DISASTERS WORTH REMEMBERING: STORIES OF DESTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION AS TOLD IN THE TEXAS OFFICIAL HISTORICAL MARKERS

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study examines patterns of disaster commemoration in Texas as witnessed in 1,590 markers erected by the state between 1936 and 2019. In the first half of the analysis, we highlight spatiotemporal trends of commemoration, which focus on a few well-known historic disasters that occurred between 1875 and 1916. From a spatial perspective, markers concentrate in the coastal cities of Galveston, Houston, and Corpus Christi, but no discernible temporal patterns emerge concerning the timing of commemoration—that is, when a marker is erected. After looking at the when and where of commemoration, in the second part of the analysis we look at how each disaster term is described in the text of the markers. Here, the narrative is one of initial destruction quickly followed by recovery and the reestablishment of communities. We also note how the selective nature of commemoration extends to disaster.Keywords: disaster commemorationcorpus linguisticshistorical markersGiscienceTexasDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.