Margaret Henson

{{short description|American historian (1924–2001)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{infobox person |name=Margaret Henson |birth_name=Margaret Louise Swett |birth_date={{birth date and age|1924|1|3}} |birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2001|1|22|1924|1|3}} |education=Glenbard High School<br>University of Houston |occupation={{flatlist| *Historian *archivist *author }} |spouse={{marriage|Bill Nowotny|1943|end=div}}<br>{{marriage|J. Scott Henson|1951}} |children=5 |parents=William Claude Swett<br>Clara Kaufman }} '''Margaret Louise Swett Henson''' (January 3, 1924 – January 22, 2001) was an American historian, archivist, and author specializing in 19th-century Texas history.

==Biography== Born Margaret Louise Swett on January 3, 1924, to William Claude and Clara (née Kaufman) Swett in Chicago, she was raised near Chicago and attended Glenbard High School. She enrolled at the University of Texas in 1941, but did not graduate.<ref name="hto">{{cite web |series=Handbook of Texas Online |first=Randolph B. |last=Campbell |title=Henson, Margaret Louise Swett |access-date=March 28, 2020 |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhens |date=September 29, 2017 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> Henson earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Houston in 1962, her master's degree in 1969, and her doctorate in history in 1974. She was an archivist and taught history at the University of Houston–Clear Lake.<ref name="hto"/> Henson’s research and writing focused on the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas.<ref name="hto"/>

Henson was a member of the Tejano Association for Historic Preservation.<ref>{{cite web| title=Margaret Swett Henson (1924-2001) Collection |publisher = Texas A&M University, Galveston Campus |access-date= August 16, 2020 | url=https://tamug-ir.tdl.org/handle/1969.3/28328}}</ref>

Henson married twice. She married Bill Nowotny in 1943, a union which produced two daughters. Margaret and Bill divorced about seven years later. She married J. Scott Henson in 1951. They had three sons.<ref name="hto"/> Henson died on January 22, 2001, and was interred at Memorial Oaks Cemetery, Houston.<ref name="hto"/>

==Selected works== * {{cite book | last=Henson | first=Margaret Swett |display-authors=0 | title=Samuel May Williams: Early Texas Entrepreneur | publisher=Texas A&M University Press | publication-place=College Station | date=1976 | isbn=0-89096-009-7 | oclc=1975978}} * {{cite book | last=Henson | first=Margaret Swett |display-authors=0 | title=Juan Davis Bradburn : A Reappraisal of the Mexican Commander of Anahuac | publisher=Texas A&M University Press | publication-place=College Station | date=1982 | isbn=0-585-17451-2 | oclc=44954442}} * {{cite book | last=Henson | first=Margaret Swett |display-authors=0 | title=Lorenzo de Zavala: The Pragmatic Idealist | publisher=Texas Christian University Press | publication-place=Fort Worth | date=1996 | isbn=0-585-03420-6 | oclc=42854533}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{cite web |url=https://tamug-ir.tdl.org/tamug-ir/bitstream/handle/1969.3/28328/MSS008-Henson-revised.pdf?sequence=3 |title=Margaret Swett Henson (1924-2001) Collection, MC 008 |publisher=Jack K. Williams Library, Texas A&M University-Galveston |access-date=March 29, 2020}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henson, Margaret}} Category:University of Houston alumni Category:University of Houston faculty Category:American archivists Category:American women historians Category:1924 births Category:2001 deaths Category:American women biographers Category:Presidents of the Texas State Historical Association Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American biographers Category:21st-century American women writers Category:Writers from Chicago Category:Historians from Illinois Category:Historians of Texas Category:American women archivists