H.R. No. 890 R E S O L U T I O N 1-1 WHEREAS, On May 15, 1993, at its Triennial Dinner held in 1-2 Pacific Grove, California, the Society of Woman Geographers had the 1-3 distinct pleasure of presenting to Ms. Ruth Agnes McCall Robertson 1-4 of Rosenberg, Texas, its Outstanding Achievement Award for her 1-5 distinguished career as a journalist, photographer, war 1-6 correspondent, and explorer--a career that spanned well over a half 1-7 century; and 1-8 WHEREAS, Starting out in 1939 in her native state, Illinois, 1-9 Ms. Robertson was the first woman photographer at The Peoria 1-10 Evening Star; and 1-11 WHEREAS, By 1943, Ms. Robertson had advanced to ranking 1-12 news photographer on the staff of United Press International in 1-13 Chicago, winning such plum assignments as covering the 1944 1-14 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, being the first 1-15 woman news photographer allowed on the infield at Chicago's Wrigley 1-16 Field, being the first woman to photograph football games from the 1-17 50-yard line at both Notre Dame and Northwestern universities, and 1-18 being the only woman photographing the 1944 World Series from the 1-19 infield in St. Louis; and 1-20 WHEREAS, By 1945, Ms. Robertson, through Press 1-21 Syndicate, achieved war correspondent status and was assigned to 1-22 the Alaska-Aleutian area, Ladd Field in Fairbanks, the only woman 1-23 war correspondent; despite being detained to quarters for 34 days 2-1 because the commanding officer of the Alaska Division ATC wanted no 2-2 women on his base, she was allowed--after intervention in the 2-3 matter by former Illinois Governor Dwight Green, former United 2-4 States Senator C. Wayland Brooks, and former United States 2-5 Representative Everett Dirksen--to remain in Alaska and pursue her 2-6 work photographing United States and Russian military movements, 2-7 and the commanding officer was then recalled; and 2-8 WHEREAS, Ms. Robertson was prepared to do just about anything 2-9 to get a good photo/story, including spending hours in cold bomber 2-10 sites and even hanging out open bays of B-24 aircraft to get the 2-11 perfect shot, flying wherever the military moved; and 2-12 WHEREAS, Ms. Robertson's features and photographs on World 2-13 War II received wide acclaim in major daily newspapers and 2-14 magazines across the country such as National Geographic and 2-15 Flying; and 2-16 WHEREAS, After the war, Ms. Robertson went to Venezuela at 2-17 first to do publicity for a new Venezuelan airline, but she ended 2-18 up working for Shell Oil Company and Standard Oil Company producing 2-19 color calendars, documenting drilling operations, and writing 2-20 features for their company magazines; and 2-21 WHEREAS, In May of 1949, in a quest to be the first to prove 2-22 that Angel Falls was the highest waterfall in the world, 2-23 Ms. Robertson led the first successful overland expedition into the 2-24 remote interior below the Orinoco River in Venezuela to measure the 2-25 falls and take the first photographs from its base; and 3-1 WHEREAS, By November of that year, an article appeared 3-2 in National Geographic magazine about the Angel Falls expedition, 3-3 written and illustrated by Ms. Robertson herself; further articles 3-4 about the expedition appeared in Time and Newsweek magazines as 3-5 well as in major newspapers around the world; and 3-6 WHEREAS, Ms. Robertson went on to become Assistant Managing 3-7 Editor and daily columnist for the Caracas Daily Journal from 1955 3-8 to 1959 and spent the years from 1959 to 1966 as Assistant Editor, 3-9 and then Editor, of the American Society Bulletin in Mexico City; 3-10 and 3-11 WHEREAS, In 1977, Ms. Robertson wrote a book about her many 3-12 adventures in Venezuela, entitled Cherun Meru--The Tallest Angel, 3-13 another of her numerous works to be well-received; and 3-14 WHEREAS, Ms. Robertson's career of more than 50 years was 3-15 spent photographing celebrities from around the world and ranged 3-16 from John Barrymore; Madame Chiang Kai-shek; the Truman family; 3-17 Eleanor Roosevelt; Margaret Mead; Prince Philip; Queen Juliana and 3-18 Prince Bernard; the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan; to Dizzy 3-19 Dean and Stan Musial; to bullfighter Dominguin and oil fire fighter 3-20 "Red" Adair; to the native peoples of the Arctic and the deepest 3-21 jungles; she claims that her greatest rewards are the people she 3-22 has met along the way; and 3-23 WHEREAS, The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The 3-24 University of Texas at Austin has recently acquired Ms. Robertson's 3-25 career archive, which is to be made available to scholars and 4-1 researchers in the fields of geography, anthropology, journalism, 4-2 and photography; and 4-3 WHEREAS, On July 1, 1993, the first exhibit of 4-4 Ms. Robertson's photographs entitled "Ruth Robertson: 4-5 Photojournalist, The Forgotten Expedition, Angel Falls, Venezuela, 4-6 1949" will be presented at the Leeds Gallery of The University of 4-7 Texas at Austin; and 4-8 WHEREAS, It is fitting and appropriate that the Texas House 4-9 of Representatives join the Society of Woman Geographers, and The 4-10 University of Texas at Austin, in recognizing the unique talents 4-11 and profound achievements of this special woman; now, therefore, be 4-12 it 4-13 RESOLVED, That the Texas House of Representatives, 73rd 4-14 Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, hereby congratulate Ruth Agnes 4-15 McCall Robertson on her many outstanding contributions to the 4-16 fields of journalism, photography, and other endeavors; and, be it 4-17 further 4-18 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution, enrolled 4-19 on parchment, be prepared for Ms. Robertson as a token of highest 4-20 esteem from the Texas House of Representatives. 4-21 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution, enrolled 4-22 on parchment, be prepared for Ms. Robertson as a token of highest 4-23 esteem from the Texas House of Representatives. 4-24 McCoulskey 4-25 H.R. No. 890 5-1 _______________________________ 5-2 Speaker of the House 5-3 I certify that H.R. No. 890 was adopted by the House on May 5-4 31, 1993, by a non-record vote. 5-5 _______________________________ 5-6 Chief Clerk of the House