Sophienburg History Award: Voice of the forgotten
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — For more than 90 years, the Sophienburg Museum and Archives has maintained artifacts and archival documents to keep the history of New Braunfels alive. Part of our mission is to not only preserve the history of New Braunfels, but to share the stories with the generations that follow. It is […]
2024 Myra Lee Adams Goff Sophienburg History Award Winner
The 2024 Myra Lee Adams Goff Sophienburg History Scholarship was awarded to Nathan Martinez. In a ceremony during the Sophienburg Museum’s annual meeting on April 18, Nathan was presented with the award ― a $1000 scholarship ― and got to meet and visit with Mrs. Goff. He is the eleventh recipient of this annual award […]
Arriving Germans found native tribes in area they settled
By Myra Lee Adams Goff — Prince Carl in the diary of his sojourn to Texas writes about sleeping on the ground, using a pistol case as a pillow. Even before the emigrants arrived, he feared an Indian attack. He recalled a patriotic drinking song called “Deutschland Hoch.” Rewriting his own words to this song, […]
New Braunfels treasure celebrates 90 years
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — A 90th birthday is an event well worth celebrating. My beautiful friend was born in 1933, the same year as Willie Nelson and Carol Burnett. It was the worst year of the Great Depression, when twenty-five percent of the labor force was unemployed, the U.S. bank system failed, and the […]
“Hairstory”
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — “Hairstory” is a new and unusual exhibit opening in April at the Sophienburg Museum. The museum’s collection was scoured for artifacts of human hair. What? Yes, the museum has a collection of human hair artifacts that include jewelry, wreaths and saved first curls. You might think that odd, but even […]
History detectives
By Tara V. Kohlenberg – Working in an archive or research library probably doesn’t top the list of dream jobs for very many people, but it is really cool to be a History Detective. In fact, there are more history detectives out there than you would think. While it is not exactly like “The Librarians” […]
New Braunfels Conservation Society gets windfall
By Myra Lee Adams Goff A windfall of big proportions happened to the New Braunfels Conservation Society. They now own a piece of property that is known as the Arnold-Rauch-Brandt Homestead that goes back to the mid-1800s, located northwest from New Braunfels in an area known as Mission Valley. The house, barn and smokehouse are […]
