Each month, we post an update to notify our readers about the latest archival collections to be processed and some highlights of our print material acquisitions. These resources are primed for research and are just a sampling of the many resources to be found at The Texas Collection!Continue Reading
Voting rights
Research Ready: March 2013
Adina E. De Zavala, African-American history, African-Americans, Alamo, Baptist history, Baylor University, Branch Davidians, Calvin Smith, Civil rights in Texas, David Koresh, Ebenezer Baptist Church Austin, ephemera, Isabella Henry, Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth, Lula Pace, Marvin C. Griffin, McLennan County, New Hope Baptist Church, Pit Dodson, Race relations, Red Cross, Research Ready, Roxie Henderson, science education, Seventh Day Adventists, Texas Baptists, Texas historic buildings, The Texas Collection, Thomas L. Dodson, United States history, United States Women's Army Corps, Voting rights, Waco, Waco race relations, WACs, women's rights, World War I, World War II
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here’s the scoop for March:
- Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth papers, 1826-1965, undated: Aynesworth’s papers consist of family materials, correspondence, literary productions, collected materials, and medical records collected by Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth, a local doctor who gave the first donation to establish The Texas Collection in 1923.
- [Waco] Branch Davidians: “The Facts About Mt. Carmel” Exhibit collection, 1961-2004, undated: This records group contains materials collected by various groups and individuals (including Calvin Smith of the Strecker Museum) to organize an exhibit about the history of the Waco Branch Davidians. The exhibit, entitled “The Facts About Mt. Carmel,” was featured at the Helen Marie Taylor Museum in Waco, Texas, in February 1994.
- Adina E. De Zavala papers, 1830 (copy) -1940, undated: These papers document De Zavala’s historic preservation efforts in Texas to protect significant architecture in the state.
- Thomas L. and Pit Dodson collection, 1710-1991, undated: The Thomas L. and Pit Dodson collection contains a wide variety of collected materials, including literary productions, books, photographic materials, and scrapbooks. While spanning three centuries, this collection consists primarily of early- to mid-twentieth-century art prints and periodical clippings.
- Marvin C. Griffin papers, 1940-2010, undated: The Griffin papers contain literary productions, photographic materials, audio recordings, and other materials pertaining to Reverend Marvin Griffin, an African American pastor who fought for the spiritual and political freedoms of his congregations at New Hope Baptist Church (Waco) and Ebenezer Baptist Church (Austin).
- Roxie Henderson collection, 1852-1919: This collection contains personal items and collected materials of Roxie Henderson, a Baylor graduate who served during World War I as an American Red Cross nurse. Learn more.
- Isabella M. Henry papers, 1931-1981, undated: Henry’s papers features manuscripts detailing her career in the Women’s Army Corps and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II. Learn more.
- Lula Pace collection, 1895-1969, undated: This collection contains student notebooks, topographical maps, and scholarly publications by Lula Pace, a PhD graduate of the University of Chicago who served as a science professor at Baylor University in the early 1900s. Learn more.
Introducing Research Ready
Processing archival collections is one of our central activities at The Texas Collection. In archivist lingo, “processing” means to enhance access to our records through arrangement and description. Archives are different from books—they usually don’t have a title page, table of contents, or an index to tell you about the contents. And they’re often messy.
Sometimes collections come to us in good order, with everything beautifully organized. However, it’s probably more common that we receive records that appear to have been boxed up with no particular order. In these cases, it’s our job to discern and implement an organizing principle, then to describe the arrangement and the records in what we call a finding aid. That way researchers have a good idea of what they might expect to find in an archives and can plan their projects accordingly.
The Texas Collection’s finding aids are posted on our website by subject and alphabetically. We’re in the process of upgrading our arrangement and description procedures to comply with Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), and we’re working with catalogers at Baylor’s Moody Library to get our finding aids into BearCat (Baylor’s central catalog) too.
All this to say, we want you to know about our most recently processed collections! So we’re adding “Research Ready” as a monthly feature of “Blogging about Texas.” Each month, we will post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here’s the scoop for May:
- Olga Fallen Papers: The Olga Fallen Collection contains material accumulated during her years at Baylor University as women’s athletic coordinator, basketball and softball coach, and professor. The items include correspondence, financial, photographic, and organizational material. The bulk of the collection relates to basketball. (See our blog post for more detail.)
The James Warren Smith Sr. papers provide insight into the Texas Rangers' activities along the Mexican border in the early 1900s. - James Warren Smith Sr. Papers: The James Warren Smith Sr. Papers consist of a diary, scrapbooks, and literary productions. The scrapbooks contain many photographs. Smith was a Texas Ranger in the early 1900s.
- Fred Bell Papers: The Fred Bell Papers consist of one manuscript, an enfranchisement oath for African-American Fred Bell, living in Travis County, Texas.
You can see how wide and varied The Texas Collection’s holdings are! These records—and the finding aids we have online—are just a small representation of the thousands of collections we preserve for future researchers. We’re working hard to make our collections more visible and hope that one of them will spark your interest!