title=Pen Women Meet|date=21 June 1906|work=Galveston Daily News|url-access=subscription |access-date=5 April 2016|via=Newspaper Archive}}

TWPA was involved in pushing for the establishment of the school which later became Texas Woman's University.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dentonhistory.net/page27/page57/|title=Texas Womans University|last=Thurman|first=Nita|publisher=Denton County Historical Commission|access-date=5 April 2016}} TWPA, along with the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, the Grange and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union worked towards the creation of a school where women could receive a "practical education."{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kct37|title=Texas Women's University|last=Thompson|first=Joyce|date=15 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=5 April 2016}}

By 1913, the group was influential enough to push for women to be included at the University of Texas' new School of Journalism, which opened in 1914.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/womenpressstrugg0000brad|url-access=registration|quote=texas press women.|title=Women and the Press: The Struggle for Equality|last=Bradley|first=Patricia|publisher=Northwestern University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780810123137|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenpressstrugg0000brad/page/214 214]}} TWPA, in 1916, was the first organization to provide scholarships for the new journalism school.

TWPA became affiliated with the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) in 1938.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/silsbee/silsbee-bee/1966/11-17/page-9?tag=texas+press+women&rtserp=tags/?pep=texas-press-women&page=2|title=Louise Hill Presided At Press Women's Meet|date=17 November 1966|work=Silsbee Bee|url-access=subscription |access-date=5 April 2016|via=Newspaper Archive}} After 1941, the group restricted its membership to active journalists only.

TWPA supported the building of a better Texas State Library and archive in 1939.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeCZUpu-ZD8C&q=%22texas+woman%27s+press+association%22&pg=PT121|title=The State Library and Archives of Texas: A History, 1835-1962|last=Gracy, II|first=David B.|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2010|isbn=9780292779051|pages=82–83}} Their initiative wasn't successful, but was important in bringing attention to the poor state of the archives at the time.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yeCZUpu-ZD8C&q=%22texas+woman%27s+press+association%22&pg=PT121|title=The State Library and Archives of Texas: A History, 1835-1962|last=Gracy, II|first=David B.|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2010|isbn=9780292779051|pages=82–83}}

The organization changed its name to Texas Press Women (TPW) in 1961,{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfj4PW607UYC&q=%22texas+press+women%22&pg=PA214|title=Women's Press Organizations, 1881-1999|last=Peirce|first=Kate|chapter=Texas Professional Communicators, 1893–Present|editor-last=Burt|editor-first=Elizabeth V.|publisher=Greenwood|year=2000|isbn=9780313306617|pages=214}} and became officially incorporated. TPW also broadened its scope that year to include any women writer in the communications field.{{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/silsbee/silsbee-bee/1966/11-17/page-9?tag=texas+press+women&rtserp=tags/?pep=texas-press-women&page=2|title=Louise Hill Presided At Press Women's Meet|date=17 November 1966|work=Silsbee Bee|url-access=subscription |access-date=5 April 2016|via=Newspaper Archive}} TPW divided itself into several districts by 1971.

In 1995, the group again changed its name to Texas Professional Communicators (TPC). This was in line with a national trend where former women's press groups were ceasing to identify with their gender.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqySAgAAQBAJ&q=%22texas+woman%27s+press+association%22&pg=PT1796|title=Encyclopedia of American Journalism|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|isbn=9781135880194|editor-last=Vaughn|editor-first=Stephen L.}}

In 2002, it changed its name to Press Women of Texas.

• Jessie Andrews (American academic), poet laureate of the PWT
• Willie Franklin Pruit (1865-1947), American poet
• Cornelia Branch Stone (1840–1925), president

• List of newspapers in Texas

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.presswomenoftexas.org/ Official site]
• {{cite web |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TDNP/ |title= Texas Digital Newspaper Program |date= 16 September 2023 | publisher= The Portal to Texas History }}

Category:1893 establishments in Texas

Category:Women's organizations based in the United States

Category:American women writers

Category:Organizations for women writers

Category:Women in Texas

Category:Journalists from Texas

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