Our friends at the Texas Collection posted a dynamite write-up on their blog earlier this week about the General Tire & Rubber Company’s plant in Waco, Texas. Their post mentions Congressman W.R. Poage’s involvement in the plant’s construction; we’re taking this opportunity to tell you more about his work. The whole process began, interestingly enough,…
Baylor University has been relatively quiet since finals week last December. The student body’s annual mid-winter migration transformed the campus into a ghost town populated by faculty, university employees, and, of course, archivists. Coincidentally, the 114th Congress is also returning to its second session, and so our first blog post of 2016 commemorates Hatton W.…
For this week’s installment of Treats & Treasures, we’re discussing a vibrant Waco landmark: the Brazos River. The Brazos originates in northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico and flows for 820 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Since before Stephen F. Austin’s 1821 arrival, Mexican and Indian settlers have been manipulating the river for their…
If there’s one thing Texans love, it’s the great state of Texas. If there are two things Texans love, they are the great state of Texas and the United States of America. We’re big fans of freedom and liberty here in the Lone Star State, and few events inspire as much civic pride as the…
In the early days of October, sports fans across America start to feel dejected, demoralized, and distraught. This combination can only mean one thing: its baseball postseason, and chances are your favored team is stuck riding the pine until next year. Luckily, there’s still hope! Where baseball season let you down, football season’s there to…
October is American Archives Month, and the mood here at the Baylor Collections of Political Materials can best be described as “ridiculously excited”. American Archives Month began in 1979 with local archivists celebrating their respective collections and repositories. Since then, the merrymaking has grown to include archivists across the nation. The Society of American Archivists…
On September 21st, 1979, the W.R. Poage Legislative Library was born. Thirty-six years later, Baylor Collections of Political Materials continues to uphold the vision of the library’s founders: to pay tribute to W.R. Poage, a Baylorite “whose long career in government service on the state and national level epitomized genuine statesmanship”. Our facility began as…
It’s that time of year again; leaves begin turning brown, students sojourn back to their universities, and (at least here in Texas) the weather remains a humid 90 degrees with no sign of abating. School is back in session and here at the Baylor Collections of Political Materials, we’re knee-deep in the papers of former…
The campus is once again buzzing with activity! Our new students are moving in and classes will begin on Monday. For me, as an “adopted Bear,” this kicks off my first full Fall semester at Baylor. I am excited to see all the new faces around campus. As many of you have heard (and hopefully…
One of Poage Legislative Library’s best friends, Judge Jack Hightower, passed away last week. He had struggled for several years with failing health following two falls. Even though he slowly recovered from broken bones, other health issues eventually took their toll. I first met Judge Hightower in the early 1990s when he was on the…