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.Continue Reading
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.
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.Continue Reading
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.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
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.Continue Reading
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.Continue Reading
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” series of Meta Slider’s 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.
Waco’s Elite Café-the 1952 Renovation and Magnolia Table, Today
In about 1920, Waco’s Elite Café began under the operation of brothers Vic, George, and Mike Colias. They were so successful at this original location at 608 Austin Avenue that they decided to open another in 1941, at Waco’s Traffic Circle. This second location proved profitable and led to more “expansion and modernization” making for some significant updates in the year 1952, when the Elite’s first major upgrades were made. To help publicize this, commercial photographer Fred Marlar was hired. The Texas Collection has his original 4×5-inch film negatives of this work and a look back to these pictures and a glimpse of present-day Magnolia Table may help highlight some of these early changes made to this very popular restaurant on Waco’s Traffic Circle.
In 1952, the Elite on the Circle received refreshed exterior paint, a new building wing, and a “new glassed in vestibule…so that patrons can wait for their cars out of the weather.” Additionally, The kitchen received major upgrades as well leading Vic Colias to claim: “nothing was spared to make it the finest of its kind in the Southwest.” This included: “ceramic tile wainscoting that adds color and facilitates cleaning. The floor was rebuilt to permit daily steam hosing and scrubbing. The kitchen is arranged so that each bit of food travels in the orderly progression from the time it arrives at the back door to until it is served at the diner.”
The newly remodeled kitchen as photographed by Fred Marlar in 1952. Fred Marlar collection #2980, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
To add emphases to the 1952 expansion and modernization of the Elite, the Colias brothers reminded the public of some of their first business “firsts” and some some now must-have needs for central Texas. This included “mechanical refrigeration for perishable foods,” which they introduced in 1921. Additionally, they claimed among the first “refrigerated air-conditioning in 1935,” in their Waco, Austin Avenue restaurant. Once these environmental comforts were firmly in place in the Colias brothers’ restaurants, more attention could be given to style and decor. In 1952, updates to the 11 year-old Elite on the Circle included new booths that were a “neutral shade of plastic which blends with the color scheme.” Further, a new wing was added to the building and was referred to as the “banquet room.” It was advertised as having “wall-to-wall carpeting in a subdued shade of green,” and “gleaming white tablecloths on the new tables that contrast with the rich grey tones of the walls.” This lead the Colias brother’s to state: “the appearance of this dining area exemplifies the name Elite.”
The “all-new and comfortable booths” as photographed by Fred Marlar in 1952. Fred Marlar collection #2980, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.The newly constructed “banquet room” as photographed by Fred Marlar in 1952. Fred Marlar collection #2980, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.A look inside the Elite’s freezer as photographed by Fred Marlar in 1952. Fred Marlar collection #2980, 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” series of Meta Slider’s 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.
Baylor University’s Main building (1887) and Georgia Burleson Hall (1888) were the first two structures built when the institution moved from Independence, TX. Along with Carroll Library (home of The Texas Collection) and Carroll Science Building, both completed in the early 1900’s, these four structures form “The Quadrangle.” This was what comprised the university at one time. Then the institution grew across Fifth Street and behind these structures and well beyond including across the Brazos River. The photographs shown here show some of the changes over time that these buildings have withstood. Although modified and updated, they still stand proudly to this day and are the centerpieces of Baylor University.Continue Reading
