Place
The spring meeting of Permian Historical Society is scheduled on 26 April 2008 at the Petroleum Museum in Midland, Texas. Anyone interested in the history of the Permian Basin and its surrounding counties is welcomed to this meeting. There is no registration fee.
Theme
The theme for the meeting is a celebration of nineteenth- and twentieth-century aprons and bonnets. Aprons were worn by both women and men to protect their clothing or to keep supplies close at hand as they worked. Aprons were a part of the cook’s everyday attire–housewives or chuckwagon cooks. Blacksmiths, butchers, carpenters, lumberyard workers, newspaper printers, saloon bartenders, and general store keepers all wore aprons. One may come in the costume and apron of any of these jobs or any other that used an apron (except the Adam-and-Eve fig-leaf apron).
Women wore bonnets in early decades to work outside the house–feeding chickens or collecting eggs, hoeing or gathering cotton or other crops, or working the vegetable garden. Most women in decades earlier than 1960s put on an apron when dressing in the morning and wore it throughout the day. Women may wear both an apron and a bonnet; they need not match.
About the Program
Attendees should park in the west parking lot and enter the west door to register. Coffee, juice, and pastries will be served. A meeting of the Board of Directors will be held at 9:15 A. M. General business meeting begins as 9:30 A. M. The program of papers starts at 10 A. M.
The program of papers covers the following topics: The taming of the Big Bend of Texas, growing up in Crane, the New Deal in the Permian Basin, West Texas oil industry during World War II, and the Wink Sink. Awards for the best presentation and the most interesting aprons and bonnets, as well as door prizes, will be distributed after lunch.
Lunch reservations should be made by contacting President Peggy Kelton at p_kelton@yahoo.com or P. O. Box 901, McCamey, TX 79752 or 432/652-8738. Lunch will be catered by The Bakers of Stanton and the cost is $9 each for roast beef, sides, dessert, and iced tea.
