Frank Jennings Collection - Journal of San Antonio

After his Air Force civil service retirement in 1985, Frank W. Jennings continued his writing career by delving into an array of topics, but most predominantly, the history of San Antonio, publishing countless articles in Texas Highways, Senior Sentinel, The San Antonio Conservation Society Journal, and other publications. His greatest contribution to the study of San Antonio came with the 1998 publication of his 400 page overview of the city and its cultural heritage, San Antonio, The Story of an Enchanted City. Published by the San Antonio Express News, the book represents the first comprehensive survey of the city’s past since 1959 when Charles Ramsdell wrote San Antonio: An Historical and Pictorial Guide.

In The Frank W. Jennings Collection readers can explore a wide variety of topics and perspectives. For Jennings, our city’s history resides in the stories of its people, and in his writing he explores the quaint, the humorous, the diverse, the expansive, and the trivial in an effort to color his canvases with all the hues available to his writer’s palette.

Mr. Jennings himself offered a note of caution regarding the use of the collection. When possible, he provided the collection entries with the dates of their writing, but at times that information was unavailable. Further, take note that recent research and interpretation may date some of the material. Thus, Mr. Jennings and the editorial staff hope that the Collection presents a valuable retrospective of Jennings’ work between 1985 and 2005.

The editors take pride in presenting The Frank W. Jennings Collection to our readers and hope that it will pique the interest of all—but especially younger—readers to learn more about the many amazing stories to be discovered in Texas history.

Patricia Gower, Ph.D.
Executive Editor