January’s finding aids By Paul Fisher, Assistant Director and Processing Archivist
Baylor students at a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions event, part of Missions Week in 1956. You’ll find this item in the BU Records: Baptist Student Union, Accession #BU/15, box 10, folder 18, at The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
BU Records: Baptist Student Union (#BU/15): Correspondence, financial records, literary productions, organizational records, and photographs of the ministries and events put on the by organization between 1930-1960.
BU Records: Alpha Lambda Delta (#BU/189): Contains chapter materials from 1955-1973, which includes literary productions, correspondence, and financial documents.
BU Records: Beall Poetry Festival (#BU/349): Promotional materials, such as tickets, brochures, and pamphlets from the poetry festival hosted by Baylor University. The Beall Poetry Festival, an annual poetry festival established in 1994, is still held every spring at Baylor University. You can read about this year’s upcoming Beall Poetry Festival here.
BU Records: Delta Sigma Pi (#BU/339): Includes administrative records, membership lists, minutes, photographs, booklets, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the Beta Iota chapter of Delta Sigma Pi at Baylor University. Dates range from 1930 to 1994.
September’s finding aids By Paul Fisher, Assistant Director and Processing Archivist
Mary McCaulay Maxwell was a student at Baylor University in 1908. In her scrapbook, preserved at The Texas Collection, she saved photographs, notes, clippings, and more about her time at Baylor. Pictured here is her room, probably in Georgia Burleson Hall. You’ll find this item in the Mary McCauley Maxwell papers, Accession #2080, box 1, folder 1, at The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
BU Records: Baylor Orators Toastmasters Club (#BU/387): Includes materials about the founding of the professional development society through its chartering as an official club and first decade of existence at Baylor University.
Cornelia Marschall Smith papers (#666): Resources include materials from Smith’s time at Baylor University, both as a student and professor, and from her time at Stetson University in Florida. Also included are personal materials that include programs, copies of a manuscript, invitations, photographs, negatives, slides, and postcards.
BU Records: Summer School (#BU/166): Contains a variety of materials relating to Baylor University’s Summer School program during the years of 1926-1949.
Samuel Newton Clabaugh Family papers (#426): Memoirs, newspaper clippings, and handwritten notes generated by Samuel Newton Clabaugh and his daughter, Ora Easter Clabaugh Wells.
Ollie Mae Moen papers (#4051): Contains handbooks and certificates from workshops attended by Ollie Mae Moen relating to the Waco Parent Teacher Association.
Dr. Stephen Corwin Cameron Park Zoo records (#4037): Documents the efforts of the Central Texas Zoological and Botanical Society to move the Central Texas Zoological Park to Cameron Park and the transitional period during this move, as well as the formative years of the Cameron Park Zoo and the Cameron Park Zoological Society. This collections shows the extensive efforts made to build a natural habitat zoo in an urban environment.
Madison Alexander Cooper, Jr. papers (#1342): Correspondence, galley proofs, clippings, book reviews, photographs, a scrapbook, and financial records related to Madison Alexander Cooper Jr., especially regarding the publication of his first novel, Sironia, Texas, in 1952.
Wilford Wolfie Naman papers (#2128): Resources include a variety of materials having to do with the activities of Wilford Wolfie Naman as a soldier during World War I.
Mary McCauley Maxwell papers (#2080): Scrapbook of collected materials related to Mary McCauley Maxwell, who graduated Baylor University in 1908. She went on to lead the History Department at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor 1908-1913, and worked for decades to collect and preserve relics of Judge R.E.B. Baylor and other founders of Baylor University.
BU Records: Pi Gamma Mu (#BU/133): Includes materials documenting the founding of the Texas Beta Chapter on campus and its 40 years of activities.
BU Records: Sigma Xi (#BU/406): Contains materials relating to the founding of the chapter on campus as well as materials related to the activities of the organization, such as events and bylaws.
Mary McCaulay Maxwell and several of her Baylor friends lost no time in exploring their new hometown of Waco, Texas, while in college. Here they look to be exploring a windmill near Waco. You’ll find this item in the Mary McCauley Maxwell papers, Accession #2080, box 1, folder 1, at The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
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
Our Sharing Student Scholarship blog posts showcase original scholarship written by Baylor students who conducted research using primary source materials in The Texas Collection. This post is the the third of five in a series of blog posts written by graduate and PhD students from the Fall 2018 Foundations & History of Higher Education Leadership course.
by Scott Alexander, Andrew Eastwood, Preston Templeman, and Mariah Duncan
Throughout the history of higher education, finances and funding have been necessary to animate and realize the mission of an institution. Finances can make or break an institution; therefore, strong leadership has always been important in making sure that the funds of an institution are being used to support both present function and foundation for the future. Funding comes from both internal and external sources to build endowments, provide student scholarships, pay institutional debts, make capital improvements, and supply for curricular and co-curricular resources. As industrialists built personal wealth during the 1890s and 1900s, the prevailing concept of the “Protestant work ethic” encouraged philanthropic stewardship of that wealth[1]. Higher education institutions capitalized on this ethic through targeted fundraising efforts[2].Continue Reading
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
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
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
Reilly’s criminal libel suit later became the subject of this pamphlet, written to show that God protects those who preach his truth.
by Jackson Hager, Graduate Assistant
One of the great joys of being able to work in an archive like The Texas Collection is how often one, amid the stacks and piles of collections, encounters remarkably human stories. Even when the collection is just a few folders, an archivist can sometimes feel like they have encountered a real person, with all the flaws and perfections that come with being a human. That was my experience as I was processing the A. Reilly and Eunice B. Tooley Copeland papers, where I came to catch a glimpse of the Waco’s past through the eyes of a passionate Baptist preacher and his wife.
Antonio Reilly Copeland was born on January 7, 1889, in Marquez, Texas. His future wife, Eunice Bessie Tooley, was born in Buffalo Springs, Texas, on November 30, 1891. The couple first met in 1903 and married in the summer in 1916. While Eunice studied music in Houston, Reilly attended college first in Commerce, then Tehuacana, Rome, and finally the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. After the couple had had several children, the family made their entrance into Waco history when they moved there in 1923, as Reilly had been offered the pulpit at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, located at 1500 15th and Clay Street.
Reilly’s writings show both a deep knowledge of scripture and a deep sense of God’s involvement within the world, as evidenced by the first page of one of his journals, titled “Some Signs Before Great Tribulation”
During his four decades of leading the Tabernacle community, Reilly was a prolific speaker and writer. His writings reveal a strong sense of right and wrong, and a zeal for adhering to what he saw as biblical truth. His confrontational style of writing, however, brought conflict. The most famous example of this is when Reilly was charged with criminal libel in 1925, after writing several letters detailing the moral failings of local Waco politicians. The charges were dropped in 1928, however, and Reilly continued to preach and write. He spent the latter half of his career delving deep into biblical study and debate. As evidenced by his letters, Reilly participated often in the debates surrounding Fundamentalism and Neo-Orthodoxy, and his journals show a deep interest in biblical prophecy and how it related to world at large. Reilly’s preaching was not just reserved for the pulpit, as he hosted a radio program for station WACO from 1941 to 1954. By the time of his resignation in the early 1960’s, Reilly had been a public voice for Baptists within the Waco community for almost forty years.
Eunice’s memoir covers nearly a century and contains a large amount of photos from nearly every decade of her life.
While Reilly’s writings may provide one picture of who he was, Eunice’s own memoirs help fashion a fuller image. Eunice dedicated more than half of her book to her time with Reilly and the family they made together, and we find that Reilly was a kind and loving husband and father. Eunice’s writings help shine a light on what it was like to be a preacher’s wife in the early 20th century, and how they dealt with the many changes that occurred during those turbulent years.
The lives of A. Reilly and Eunice Copeland may appear, in the grand scheme of things, of little impact. But it is through the small, personal stories of regular people that we obtain a deeper human connection to our past.
If you are interested in learning more about A. Reilly and Eunice Copeland, feel free to contact us at The Texas Collection and view the collection’s finding aid here!
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
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
