The Rio Grande Valley and its residents have endured historic natural disasters, from drought that forced ranchers to burn thorns off of cacti in order to feed the livestock they weren’t able to sell off, to tropical storms that flooded much of the Valley, to the winter storm that left much of the region cold and dark for days on end.
The University of Texas at Austin, through the Museum of South History in Edinburg, wants people who have lived through such disasters to tell their stories. It’s an important fact-and-reaction-gathering project, and we encourage all those who can spend Saturday at the museum to do so.
Many if not most people probably have assumed that history is simply the retelling of events as they happened, presenting facts that are obvious and inarguable. In recent years, we have seen that some people seek to manipulate that retelling to suit their own purposes. An obvious example is the time and effort former President Donald Trump has devoted to present his version of events and de-legitimize anything that runs counter to his views.
Trump certainly isn’t the first person to attempt to change history by simply changing the story. Soviet officials and others blatantly changed public narratives to their liking, going so far as to add and delete people from historic photographs.
Napoleon expressed his own disdain for the public record: “History is little more than lies that have been agreed upon.” American journalist Franklin P. Jones declared that “Perhaps nobody has changed the course of history as much as the historians.”
Even researchers who do their best to be objective and present the most accurate version of historical events are at the mercy of those who originally documented those events or might have taken liberties in their retelling.
For this reason, the best documentation of historic events comes from people who were involved in or witnessed those events. That is why scholars all over the world are scrambling to gather oral and printed histories from those who fought in major wars or witnessed major events.
Getting the facts right is crucial; policy makers often use them to build their responses and take steps to mitigate similar events in the future. Bad information can lead to bad policy.
To gather information on natural disasters, UT and the museum are holding a town hall event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at the museum, 200 N. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg. Museum visitor services host Osiel Uribe told us that people who can’t attend Saturday can call the museum, (956) 383-6911, to schedule another time to offer information about Valley natural disasters and their effects on our residents. In addition to weather-related disasters, information on health and medical disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or perhaps family history regarding anencephaly or the yellow fever outbreak in the 1880s, can be offered.
The best history comes from those who lived it. Local residents who want to be part of the Valley’s history should take the opportunity to tell their stories to the researchers’ project on Saturday.
