Austin Archives Bazaar

We're so excited to welcome Gregory Smith from the Cindy Walker Foundation as a speaker at this year's bazaar!

Historian Gregory Smith was born in Rochester, New York, and got to Austin as soon as he could. In 1996, he joined the Texas Historical Commission as a historian and architectural historian, and from 1999 to 2024 he served as the state’s National Register Coordinator, overseeing all federal designations in Texas. In his time at the THC, the National Park Service approved over 900 nominations, including dozens that he wrote, co-wrote, and/or edited for a range of property types, from single buildings to large districts. His favorite projects include nominations for: the world’s first Texas-shaped swimming pool in Plano; sculptural works of Dionicio Rodriguez and Genaro Briones; monuments and buildings of the 1936 Texas Centennial; Austin’s former Faulk Library (now home to the Austin History Center); and any building with “Ballroom” in its name: the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston, the Galvan Ballroom in Corpus Christi, and the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, for which he wrote the section supporting the historic significance of the S*x Pistols 1978 performance there. He’s taught in the UT School of Architecture Historic Preservation program since 2004 and has visited every Texas county at least twice.

Catch Gregory Smith and our other amazing speakers at the Austin Archives Bazaar THIS Sunday, April 26th, from noon-4pm at Scholz Garten!