Adele Briscoe Looscan was the first woman president of theTexas State Historical Association, the longest serving presidentof the association (1915–1925), and a remarkable individual.Daughter of Andrew Briscoe, signer of the Texas Declaration ofIndependence, and granddaughter of John Richardson Harris,founder of Harrisburg, Texas, she was shaped and motivated byher heritage throughout her life.Adele Looscan was a woman of her time, yet she flourished in thesociety of both men and women, earning the respect of the formeras an astute businesswoman and the admiration of the latter forher leadership and accomplishments.As a clubwoman, she built an impressive resumé: chartermember of the Texas State Historical Association; member of theDaughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of theConfederacy, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and the TexasWoman’s Press Association; first president of the Houston CityFederation of Women’s Clubs, and vice-president of the TexasFederation of Women’s Clubs in its first year. She organized theLadies’ Reading Club of Houston in 1885 and was instrumental infounding other literary clubs years before the organization of theTexas Federation.Her contributions to Texas history appeared in many newspapersand in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly. She used herinfluence to encourage public education and the preservationof historic landmarks, and actively advocated for a state library,archives, and museum.Her story is valuable and compelling for what it reveals aboutwomen and culture in nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuryTexas and for what it reveals about the nature, origins, and shapingof Texas’s modern identity.
