What He Does James Glassman is the founder of Houstorian, a website dedicated to "telling the story of Houston." Glassman also runs Houstorian's popular Twitter feed, where he tweets "this day in history" tidbits about the city.

Glassman said Houstorian started out in 2006 as group dedicated to educating Houstonians about their city, "but it had been brewing for about 15 years before that."

In 1990, Glassman read a story in the Houston Press about Stephen Fox, the "dean of Houston architectural history," as Glassman calls him. Fox had just released a book, the Houston Architectural Guide.

"That book changed everything for me," Glassman said. "It showed me that Houston was filled with all these great stories."

Fast forward to 2006.

"There was a lot of yelling about the River Oaks Theatre and what was going to happen. People didn't know what the developers were going to do," Glassman said. "I figured, the way to fix that was to get people involved ahead of those steps."

"Amnesia is a local cultural attribute," Glassman said. "What I want to do is cure that amnesia. But I don't want to be cynical. I never want to be cynical."

Articles on Houstorian mix humor with history. For example, the website includes an essay on Houston's dirtiest-sounding street names next to an article called "Defenders, Not Defensive" that gently pokes fun at all those "Keep Houston ______" campaigns.

Two years ago, Glassman started the Houstorian Twitter account, which now has more than 7,000 followers and in June won a Houston Press Web Award for Tweet of the Year. Any time he comes across an interesting tidbit about Houston or a notable Houstonian in a magazine article or book, he adds it to his Google calendar, which is his reference point for tweeting.

Why He Likes It Glassman has a history degree and a master's in architecture, and works as a project manager at an architecture firm.

"I love architecture and history, and educating people. I'm always excited to find someone who's excited about sharing things in a fun way," he said. "[Houstorian] touches all those things."

Glassman also likes not being beholden to any other organizations or being tied down by politics, something he learned from Bill Coats, the local lawyer who founded Trees for Houston and who died in 2010.

"Some of the preservation groups in Houston were too polite," he said. "He taught me, you don't have to go into politics to make a difference."

What Inspires Him "I'm a tinkerer and I get excited about people who are tinkerers and who do things themselves. I am always thinking about Houstorian, about ways to make things fun," he said.

In addition to Stephen Fox, Glassman also cites Houston architect and preservationist Barry Moore as an inspiration.

"Eventually getting to meet them was gratifying because they get it, and they know how to talk about it in a way that other people get it."