Jody Edward Ginn, Ph.D.

Jody Edward Ginn, Ph.D.

Dr. Jody Edward Ginn is Director of Development for the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum.  He is a former law enforcement investigator/administrator and U.S. Army veteran who has worked for over nearly two decades as a Public Historian, including as a curatorial/multi-media consultant to museums, educational institutions/non-profits, and as an adjunct professor of history at Austin Community College.

As a museum consultant and executive, Dr. Ginn has raised funds for historical projects – from traveling museum exhibits to educational films to full museum development projects – for over 20 years. Notably, Dr. Ginn built a network of development partners, donor contacts, and consultants while creating a comprehensive strategic institutional plan for the Texas Rangers Heritage Center (TRHC) in Fredericksburg. Dr. Ginn also served as an expert consultant/commentator for filmmakers and publicity agents, online podcasts, and for national and international print media outlets. Notably, he worked as a publicity consultant to the 2019 blockbuster Netflix Film, The Highwaymen, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson.

Dr. Ginn is a Life Member of the TSHA and two-time winner of the Fred White Jr. Research Fellowship. He has served on numerous Awards and planning committees. He also regularly presents his ongoing research and moderates panels at the TSHA Annual Meeting and the East and West Texas Historical Association annual conferences. He also presented his research at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2011.

Dr. Ginn has authored numerous refereed publications on Texas history topics. His scholarly works include “Texas Rangers in Myth and Memory,” in the anthology Texan Identities: Moving Beyond Myth, Memory, And Fallacy in Texas History. (UNT Press, 2016). Ginn’s second refereed publication was also an anthology chapter, titled “American Indians in the Republic of Texas: A Case Study for Moving Beyond Traditional Perspectives,” in Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836-1845.  (UNT Press, 2017). In this most recent anthology on the history of the Republic of Texas, Ginn revealed his research into the only American Indian to have been awarded a land grant in Texas.

Dr. Ginn’s first refereed book-length publication was Palmito Ranch: From Civil War Battlefield to National Historic Landmark (TAMU Press, 2018), co-authored with former Texas Historical Commission Military Sites Coordinator, William McWhorter. An account of the earlier battle was first published in the journal of the West Texas Historical Association, in 2014. Ginn's most recent book is East Texas Troubles: The Allred Rangers Cleanup of San Augustine (OU Press, 2019).