Scholarship Program
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27 August 2007 At the Spring 2007 meeting of the Board of Directors a further grant of $10,000 was approved to be added to the TGCA - Harold B. Simpson Scholarship Endowment, and the cheque for this amount was forwarded to the President of Hill College, Dr. Sheryl Kappus, early in July 2007. A copy of the response from Hill College may be viewed by clicking here. The student to benefit from our first scholarship is Mr. Brooks Baize, a student of history and also a National Guardsman. We are looking forward to meeting him and his father at the Fall 2007 show in San Antonio. Funding for future scholarships and other philanthropic events will be raised by means of personal contributions, auction sales and other fund-raising events. The first of these was the sale of another custom built Colt Single Action Army revolver at the San Antonio auction held on Saturday evening, 15 September 2007. For images of this revolver click here. |
The announcement below was placed in the Fall 2006 edition of The Texas Gun Collector, and was posted on this website at that time.
Since publication of this announcement, the cheque for $10,000 has been presented to Dr. Sheryl Kappus, President of Hill College and Mr. John Versluis, replacement for Dr. Auvenshine who retired as Director of the History Center before the presentation could be made. We have since learned that the first student to benefit from the scholarsip has been selected, and we expect him and Mr. Versluis to attend our Spring Show, probably on Saturday.
Please check your issue of The Texas Gun Collector, Spring 2007 edition, due to be published in March for the full details.
ANNOUNCEMENT
TGCA's New Scholarship Program
Endowment Scholarship goes to Hill College
At the Spring 2006 meeting of the Board of Directors, a proposal by Richard Overall (Director 06 − 08) that TGCA institute a scholarship program to benefit a student at one of the smaller Texas colleges was discussed at some length. Following a presentation of the benefits to be gained by this student and by TGCA in this win-win situation, the Board of Directors passed a motion that TGCA award an endowment scholarship to the value of $10,000 initially, and further charged that a committee comprising Richard Overall and John Scardino pick up this particular ball and run with it. The committee has been able to take advantage of the experience of Dr. Wes Tunnell (Director 05 − 07) gained in the establishment of several similar funds at Texas A&M, Corpus Christi.
The committee researched several sources for information and facts regarding suitable schools to be considered and drew up a list of six or seven potentially eligible schools. This list was subsequently thinned down to a short list of two, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas and Hill College, Hillsboro, Texas. The final decision, ratified by the Board of Directors, was that a scholarship endowment fund be established at Hill College in the name of the Texas Gun Collectors Association and that the initial donation by TGCA be $10,000.00.
The major factor leading us to this selection was that Hill college is home to the well known Harold B. Simpson History Center. For those not familiar with this resource, we recommend that you visit the Hill College website www.hillcollege.edu where the following may be found:
The Confederate Research Center was founded in 1963, by Col. Harold B. Simpson. Col. Simpson said in a speech at the dedication of the Research Center, "What you see here today, of course, is only the small beginning of the Center, but as the old adage goes, 'Large Oaks from small Acorns grow', and it is our fervent hope that this center, will in the years to come, grow into this mighty Oak of Knowledge, Research, Perpetuation and writing of Texas Confederate History." Today the Harold B. Simpson History Center is comprised of three separate divisions: the Texas Heritage Museum, the Research Center (dealing with researching the War Between the States), and the Hill College Press.
The Hill College History Center is used by students of Hill College for research and writing in conjunction with their courses in English, History, and Political Science. It is used by students of other colleges and universities for writing book reports, term papers, thesis, and dissertations. The History Center is visited by researchers from all states and many countries. The History Center also features original art, art prints and sculptures depicting the War Between the States.
Our mission is to explore Texas and Texans during wartime from 1836 to present and how those experiences affect us today.
For its efforts in preserving and promoting Civil War history, Hill College was awarded the United States Civil War Centennial Commissions Bronze Medal of Distinction, the only educational institution in the Southwest to win the award.
The late Harold B. Simpson, a personality well known to many older TGCA members, was himself a former member of the Texas Gun Collectors Association, which we feel greatly enhances this endowment. We have agreed with the college that the scholarship shall be called The Texas gun Collectors Association – Harold B. Simpson Memorial Endowment, and we trust that in future years TGCA and its members will add to the value of the fund.
Our contact with the college has been through Dr. William R. Auvenshine, former President of Hill College, who now in retirement is Director of the History Center. Dr. Auvenshine assures us that our endowment of $10,000.00 will pay the tuition fees for one student each year.
Further details will be posted here from time to time, and will be published in the Spring 2007 edition of The Texas Gun Collector.