Photographic history features area schools

The University of Texas Press has published a photographic history of early-day Texas school buildings constructed in the 1850s through the early 1930s. Many of these schools remain today and can be viewed in "Early Texas Schools: A Photographic History."

The book -- with text by Mary S. Black of Austin and photographs by Bruce F. Jordan of Rockdale -- highlights several structures in the Central Texas area, including photos of the Lampasas Colored School and a quote from Dr. Bill Orman, a former principal of the school and now a professor at Prairie View A&M University.

Details of the school's pressed tin ceiling and limestone exterior also are featured.

Other structures photographed in the publication are the one-room, limestone Oatmeal School in Burnet County that now serves as a community center; the two-story, red brick elementary school in Bertram; the former Briggs High School; and various schools in Fredericksburg, Georgetown, Bosque County and Granger.

"Early Texas Schools" is a photogrpahic documentary of how Texans of all races and walks of life have aspired to educate their children. It is available through the Lampasas Public Library.