Texas First Lady Anita Perry, acting as honorary chair, in partnership with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) is honoring communities that have shown a high level of creativity and ingenuity in recognizing and preserving their authentic Texas sense of place. These communities use the resources and preservation tools available from the THC and others to realize significant economic benefits as a result of their strong cultural and historic preservation stewardship. 

The economic benefits of preservation occur when a community carefully and responsibly researches, identifies, and preserves structures, archeological sites, or landscapes and then engages citizens and visitors with those assets through events, outreach, and education. A community that emphasizes the characteristics of its special Texas place by preserving the authentic historic and cultural assets enables citizens to enjoy a unique quality of life and realize economic outcomes through historic preservation.
 
The First Lady’s Texas Treasures Award will promote and recognize the heritage experiences locally created to share and preserve our state’s diverse legacies and encourage greater appreciation of historic downtowns, archeological resources, monuments, buildings, heritage programs, cemeteries, museums, and landscapes.

Download the application and guidelines as samples only.

Watch First Lady Anita Perry's award introduction:

Click on an award-winning community to view their video and learn about their preservation achievements and updates:

For questions regarding this community award, please contact April Garner at 512.463.2630.