Dr. Margaret Swett Henson, a native of Chicago, attended the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston. A history teacher in Houston Independent School District in the 1960s, she returned to the University of Houston to earn a Ph.D. in history in 1974. She taught at the Houston Community College and the University of Houston at Clear Lake until 1985.
Her research interests are Texas history from 1815-1860 and her publications include biographies and local history. With a minor in Latin American history and a working knowledge of Spanish, her books rely on primary sources in both languages ranging from correspondence, diaries, and public records. Her dissertation, a study of Samuel May Williams, S.F. Austin's assistant during the colonial period, was published as Samuel May Williams: Early Texas Entrepreneur by Texas A&M University Press in 1976 and won the Summerfield G. Roberts award (Sons of the Republic of Texas) for the best book that year.
Other works include Juan Davis Bradburn: A Reappraisal of the Mexican Commander at Anahuac appearing in 1982 from the same press, The History of Baytown in 1986 for the Baytown Heritage Society and A Pictorial History of Chambers County with Kevin Ladd in 1988 for the Wallisville Heritage Park which won the T. R. Fehrenbach Award for the best county history in 1989. In 1993, the Texas State Historical Association published The Cartwrights of San Augustine: Three Generations of Agrarian Entrepreneurs, and in 1996, T.C.U. Press produced Lorenzo de Zavala: The Pragmatic Idealist.
Dr. Henson served as an advisory editor for the Texas State Historical Association's 6th volume, The New Handbook of Texas published in 1996 and contributed 42 articles. She has served on the Harris County Historical Commission since 1976, and was the president of the Texas State Historical Association from 1997-98.
