SAA Remembers David B. Gracy II

SAA Fellow, past president, and indefatigable archives champion David B. Gracy II, 79, passed away September [date], 2020. He is revered for the breadth of his professional contributions throughout his storied career: he established the Southern Labour Archives, was a founding member of the Society of Georgia Archivists, an ardent and early leader in archival education and professional certification for archivists, author of the first American manual on arrangement and description, and a lifelong advocate for societal understanding of archives and the archival profession. He also contributed significantly to the preservation and celebration of Texas history.

Gracy was born on October 25, 1941, to David Caldwell and Alice Tillar (nee Duggan) Gracy in Austin, Texas. His father was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and a principal in the Gracy Title Company of Austin. His mother was descended from the Littlefield family, a benefactor to the university during its early years. Littlefield House was built  on the campus in 1893 for Gracy's ancestor, George Washington Littlefield, a Texas and New Mexico rancher, Austin banker and businessman, and philanthropist. In 2019, Gracy authored the book, A Man Absolutely Sure of Himself: Texan George Washington Littlefield

David B. Gracy II is the Governor Bill Daniel Professor Emeritus in Archival Enterprise, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin and author of Littlefield Lands: Colonization on the Texas Plains, 1912–1920; Sunrise! Governor Bill Daniel and the Second Liberation of Guam; and Moses Austin: His Life.