The Bonham Kiwanis Club somehow managed to schedule a double treat on Tuesday. Not only did the local service club have one of the most engaging public speakers in the state on hand to share a few good laughs and witty insights, but Kiwanians also brought to Bonham the man designated as the Texas State Historian. Everyone lucky enough to attend the meeting knows both speakers were one and the same, the one and only Dr. Light T. Cummins.
Yes, on
King Juan Carlos I of
Cummins is also bears the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel, an award given by Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. for Cummins's documentation of the history of the Mississippi Valley.
Dr. Cummins is the author of eight books, but it is the subject of what may very well turn out to be his ninth book that brought the esteemed historian to Bonham.
It is doubtful anyone knows more than Cummins about the historic statue of James Butler Bonham that graces the southeast corner of the Fannin County Courthouse square in downtown Bonham, or the internationally known
"I am currently writing a biography of Allie Victoria Tennant, a
Dr. Cummins told how, even as a young child growing up in
Cummins even managed to find Tennant's recollection of her first artistic endeavors.
"I always loved to make mud pies," she recalled as an adult, "as I loved the feel of the earth."
Eight-year-old Allie took a lump of mud from the family garden and fashioned it into a bust of George Washington that, to their astonishment, the entire family recognized.
Unfortunately, the young artist would soon learn a hard lesson. The bust of
"The eight-year-old artist decided from that point on she would work only in stone and bronze," Cummins said with a smile.
"I was heartbroken," Tennant would later say. "I thought a work of art had been destroyed."
Because Allie's father was experienced in the coal business, Texas and Pacific coal mines lured Thomas R. Tennant to the rough and tumble little company town of Thurber, Texas to manage the mines. The Tennant family, however, chose to settle in
As Allie delved deeper into the
The late 1920s found Allie in
In 1936, Allie sculpted what would be her most famous work as well as one of the most famous statues in
The Hall of State was designed to be the centerpiece of the Texas Centennial Celebration, and Dr. Cummins discovered it was an infusion of money into the arts in association with the Texas Centennial that afforded Allie Tennant an opportunity to sculpt two other heroic statues that would ensure her reputation: one was the statue of Jose Antonio Navarro in Corsicana and the other, James Butler Bonham here in the city of Bonham. Other statues sculpted under this program included Stephen F. Austin at San Felipe, Sidney Sherman (Galveston); Richard Ellis (Waxahachie); James Pinckney Henderson (St. Augustine); R.E.B. Baylor (Waco); Ben Milam (two statues, one in Cameron and one in San Antonio); Anson Jones (Anson); Mirabeau B. Lamar (Richmond); Henry Smith (Brazoria); James Bowie (Texarkana); Thomas J. Rusk (Henderson); Peter H. Bell (Belton); Richard Dowling (Sabine Pass); George G. Childress (Washington-on-the-Brazos); David G. Burnett (Clarksville); Moses Austin (San Antonio); and John O. Meusebach (Fredricksburg).
After doing exhaustive research on Navarro and Bonham, Allie Tennant began to sculpt the statues of both men simultaneously at her Live Oak Avenue Studio in
Once the city of Bonham was selected as the site for the statue of James Butler Bonham, a minor controversy developed because Miss Tennant envisioned a statue of Bonham wearing buckskin, while Bonhamites asked for the town hero to be clothed more formally. Adamant townsfolk seemed to have a slight edge in this debate, when Cummins found that
Dr. Cummins found where Williams had addressed the controversy in a Dallas Morning News article.
"By no means picture Bonham in buckskins," Williams was quoted as saying in the Dallas Morning News, "for it is very unlikely that he ever wore them."
Allie Tennant would go on to dress James Butler Bonham according to the wishes of Bonhamites, although the artist felt obliged to put a powder horn over the formal attire and added a very prominent set of spurs over Bonham's brogan boots. Perhaps neither was historically correct, but fell more under the realm of artistic license.
Once the clay model was finished in
Dr. Cummins observes that in technical point of fact, Tennant's statue of James Butler Bonham was born at Eugene G. Gargoni and Sons Art Foundry located at
The bronze statue made it back to Bonham in December 1938. A pedestal made from the same pink granite as the capitol building was prepared in the Rodriguez Brothers workshop in
Amazingly enough, Dr. Cummins notes that the cost of the artwork, carving, bronzing, marble cutting and shipping was $7,500.
H.A. Cunningham served as master of ceremonies on
The President of the James Butler Bonham chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave an account of the
Allie Tennant was in great demand throughout the 1940 and into the 1950. She remained very active in the
Residents of Bonham will forever be indebted to the creative genius that was Allie Tennant. And art aficionados everywhere are certainly appreciative of the time, expertise and effort put in by Dr. Cummins to uncover the facts behind this fascinating artist.
The primary purpose for the office of Texas State Historian is to advance the cause of history throughout the state.
For an increasing number of people every week, it would be impossible to imagine anyone more deserving of the title of Texas State Historian than Dr. Light Cummins.