Michael R. Moore
For more than three decades, historian Michael R. Moore has made it his mission to help Texans view their history in new and exciting ways. After stepping down as director of the Fort Bend County Museum in 2007 — a position he held for over 20 years – Moore set his sights on a new project: turning the long-forgotten colony of San Felipe de Austin into a historical tourist destination.
Founded in 1826 by Stephen F. Austin himself, the small town of San Felipe would go down in history as the political center of the Texas Revolution. Considering the entire town was burned to the ground in 1836 by Texas forces retreating from Santa Anna’s army, the road to creating a modern-day historical destination has been anything but easy. But while the task may be daunting, Moore has never once faltered in his goal. In October 2016, after nearly 10 years of hard work, ground was finally broken for a San Felipe de Austin Historical Museum – with Moore serving as the site’s contract historian.
Where did your love of history originate?
I’ve always had a fascination with the past. I grew up in a history-minded family. My parents nurtured that fascination with trips and early research opportunities. When I was about 10, my parents took my siblings and me on a history tour of the East Coast — visiting historic sites like Colonial Williamsburg and Civil War battlegrounds. That was the first time I encountered somebody in historical costume portraying a person in the past — living history. That had a big impact on me.
How’d you first learn about the San Felipe de Austin historic site?
After that East Coast trip, I became interested in the concept of living history. When 1 was 14, I got involved with a local group that performed historical reenactments. One of the first reenactments 1 participated in was a movie being filmed at San Felipe de Austin — a little historical film about Sam Houston’s retreat from the town – and I was in it! I find it wonderfully ironic that now — many years later — I’m back to develop that historic site.
When did you get involved with history, professionally?
My first job out of college was director of the Fort Bend County Museum. During my first year I created a little festival called Texian Market Days – a pioneer craft festival featuring living history demonstrations. A few years later, George Ranch Historical Park, a local historic site, approached us to develop Texian Market Days at their site. So we staged the program at George Ranch, and it proved very popular. Over the next several years we created a similar, permanent program exclusively for George Ranch to educate visitors about the generations of ranching that occurred there. I ended up running that program for 20 years or so.
As a historian, how do you approach studying the past?
My whole approach has been at the intersection of archives and archeology. That’s my brand. I get into the archives, and I’ll dig up little snippets of data that most historians will pass over and say, “There’s no information there … there’s no story.” For example, I’ve done a lot of work on stories of slavery and freedom, where there’s not as much archival evidence. There’s a wonderful story of a woman named Celia — a slave woman who was freed in 1832. Her papers of emancipation have survived. Turns out she had to hire William Barret Travis as her lawyer to defend her freedom. The overlooked evidence of otherwise anonymous people … that’s the learning I enjoy.
How did you get involved with the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site?
I’ve worn many different hats in that project. As part of my job at fort Bend museum, I was first appointed to the commission to help organize the bicentennial of Stephen F. Austin’s birthday. The celebration was taking place at San Felipe, so I sent an outreach program from George Ranch to San Felipe – similar to the Texian Market Days program. I liked the idea of having a similar, permanent program at San Felipe, with living history and all. A few years later I helped organize a consortium of community organiza tions that sponsored an archeology project at San Felipe. Our goal was to figure out, “Is there really a salvageable historic site still here?” and “What survived the fire of 1836?”
You also played a key role in returning the San Felipe historic site back to the state.
That’s another one of my hats. I served as volunteer president of a group known as Friends of the Historic Sites. Around 2007 — about the time I left the Fort Bend museum — we petitioned the legislature to transfer the San Felipe site to the Texas Historical Commission. I was pleased to lead that effort; I went and testified before the legislature. Our group went all in. There was a building at the San Felipe site that belonged to our volunteer group. We even donated that building to the state to serve as an interim visitor center.
Would you say your effort paid off?
Of course. We thought that the Texas Historical Commission would be the best steward of the site — and we were correct. I’m also proud to say that my successor as president, a Realtor named Frank Monk, helped the state acquire some of the additional land, which includes the site where they’re building the new San Felipe Historical Museum.
EXCAVATION PROJECT In 2008 the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site was transferred to the management of the Texas Historical Commission (THC), and Moore (left image, fourth from left) is shown receiving a Texas flag to fly over the site from then Gov. Rick Perry. Moore has spent a decade working with the THC as project historian to compile research and develop plans for the San Felipe de Austin Historical Museum. At the October 2016 groundbreaking for the facility (middle image), he’s shown with THC site manager Bryan McAuley (at left) and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst. At the excavation of the site of the Farmer’s Hotel at the San Felipe de Austin site in 2015 (right image), Moore is shown with Pat Mercado-Allinger, archeology division director of the THC. Moore’s research identified the site of this structure, which has been the subject of several seasons of excavation by the THC and volunteers from the Texas Archeological Society and the Houston Archeological Society.
In addition to sponsoring archeological projects, you’ve also worked on a few.
I’m a historian first and foremost, not an archaeologist. In working with these archeologists, I find I have a different perspective. The way archeologists find a site is to do random testing and systematic scientific work to find where they should spend their time searching. Being a historian, I go to the archives, dig up these old records, and sketch where things should be based off those records. I’d say, “You should dig here — there should be a hotel with a brick-lined basement six feet deep.” So the archeologists would go out with their magnetometers and remote sensing equipment, and, sure enough, they’d find a brick-lined basement six feet deep.
What challenges do you face telling the story of San Felipe, considering the town burned down in 1836?
Well, it’s frustrating because currently I’m in charge of the exhibit content for the new museum being constructed. I’m trying to find objects to put in the museum, but because the town burned down, a lot of things that would have survived otherwise have become deformed – they don’t tell their stories wel anymore. Visitors won’t have a huge tolerance for 72 pounds of melted metal and glass. How much melted stuff do you need to display to say, “Oh, the whole town burned, and everything melted”? [Laughs] Sure, there’s a lot of debris that you can learn from, but it’s not real showy.
How’s the museum coming along?
It’s exciting to see a bunch of steel beams up in the air … the frame is being put up right now. The substantial completion of the building is set for early fall. The exhibit fabrication and installation will occur over the winter. Of course we’re still early in the process, so hate to throw out dates, but the projected target date is late spring 2018. The Historical Commission has done a good job managing that process. The commissioners have been supportive and insistent that this project move forward. So it’s got a lot of momentum.
What do you hope the future holds for the San Felipe de Austin Historic Site?
My primary hope is that this site becomes an important place to tell the stories of Stephen F. Austin, the early settlements of Texas and the operation of the Texas revolution. San Felipe may not be as big of a deal as the Alamo or San Jacinto, but it’s still the place the where important decisions were made, and it’s at the center of all these different events in the Texas Revolution. In fact, I see it functioning as a sort of visitor center for the Texas Revolution. I view it long term as the best place to come and start your Texas Revolution experience on the Independence Trail. I think it has real importance and real potential.