Remembering H. G. Dulaney

Texas lost one of its most remarkable citizens today when H. G. Dulaney passed away at age 91. He was the founding director of the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum in Bonham, Texas. “H. G.,” as everyone called him, was a living link to an earlier era of this state’s history. A native of Fannin County, he went to Washington, D. C. in 1951 to serve as a member of Congressman Sam Rayburn’s staff. He became a personal assistant to Speaker Rayburn, working closely with Mr. Sam in the daily routine of the Texas 4th District Congressional Office. In 1957, Speaker Rayburn asked H. G. to become the director of his newly opened library in Bonham, a facility that had been built as the congressman’s district office and as a place to hold his personal papers. Dulaney accepted the post. That was fifty-two years ago, and most every day since H. G. could be found on the premises of the Rayburn Library, even after his official retirement in 2002.
Today the Sam Rayburn Library, now a division of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History of the University of Texas at Austin, is as much a memorial to the dedication of H. G. Dulaney as it is a library and museum centering of the career of Congressman Sam Rayburn, although H. G. would absolutely disagree with this assertion since he was such a modest and unassuming man. Over the last half-century, H. G. worked tirelessly, and with determined dedication, to keep alive the memory of Sam Rayburn and to further the place of the library as an important historical site in Texas. H. G. has met with tens of thousands of visitors to the library, given tours to a hundred score and more of school groups, spoken to more people about Speaker Rayburn than can be counted, and encouraged the researches of dozens of historians – all in furthering the historical memory of his mentor, Mr. Sam. I have had the privilege of having known H. G. personally for the last thirty-two years. He was special friend to Austin College and its students. Thousands of them have visited the library over the decades. It is safe to say that H. G. remained to his last day as young at heart as the typical college undergraduate. Indeed, he had a special rapport with young people. They enjoyed his company and he enjoyed theirs. For a number of years, an Austin College student has spent the summer at the Rayburn Library as a history intern. H. G. always took a special interest in each of them, personally mentoring them and making sure that they had a rewarding experience. He made each visitor to the library feel special, and everyone warmed to his infectious grin and hearty laugh. That grin and that laugh will be sorely missed. What will be missed more, however, is the selfless dedication that H.G. Dulaney gave to the Rayburn Library, a landmark Texas institution which will endure long beyond all of us because of what he did there.

Click here for the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum

Click here for a KXII Television Biography of H. G. Dulaney