This is not the most stunning book of photographs ever to grace my coffee table. Some of the photos are a little out of focus. Some are grainy. All are black and white; few in the "artistic" sense that my daughter associates with black and white photography. And yet, Betty Trapp Chapman's Historic P... more

This is not the most stunning book of photographs ever to grace my coffee table. Some of the photos are a little out of focus. Some are grainy. All are black and white; few in the "artistic" sense that my daughter associates with black and white photography. And yet, Betty Trapp Chapman's Historic Photos of Houston is fast becoming my favorite book of photographs. It is certainly one of the most intriguing. Gazing into these photos, I feel as if I'm being drawn back in time. One problem with studying history is that teachers too often present its central figures as two-dimensional, cardboard cut-outs. Houston's history comes alive in these photos. Some depict significant events: ground-breaking and opening night at the Astrodome; Mission Control at the Johnson Manned Space Center following splashdown of Apollo 13; an oil gusher; a dinner party honoring Booker T. Washington; the Democratic National Convention in June 1928. Some invite comparisons with modern day Houston: a devastating fire in the Fifth Ward; flooded Houston streets; a traffic jam in 1930; road construction on Texas Avenue. And others seem quirky, mundane, fun, and human: C.L. Bering's 250 ducks; cotton being graded; a horse-drawn hearse; a troupe of actors; ladies lined up at the library. The pages breathe with the history of Houston. Again and again, I flip through the pages - backwards, forwards, finding new details each time I look. This book contains a copy of the oldest known photograph of Houston, taken in 1856, and a photo taken from the same point at the 300 block of Main street, ten years later. Clearly, Houston was booming - and it has continued to grow and to thrive ever since brothers Augustus and John Kirby Allen founded it to become "the great commercial emporium of all Texas." Historic Photos of Houston touches upon life, government, education, and historic events from the 1800s to the 1970s. You want stunning? Compare the aerial photo of Houston, "the sixth largest city in the nation" as of 1970, to the first photo from 1856. It's a little like looking through Houston's baby book, and it's impossible not to gain a new appreciation for the spirit and energy of the people who appear in these photos - the people who guided Houston from infancy to adulthood.