On June 20, the Calaboose African American History Museum, which preserves the culture and history of African Americans in Hays County, awarded three recipients the Dr. Elvin Holt Professor Emeritus Calaboose Scholarship.
While the ceremony started in 2021, this year marked the first year since Dr. Elvin Holt’s death on Sept. 18. He became the first tenured Black professor in Texas State’s Department of English in 1983. Known for his contributions to African American history and literature in San Marcos, Holt was the longest-serving president and board member of the Calaboose.
Margo Handwerker, a Calaboose curator, said he was an invaluable resource for institutional memory of the museum, Black history in the county and the Dunbar community — the historically African American community in San Marcos.
“Fortunately, there are so many folks who still live in that community who have that same memory, but we do really feel the loss of Dr. Holt’s passing because of how much he knew about the collection, the objects within it and the establishment of the institution,” Handwerker said.
The application evokes Holt’s passions for education and a commitment to serving San Marcos’ African American communities. It invites applicants to describe the most influential teacher in their lives and share their service and volunteerism at Texas State and San Marcos.
The scholarship’s creation goes back to when Holt invited Skyller Walkes, former Calaboose director of educational programming, to join the board. She knew him from working at Texas State and sharing her passions for museum education and the arts. From working with him, Walkes learned about San Marcos and grew concerned that Texas State did not do enough to bridge the relationship between the institution and the local community members.
“[The community] often felt diminished in the shadow of the ‘institution on the hill,'” Walkes said. “For me, that was a particular interest to do my best to elevate the richness and cultural communal heritage of San Marcos, not just as a college town.”
Nearly 10 years ago, Walkes started taking her US 1100 classes on field trips to the Calaboose and the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. She said the goal was for students to “come down off the hill” and engage with the community, which worked as she found students enjoyed the tours and their importance.
“Most of them did not know much about San Marcos beyond the Square, so a lot of students did not engage with the community and the cultural heritage of the city beyond the Square or the Outlets… which was I thought — though not intentionally — a disservice to the community,” Walkes said.
After Holt’s term ended, Walkes became the next Calaboose president for the next two years. She drafted and created the fellowship project workflow approval for the scholarship to formally acknowledge and revere what Holt gave to Texas State. The Calaboose Board decided on the proposal in 2020 and implemented it the following year.
Although Walkes moved to New York in August 2022 and maintained her role until October that year, she retains her commitment to ensuring the scholarship stays for as long as needed. She announced funding the scholarship for the next ten years at Holt’s memorial service and continues to fund it along with Holt’s sisters.
Jo Ann Parsons, the Calaboose President, works with the sisters to determine how to distribute the money. She said having the family and the community behind the scholarship shows how many people are involved in the achievement and want the recipients to move forward.
“[Being able to carry out Holt’s legacy] is also sometimes overwhelming because we want to make sure that he would be proud of the process and also be proud of the fact that we want to continue with this legacy,” Parsons said.
For more information about the Calaboose African American History Museum, visit its Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/calaboosemuseum/.
