In honor of Women's History Month, East Texas A&M University is celebrating a decade of the work of Dr. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky, Distinguished Professor of Digital Humanities and History. Brannon-Wranosky serves as founding project director for the “Handbook of Texas Women.”

The online publication documents the women who have helped shape Texas throughout its history. From educators to ranchers, scientists to early land-grant recipients, and artists to elected officials, the project helps ensure the stories of Texas women are researched, written and shared with the public.

The handbook is part of the Texas State Historical Association and expands the long-running “Handbook of Texas,” the nation's oldest and most comprehensive digital state encyclopedia with millions of readers across more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

To date, the “Handbook of Texas Women” includes thousands of online articles. Each new article is carefully developed by researchers and peer reviewed to ensure accuracy and accessibility.

The initiative also includes an interactive historical locations map that allows users to explore important sites connected to various handbook articles and learn even more about their impact.

As project director for the “Handbook of Texas Women,” Brannon-Wranosky oversees the initiative’s growth and helps guide efforts to identify and fill gaps in the historical record. She initiated the project in 2016 after being invited by the leadership of the Texas State Historical Association to spearhead this vital development in the association's plans for future initiatives.

Brannon-Wranosky said leading the project is both an honor and an opportunity to expand how Texans understand their own history.

“I cannot imagine a more effective way to increase the public's interest in and the representation of women from all walks of life who have had a hand in shaping the history of the Lone Star State,” she said.

Brannon-Wranosky's most recent women's history projects include several full-length and short documentaries distributed by PBS, one of which premiered at the South By Southwest International Film Festival in 2024.

Currently, she and her co-editors are concluding edits on a book manuscript under contract to be published by Texas A&M University Press, “Centuries of Voices: Portraits of Black Women in Texas History,” which will be the largest biographical anthology of African American Texas women's history to date, with histories running from the Spanish Colonial period to the twenty-first century. 

Through Brannon-Wranosky's leadership, East Texas A&M is playing a key role in preserving Texas history and making it more accessible to current and future generations.