By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph and postcard collections. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” blog series that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, street scenes, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.
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
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
Drummond and an unidentified friend enjoy the outdoors during their junior college days. Drummond Webster Bartlett Papers #2877, Box 6, Folder 6.
by Amanda Neel, Graduate Assistant
Before Judge Drummond Webster Bartlett (1895-1963) began his illustrious law career and made national headlines for presiding over the world’s first televised trial in 1952, he was a social young man attending junior college.
This portion of his life is now a part of The Texas Collection through a donation of documents, known as the Drummond Webster Bartlett papers, 1911-1921. A sampling of letters drawn from the collection gives insight into the lives and minds of young adults in the early 20th century, specifically the years between the start of World War I and the United States’ entrance into the war in 1917.
Drummond and Lois Kirby gaze at each other from under the shade of a tree. Drummond Webster Bartlett Papers #2877, Box 6, Folder 7.
The largest portion of letters span the years 1915-1917 and come from Lois Kirby, a sweetheart of Drummond’s. Her letters showcase how the concerns of young Texans evolved through the years of World War I. Even though World War I started in 1914, Lois’ letters concerned parties, social calls, her work as a teacher, and, of course, her love and concern for Drummond. Not until 1917 does Lois address the war; she writes, “Everyone here seems to be getting enthused over the war. A Red Cross auxiliary was organized here last night.”
Nelle Gentry poses for a professional photograph. This image also serves as her photo for the 1918 Decatur Baptist College Yearbook.
A year later, Drummond joined the war effort himself. Another sweetheart, Nelle Gentry, wrote to Drummond in support of his military effort. In a letter addressed to her “Darling Soldier,” Nelle writes, “I have been crazy with joy for you…because you answered your country’s call and have given all ties of home and loved ones to go and do you[r] bit.” Her following letters contain accounts of friends and acquaintances involved in the war effort, as well as lines about her enduring love for Drummond.
Sadly, we do not have Drummond’s responses to the letters from his sweethearts. Though the sentiments expressed through the letters speak of undying love, the relationships did end. Bartlett’s marriage took place outside the scope of this collection. In 1933, Drummond Bartlett married a woman named Bessie Opal Smith. They remained together until Bartlett’s death in 1963.
Along with letters from sweethearts, Drummond’s papers also contain materials from his life as a junior college student, including homework assignments, society publications, and yearbooks. Also in the collection are military records documenting Drummond’s answer to the draft and his discharge in 1919, as well as a plethora of photographs that visually document his early life.
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
by Eloisa Haynes, Assistant Director of Advancement Services
At the end of the 18th century, when the grip of the Spanish empire on the New World began to weaken, and the dawn of Mexico as a sovereign, independent nation was in sight, lived the Count Antonio Pérez Gálvez.
The Texas Collection at Baylor University houses the John N. Rowe III papers, which include a series of documents written in Spanish dating from the mid-1600s through the late 1800s. Within those documents we find the Pérez Gálvez collection, which contains dozens of business and personal letters written to or by Pérez Gálvez. These letters are written in elegant script and a few of them still have traces of the original red wax seal that their authors melted and pressed on them more than 200 years ago.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
