Editing Alamo Mission (section)

===Ownership dispute===

In 1988, a theater near the Alamo unveiled a new movie, ''[[Alamo: The Price of Freedom]]''. The 40-minute-long film would be screened several times each day. The movie attracted many protests from Mexican-American activists, who decried the anti-Mexican comments and complained that it ignored [[Tejano]] contributions to the battle. The movie was re-edited in response to the complaints, but the controversy grew to the point that many activists began pressuring the legislature to move control of the Alamo to the [[League of United Latin American Citizens]] (LULAC).<ref name=roberts301>Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 301.</ref> In response to pressure from Hispanic groups, state representative [[Orlando Luis Garcia|Orlando Garcia]] of San Antonio began legislative hearings into DRT finances. The DRT agreed to make their financial records more open, and the hearings were canceled.<ref name=roberts303and304>Roberts and Olson (2001), pp. 303–4.</ref>

{{quote box
|width=30%
|quote=[The Alamo is] one of the most important historical structures in the state.  It belongs to everyone, or at least it should. ... [It] shouldn't be managed by any private group–I don't care if it is the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Elks, the Muslims, or the Water Buffalo Club.
|source=Texas legislator [[Ron Wilson (Texas politician)|Ron Wilson]], who wished to transfer oversight of the Alamo to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.<ref name=roberts304/>
}}

Shortly after that, San Antonio representative [[Jerry Beauchamp]] proposed that the Alamo be transferred from the DRT to the [[Texas Parks and Wildlife Department]]. Many minority legislators agreed with him.<ref name=roberts304>Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 304.</ref> However, the San Antonio mayor, [[Henry Cisneros]], advocated that control remain with the DRT, and the legislature shelved the bill.<ref name=roberts304/>

Several years later, Carlos Guerra, a reporter for the ''San Antonio Express-News'', began writing columns attacking the DRT for its handling of the Alamo. Guerra claimed that the DRT had kept the temperature too low within the chapel, a situation which caused the formation of [[water vapor]], which when mixed with automobile exhaust fumes damaged the limestone walls. These allegations prompted the legislature in 1993 to once more attempt to transfer control of the Alamo to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. At the same time, State Senator [[Gregory Luna]] filed a competing bill to transfer oversight of the Alamo to the [[Texas Historical Commission]].<ref name="roberts307">Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 307.</ref>

Bones belonging to three adults and a child were discovered in 1936, a report in 1976 showed that the plaza was atop a cemetery, and research by San Antonio's county archivist John Leal showed that 1,006 people were buried in the area, with 921 being of Native American or mestizo descent. State law prohibited the construction of anything on top of cemeteries. Gary Gabehart, president of the Inter-Tribal Council of American Indians, called for some of the plaza to be closed off to traffic in 1994, but the DRT denied there was any evidence of burials at the Alamo.{{sfn|Burrough|Thomlinson|Stanford|2021|pp=252-253}}

By the following year, some advocacy groups in San Antonio had begun pressing for the mission to be turned into a larger historical park. They wished to restore the chapel to its 18th-century appearance and focus public interpretation of the site on its mission days rather than the activities of the Texas Revolution.<ref name=roberts307/> The DRT was outraged. The head of the group's Alamo Committee, Ana Hartman, claimed that the dispute was gender-based. According to her, "There's something macho about it. Some of the men who are attacking us just resent what has been a successful female venture since 1905."<ref name=roberts308>Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 308.</ref>

The dispute was mostly resolved in 1994, when [[Governor of Texas|Governor]] [[George W. Bush]] vowed to veto any legislation that would displace the DRT as caretakers of the Alamo.<ref name=roberts309>Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 309.</ref> Later that year, the DRT erected a marker on the mission grounds recognizing that they had once served as Indian burial grounds.<ref name=roberts310>Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 310.</ref> When renovations found more bones the DRT allowed the [[Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation]] to perform reinternment ceremonies.{{sfn|Burrough|Thomlinson|Stanford|2021|p=254}} Starting in 1995, the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation holds a ceremony at the church to honor the buried, except when they were denied entrance in 2019.{{sfn|Burrough|Thomlinson|Stanford|2021|p=301}}
[[File:Interior of the Alamo Mission chapel in April 2025.jpg|alt=Interior of the Alamo Mission chapel in April 2025|thumb|Interior of the Alamo Mission chapel in April 2025]]
In 2006, Sarah Reveley discovered that the DRT's annual preservation budget for the Alamo was $350. She also learned that of the $213,000 given to the group by the state between 2005 and 2008, only $37,000 was spent on the Alamo site with the rest going to their museums in Austin; the [[French Legation, Texas|French Legation Museum]] received three times what was spent on the Alamo. Reveley filed a 65 page complaint against the DRT in 2009 for violating the 1905 law requiring the Alamo be properly maintained. Pieces of the ceiling's plaster in the church fell on February 11, 2009.{{sfn|Burrough|Thomlinson|Stanford|2021|pp=261-263}} The DRT expelled Revely, the fourth time in its history.{{sfn|Burrough|Thomlinson|Stanford|2021|p=265}}

In 2010, the office of the [[Texas Attorney General]] received a complaint that the DRT had been mismanaging not only the site, but the funds allocated for its management, and an investigation was begun.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Fernandez|first1=Manny|title=In Texas, Another Skirmish Brews at the Alamo|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/us/in-texas-a-management-skirmish-brews-at-the-alamo.html?_r=0|access-date=4 September 2015|newspaper=New York Times|date=30 November 2012}}</ref> After two years, the Attorney General's office concluded that the DRT had indeed mismanaged the Alamo, citing numerous instances of misconduct on the DRT's part, including failing to properly maintain the Alamo in good order and repair, mismanagement of state funds, and breach of fiduciary duty.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Perez|first1=Nicole|title=Texas Attorney General's Office alleges DRT mismanaged The Alamo|url=http://www.ksat.com/news/texas-attorney-generals-office-alleges-drt-mismanaged-the-alamo|access-date=4 September 2015|agency=KSAT News|publisher=Graham Media Group|date=21 November 2012}}</ref>

During the course of the investigation, a state law was passed in 2011 and signed by governor [[Rick Perry]] to transfer custodianship of the Alamo from the DRT to the [[Texas General Land Office]] (GLO). The transfer was officially enacted in 2015. While the DRT initially objected to the Attorney General's report, and even went so far as to file a lawsuit to prevent the transfer, the organization eventually vowed to work with the Texas GLO to preserve the Alamo for generations to come.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gonzalez|first1=John W.|date=July 9, 2015|title=DRT bids farewell to 110-year Alamo role|publisher=San Antonio Express-News|url=http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/DRT-bids-farewell-to-110-year-Alamo-role-6376255.php/|access-date=February 28, 2017}}</ref>