This blog post was written by Graduate Student Assistant Katie Heatherly. Katie is an M.A. candidate in History in her first year at The Texas Collection.
“The big half moon / shone bright and red / With its points reaching / Upward to the sky – / It seemed to say God / Is not dead, and God / Will never never die.”[1]
In 1967 Fannie Maie Street wrote these words on a crumpled piece of paper. While historians sometimes neglect the private thoughts and reflections of ordinary women for various reasons, collections such as the Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers provide rich source material to alleviate some of these historical gaps. Though the collection is small—only five folders—the Street papers reveal a Central Texas woman’s musings in the mid-twentieth century. Her poems, scribbled onto notebook paper, cardboard, and other various materials, allow researchers a slight understanding of Street’s thoughts and religious insights.
Fannie Maie Hodges Street was born on January 22, 1896 in Salado, Texas to John Smith Hodges and Elizabeth Pace Hodges. On June 14, 1914 she married William E. Street Sr., with whom she had three children.[2] Street wrote poetry inspired by the world around her. Her religious poems consisted of themes such as nature, the passing of time, her husband, and her children. She appeared to use the sights, interactions, and emotions of her daily life to construct her religious poems.
Street wrote of the world around her: the sun, moon, birds, and other parts of the world to reflect on God. Her observations of nature seemed to instill or reflect her strong sense of God’s plan: “We understand / God in all his wisdom / made it all—It was his plan.”[3] Street therefore seemed to have a great appreciation for place. She wrote, “God created me to be proud / Of the state I call my home— / But give Him first place / In my heart and my life / No matter where I roam. / It is Texas I love best / Texas where I was born / Texas oh Texas my home sweet home.”[4]
Street seemed to move from observing the beauty of the earth and glorifying God, to then caring for people around her. In her poem, “Loveing Hands,” Street wrote, “Loveing Hands made the earth / The sea and the sky / Loving Hands hung the moon / And the stars so high / And it was love that made / You and I.” [5] More explicitly, Street wrote in a different poem, “Did you see the sunrise this morning / And did you hear the birds sweet song … / God spoke to you and you just passed by / Failing to see that one in need / And failed to hear that little child cry.”[6]
Street also wrote poems regarding her family. Reflecting on their life together, she wrote to her husband, “They have all been golden / years my sweet because you / have been so good and kind… / You are still young in heart / my love and have that same / twinkle in your eye.”[7]
One might even get a slight sense of Street’s conception of gender roles. She wrote, “Manhood is ambition looking ahead / To take his place in a world of service / Faithful, trustworthy and kind / Womanhood is charm, and beauty wrapped in love / Fatherhood is showing how to depend on God / For guidance in molding the life of his child / Motherhood is clapping a bundle of sweetness / Close to her bosom and thanking God for his goodness.”[8]
Finally, the Street papers include many of Street’s reflections on death. She wrote in 1967, “Death is an open door to be with God, and / Peace and rest, and eternal happiness.”[9]
The Fannie Maie Hodges Street collection provides an insight into Street’s religious life, demonstrating the ways Street ruminated on her environment, family, and the passing of time in relation to God. Street reminds us that religious history is much more than large published systematic theologies. This is a collection that allows historians access to the intersection of social, religious, and women’s history. It is also the sort of collection that one might read simply for Street’s compelling poetry.
[1] “The Moon,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[2] Find A Grave, Inc, “Fannie Maie Hodges Street,” Memorial #23402074, Databases, accessed 2021 December 2.
[3] Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[4] “My Beloved Texas,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[5] “Loveing Hands,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[6] “Did You See and Did You Hear,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[7] “Golden Years,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #3, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[8] “The Ten Hoods of Life.” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #3, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
[9] “The Report Card,” Fannie Maie Hodges Street papers, Accession #2627, Box #1, Folder #3, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
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