Herbert Pickens Gambrell

Herbert Pickens Gambrell (July 15, 1898 - December 30, 1982) was an American historian known for his writing on Texas history, as well as his central roles in the Texas Centennial Exposition, Texas Institute of Letters, Texas State Historical Association, Dallas Historical Society, Southwest Review, and Southern Methodist University Press. He was a professor at Southern Methodist University, where he chaired the history department from 1947 to 1964. A colleague would later remember that Gambrell, a popular and influential member of the faculty, was "the chief Wag and Wise Man of SMU for many years."

During his lifetime, Gambrell's writing on Texas and its prominent figures was widely read. His 1948 biography of former Texas president Anson Jones, for instance, reached the New York Times bestseller list and won the Carr P. Collins Texas Book of the Year award. His friend J. Frank Dobie called it "high art." His dissertation, "A Life of Anson Jones," would form the basis for his 1948 biography, Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas.

Career Gambrell began teaching at Southern Methodist University in 1923. The following year he was recruited by Jay B. Hubbell to join the newly-acquired Southwest Review as the journal's first managing editor. He would remain in that position from 1924 to 1927.

During the 1920s, Gambrell was part of a clique of young faculty who opposed the draconian policies of then-president C.C. Selecman. They called themselves the "Hotheads." The faculty failed in their aims but Selecman was chastened somewhat. The following year, he managed the historical exhibitions for the less successful Greater Texas & Pan-American Exposition.

Gambrell served as President of the Texas State Historical Association between 1951 and 1953.

Gambrell retired in 1964. In the 1970s, he reconvened Martha Sumner University at his house for the first time since 1959. His letters and reminisces, held in the archives of SMU and the Dallas Historical Society, have proven invaluable for historians of the university's first fifty years.

Writings A Social and Political History of Texas (1932), co-author Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar: Troubadour and Crusader (1934) Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas A Pictorial History of Texas