This Week in Texas Methodist History, September 26 H. I. Robinson Reports on Organization of Texas Methodist Foundation, September 1939 Texas Methodist identity is usually dual. We claim identity as Texans and also as members of an annual conference. The record of the cooperation of the annual conferences in Texas in joint projects is one of the most intriguing aspects of our history. Soule University was projected as a project of both the Texas and East Texas Conferences. The Methodist Home was deliberately designed to bring unity to Texas Methodists divided by the Holiness Movement. Both Southwestern University and Southern Methodist University were joint projects of the conferences. In 1934 the annual conferences cooperated to celebrate their putative centennial. In 1936 they cooperated again to celebrate the Texas centennial. The Texas Planning Commission grew out of these centennial celebrations. What I find remarkable is that the Planning Commission did not dissolve after the centennial celebrations. Instead it created the Texas Methodist Foundation which continues to this day to help Texas Methodists in their financial affairs. In September 1939 Rev. H. I. Robinson informed the general Methodist population about the Foundation and its wealthy trustees. Here is the list of laity who served as trustees: Walter W. Fondren Houston James West Houston Joe Perkins Wichita Falls H. O. Wooten Abilene R. W. Fair Tyler \Boyce Martin Corsicana Will Clayton Houston H. E. Jackson San Angelo Most of these names are well known to students of Texas history and represent some of the most prominent philanthropists the state has known.