Texas Historical Foundation Grant

The Grayson College Foundation received a $3,000 grant this week from the Texas Historical Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase equipment that will make it possible for the foundation to contract with UNT Digital Libraries to scan, create metadata, process, upload, and digitally preserve T.V. Munson artifacts, research and publications.

The purpose of the grant is to digitally preserve handwritten and published documents produced by the notable scholar, T.V. Munson. Thomas Volney Munson, Doctor of Science, was a philosopher, author, inventor, artist, horticulturist and botanist.

Munson’s contributions to world viticulture included: a reclassification of the Vitis species; authoring the classic book Foundations of American Grape Culture in 1909; originating over 300 disease-resistant grape varieties specifically hybridized for the Southwest; and assisting the French government in find the solution to the phylloxera epidemic, which was devastating the French, European, and California vineyards in the 1880’s.

This equipment will allow his story to be told and will preserve correspondence and journal contributions that illustrate how he sought to solve an international threat. This story will also demonstrate the impact of his work, and how it continues to influence today’s culture and economy more than 125 years later.