Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. This month, all of our new finding aids are products of the Archival Collections and Museums class that worked on archival processing projects with us here at The Texas Collection…and there will be still more of this student work in upcoming months! Here’s the scoop for June:
Excerpt from Maudie Fielder’s notes on serving as a missionary in Asia. (Click on the image to see a transcription of the page.) Maudie Ethel Albritton Fielder papers #2241, box 2, folder 11.
Grace Noll Crowell papers, 1904-1958, undated (#3359): Crowell was the third poet laureate of Texas (from 1936-1939). Scrapbooks, correspondence, and photographs document Crowell’s family and her career as a poet. (Archives class)
Goode-Thompson family papers, 1837-1993 (#2794): Correspondence, a diary, and other records documenting the history of the Richard N. Goode and John Thompson families in Waco, Texas, with the bulk of the materials dating to the Civil War era. (Archives class)
Meusebach-Marschall family papers, 1847-1986 (#277): Correspondence, research materials, and notes for the publication John O. Meusebach: German Colonizer in Texas. The collection also contains other correspondence and collected materials related to Marschall family members (including Irene Marschall King and Cornelia Marschall Smith). (Archives class)
Before there could be a Cameron Park Zoo, the people of Waco had to support it! Waco Parks and Recreation Commission collection #2871, box 1, folder 8.
W.A. Holt Company records, 1925-1949 (#159): Holt’s was one of the largest sporting goods stores in Texas when it was sold in 1968; its records consist of several business record printing requisition orders, various sporting and academic ribbon printing orders, and approximately 60 Holt’s sports catalogs. (Archives class)
Waco Parks and Recreation Commission collection, 1987-1992, undated (#2871): Administrative documents collected by Georgette Covo Browder Goble during her service on the Commission from 1987-1992. Includes information on many important decisions that were made during Goble’s tenure, such as the construction of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and the early planning of the Cameron Park Zoo. (Archives class)
This month, we’re introducing “Print Peeks,” a regular feature examining select items from our print collection. Did you know that The Texas Collection has more than 167,000 books and more than 3,000 active serials titles? And that does not even get into our vertical files and other material types. Our first entry looks at one of our Texas newspapers. Enjoy!
By Sean Todd, Library Assistant
From 1892 to 1901, the Artesia was a popular Waco newspaper with a circulation of over 2,500 at its height. As a society paper, the Artesiafocused its coverage on social events and comings and goings of Wacoans. A typical issue included columns titled “Happenings of the Week—Movements of People You Know,” with items on the Shakespeare Club, the ladies of Waco organizing the parade for “Street Fair Week,” and reports of the local dinner parties with a list of interesting visitors from Houston and San Antonio.
The paper was founded by a prominent member of the Waco Jewish community, Isaac Goldstein, and thus featured more activities of Jewish organizations of the time than did other papers. Goldstein, along with Louey Migel, owned a successful department store in Waco. Not surprisingly, Artesia’s pages were full of advertisements proclaiming the latest fashions and their availability at Goldstein-Migel. Vital to the Artesia’s publication was Kate Friend, who served as editor. Along with her duties at the paper, Friend was an authority on Shakespeare and an advocate for animal rights, even speaking on the subject in Washington, D.C., in 1935.
The 1900 Easter Artesia was one of the few instances that the Artesia featured a color front and back page. Color printing was a much costlier process and reserved for special occasions. Major holidays such as Christmas and Easter were more likely to be celebrated with full color pages because of the positive feelings associated with the event. (Occasionally, Sunday comic pages might get some red ink, and major news headlines would sometimes be printed in red.)
This Easter edition of the Artesia was published on April 15, 1900, and the content is typical of the publication. Notes from recent club meetings and social gatherings fill all four pages. However, the front and back covers are far from standard. The front cover (see above) features a powerful image of an angel, standing with purpose and eyes fixed upward. The mix of soft Easter pastels with a vibrant red and yellow background is striking.
The back cover (to the left) includes festive scenes of children holding flowers and coloring Easter eggs. At the top is an advertisement for the Auditorium as a summer venue for people to come and enjoy the warmer weather. This seems to be a reference to the Auditorium Theater which, according to the 1900 Waco City Directory, was built at the corner of 6th and Columbus and had a seating capacity of 7,000. At the bottom of the page is an advertisement for the self-assured dress maker Miss Poyntz, who proudly claims that “I can not do poor work; I don’t know how.” Both advertisements seem to be well timed as Waco began to anticipate the summer and upcoming social events.
The artwork featured in this edition of the Artesia is not only beautiful but provides the modern reader with a window in which to view holiday traditions that are more than a century old.
Interested in learning more about the Artesia? We believe we have the full run of the paper, which you can come and peruse in our reading room…among many other newspapers, Texas and otherwise!
Pauline Pipkin’s pictures from the 1923 “Baylor Round-Up.” The caption with Pauline Pipkin’s cap-and-gown images read: “Sociology-History; President Fine Arts Club ’21; Graduate in Piano ’21; Round-Up Staff…”
Pauline Pipkin Garrett studied music at Baylor in the 1920s, but then the family business came a-calling. Under her leadership, W.P. Pipkin Drugs became one of the Southwest’s largest independently owned drugstore chains. The story of the businesswoman who carried on her father’s work and progressive ideas contains many “firsts” for a Waco business and women in the workplace.
Begun by her father, William P. Pipkin in 1898, the store started out as W.P. Pipkin Drugs, with its first store located at 418 Elm Avenue. After graduating from Baylor University in 1923 with a BA in music, Pauline’s interests turned to the family business. She went on to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, where she excelled. The Waco News-Tribune on December 21, 1924, reported that she made the “highest grades in her class in a competitive examination.” The article also stated that the college had 3,000 men and only 100 women enrolled at the time.
A typical scene in one of Waco’s seven Pipkin Drug stores. Notice the signage—the company placed a strong emphasis on bold advertising in-house and in the local newspapers. Ava Storey and Dixie Anderson Butcher collection #3779, box 3, folder 6.
In 1926, Pauline received a BA in pharmacology, became a licensed pharmacist, and joined her father in his business. William Pipkin was the first drugstore owner in Waco to hire women. In a recollection published in the May 26, 1957, Waco Tribune-Herald, Pauline recalls a customer asking, “‘You reckon that’ll do—a girl selling cigars?’ He [W.P. Pipkin] said, ‘They’ll do better than some of these jelly beans.’ They called the boys ‘jelly beans’ in those days.”
Pauline worked in several departments, including the soda fountain and washing dishes. In doing so, she got to know more about her employees and work practices. This would help in later years when she took over management after her father’s death in 1935, and full ownership when her mother, Irene, died in 1953. After Pauline took over full operations, the Pipkin chain then grew from three to seven stores and was recognized nationally as an award-winning seller of Rexall products—Pipkin’s main product line.
In the days when tobacco sales were more prevalent, this section was an important part of any drug store. Ava Storey and Dixie Anderson Butcher collection #3779, box 2, folder 18.
By 1957, the firm had a staff that included 50 women holding duties in all departments. The Pipkin chain’s leadership and quantity of female staff was not the norm, nationally—men dominated the field of licensed pharmacists. Even in the mid-1960s, only 8% of pharmacists were women. Women who owned and operated stores were even fewer in number.
In 1961, the Pipkin Drug Store chain was also one of Waco’s first establishments to desegregate their lunch counters and serve African-Americans. Their first store to do so was the 700 Elm Street location near Paul Quinn College. The company already had a well-established number of African-Americans working in various positions throughout the company.
The confidence of the Pipkin’s chain is evident in the signage of this store–just “another Pipkin Drug Store opens here soon.” Competitors in Waco included Walgreen’s and Williams Drugs, so success was not a given. Ava Storey and Dixie Anderson Butcher collection #3779, box 3, folder 2.
Life wasn’t all about work for Pauline—she did maintain her love for music. While in pharmacy school, according to the December 1924, Waco News-Tribune article, “she made several vocal and cello records for the Victor Company at Camden, N.J.” Back at home, she played the cello in various Waco orchestras. In 1930, she was given the opportunity to go to Europe and play with a symphony.
Pauline married Waco attorney, Barney Garrett, on January 15, 1936. They purchased one of Waco’s most distinctive homes—the Cottonland Castle, on 3300 Austin Avenue. She dedicated one of the rooms to music, filling it with a grand piano and several string instruments.
Pauline passed away at home in 1963. Her husband sold Pipkin Drugs to a firm in Garland, Texas, and it became a Rexall drugstore. By 1967, all but one of the former seven Pipkin stores had closed, with the last location at 3900 Bosque Boulevard.
Love the photos above? Check out our Flickr set below to view a few more photos featuring Pipkin’s, mostly from the Ava Storey and Dixie Anderson Butcher collection. (Click on the crosshairs in the bottom right corner to make it full-screen).
Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph collection. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” series of gifs that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, changing aerial views, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.
Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas construction (8th Street side), 1948-1949
The Waco Masonic Lodge, also known as The Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas, is the headquarters for the Texas Freemasons. It is located at 715 Columbus Avenue. The original headquarters were in Houston but were moved to Waco during the early 1900s.
Many noted figures in Texas and Baylor history were freemasons, including Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, R.E.B. Baylor, George W. Truett, and many of Baylor’s presidents.
The building is intended to be modeled after King Solomon’s temple.
Here’s a Flickr set of the images used to compiled this animation (plus a few more of the Masonic Grand Lodge), should you want to examine each individually. Most of the pictures are scanned from negatives in the Fred Marlar photographic collection. Enjoy!
Gif and factoids prepared by Timothy Brestowski, student library assistant
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here’s the scoop for February:
The Interurban Bridge with a rail car crossing it is seen here from the west side of the Brazos River, Waco, Texas, circa 1916. Flood level water is obvious as it flows just under the bridge. Digital ID 3886-Blomeyer-500-1; box 1 OVZ, photo negative 2:33.
Edward C. Blomeyer Photographic collection, 1906-1923: Blomeyer was a leader in the early telephone industry and an amateur photographer whose subjects include the telephone industry in Missouri and Texas, scenes in Waco, Texas, and his family vacations.
Roxy Harriette Grove papers, 1906-1953, undated: Grove was chair of the Baylor School of Music from 1926 to 1943, when Baylor became the first school in Texas to attain membership in the National Association of Schools of Music. Her papers consist of correspondence, literary productions, financial papers, and teaching materials.
Frances Cobb Todd papers, 1899-1990, undated: The Todd papers represent the third generation of Smith-Cobb-Bledsoe family heritage and New Hope Baptist Church materials at The Texas Collection. The collection contains items from Todd’s life and work in Waco and New Hope Baptist Church.
The Baylor faithful will know that, while this music is called “Alma Mater,” it is not actually used as Baylor’s alma mater! Roxy Grove, who was chair of Baylor’s School of Music from 1926-1943, wrote the piece when Baylor did not yet have an official alma mater. “That Good Old Baylor Line” became the school song in 1931. “Alma Mater” was still sung, but not nearly as often. Roxy Harriette Grove papers #1422, box 3, folder 12.
Bosqueville School women’s basketball, Central Texas champions, 1948. Frances Cobb Todd papers #2960, box 5, folder 12.
In the 1970s and 1980s, many members of the African-American community in Waco preserved memories of family, friends, and community by donating collections of letters, photos, financial documents, and more to The Texas Collection. While the collections may have arrived separately, the stories they tell often overlap and provide various perspectives on the same people and events. With items dating from 1861-1991, these collections cover many important events in the life of the African-American community in Waco and the story of Waco.
One family in particular, the Cobb family, has brought three generations of family materials to be preserved and made accessible to researchers at The Texas Collection. These items contribute to many record groups documenting the African-American experience in Waco for 130 years. Learn more about these historic figures in the paragraphs below—every hyperlink represents a collection.
Stephen Cobb, representing the first generation of Cobb materials in The Texas Collection, helped found one of the oldest African-American churches in Waco, New Hope Baptist Church. He also served as the first pastor of the church. Through two marriages, Cobb had thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to adulthood.
Reverend Stephen Cobb, first pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, Waco, Texas. Irene Cobb papers #2918, box 6, folder 17.
Many of Stephen Cobb’s children and relatives became prominent in the Waco black community—see the Smith-Cobb family collection to learn more. Several became schoolteachers, one daughter taught music, and another daughter married the noted Texas educator Robert Lloyd Smith. A protégé of Booker T. Washington, Smith served two terms in the Texas Legislature and founded a society to help black sharecroppers in the early 1900s. This society, called the Farmers Improvement Society, had 12,000 members in 800 branches across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas at its high point in 1911.
One of Stephen Cobb’s daughters, Jessie, married Henry Bledsoe. Their son, Julius Bledsoe, or Jules Bledsoe as he was popularly known, was an international opera star in the 1920s-1940s. He sang for audiences around the world, wrote music, and performed in plays, radio, and television. His most famous piece was “Ol’ Man River” from the musical “Showboat,” though he also sang many other songs and spirituals. After a career of 22 years, Bledsoe died in Hollywood in 1943.
Jules Bledsoe, preparing for his role in “Showboat.” Jules Bledsoe collection #2086, box 10, folder 8.
At least one generation later, Irene Cobb was also active in the Waco area. A schoolteacher for 31 years at various schools around Waco, Cobb was also active at New Hope Baptist Church. By this time, she was at least the third generation of Cobb family members to attend New Hope.
Irene Cobb’s daughter, Frances Cobb Todd, continued the family tradition of activity at New Hope, and followed her mother’s career path and became a teacher in the Waco Independent School District. Frances Todd was one of several New Hope members to take an interest in preserving historical documents important to the Waco African-American community, and she helped bring several New Hope-related collections to The Texas Collection.
Prom night for A.J. Moore High School at the Blue Triangle YWCA, 1948. Frances Cobb Todd papers #2960, box 6, folder 15.
Other African-American record groups at The Texas Collection include the papers of Vivienne Malone-Mayes, the first African-American professor to teach at Baylor University, and of Oscar “Doc” Norbert and Mary “Kitty” Jacques Du Congé—Oscar was the first African-American mayor of Waco. Several of the people in these collections also were interviewed for oral histories that can be found in the digital collections of the Baylor Institute for Oral History.
Resources such as historic photographs, music, letters, financial documents, programs, and many other materials are available for research in our African-American collections. If you are interested in donating materials documenting the African-American experience in Waco or Texas, we would love to talk with you!
Love the photos above? Check out our Flickr set to view a few more from these collections. And then set up a visit to The Texas Collection to see even more great documentation of the African-American community in Waco.
Texas has changed quite a bit over the years, as is readily seen in our vast photograph collection. To help bring some of those changes to life, we’ve created a “Texas over Time” series of gifs that will illustrate the construction and renovations of buildings, changing aerial views, and more. Our collections are especially strong on Waco and Baylor images, but look for some views beyond the Heart of Texas, too.
Austin Avenue: 1906, 1908, 1914, 1940s, 1950s
On May 11, 1953, a F5 tornado hit downtown Waco. The damages were severe: 196 businesses and factories were destroyed, 217 sustained major damage, and 179 sustained lesser damages. Over half of the 114 people who died were in a single city block bordered by Austin and Franklin Avenues and 4th and 5th Streets. Read more here and here.
In 1970, Austin Avenue was remodeled to serve as a pedestrian mall. It was not a success, and in 1985, the mall sidewalk was ripped up and two-way traffic was restored to downtown. One can still see remnants of the mall downtown and can feel the difference in the road going down Austin Avenue.
The ALICO building, which was built in 1910 off Austin Avenue, was once the tallest building in the Southwest. The ALICO building is still open today and holds the headquarters for the American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas and houses many other tenants.
By popular demand, here is a Flickr set of the individual images used to create this animation. We’ll include this in each future “Texas over Time” post.
By Brian Simmons, Archival Assistant and Digital Input Specialist
Pamphlets like this were written by Rufus C. Burleson to inform interested parties about developments at Waco University and appeal for support. Waco University collection #169, box 1, folder 6.
Baylor University’s Waco roots are tied to the somewhat short lived Waco University. Originally founded as an all-male high school in 1857, the institution eventually came under the control of the Waco Baptist Association, which gave it the name Waco Classical School. In the 1860s, amid internal administrative issues, school management decided to seek new leadership to take the school in a new direction. The trustees offered then current Baylor University President, Rufus C. Burleson, control of the institution. Burleson, who at the time was clashing with faculty in Independence, accepted the offer from the Waco Classical School. He resigned from Baylor in the spring of 1861 and moved to Waco, taking with him many Baylor professors and students.
Annual catalogs created by Waco University not only listed that year’s course offerings, but also described the guidelines and culture of the university. Waco University collection #169, box 1, folder 3.
With Burleson as President, the Waco Classical School was transformed into Waco University over the summer of 1861. The University officially opened as an all-male institution on September 2 of the same year. The venture was moderately successful, but the momentum of the Civil War took a toll on the development of the fledgling university. Although it remained open throughout the war, Waco University faced budget shortfalls and periods of low enrollment.
After the war, the University began to flourish with increased matriculation and an expanded curriculum. The creation of the female department in 1866 made Waco University among the first coeducational universities in the United States. Although men and women attended the same university and were taught by the same professors, gender segregation was not uncommon.
An example of Waco University’s gender sensitivity is found on Josephine Ann Corley’s 1870 diploma. At the time, women were awarded “Maid of Arts” degrees, whereas men were awarded “Bachelor of Arts” degrees. Waco University collection #169, box 4, folder 1.
As Waco University matured, it began to compete with Baylor for potential students. This complication was further compounded by the fact that two different Baptist organizations supported the universities. Both universities existed alongside each other for a number of years. The arrival of train service to Waco would be the beginning of the end for Baylor in Independence. Without a major source of transportation, Baylor began to decline. Later in 1885, the two Baptist organizations that supported the universities joined together and decided to support only one university. It was decided that the organization would consolidate both universities to form Baylor University at Waco. Waco University’s Board of Trustees held their final meetings in 1887 to transfer all assets to Baylor.
The 500 block of South Fifth Street is the approximate area where some of the Waco University buildings were located. First Baptist Church of Waco now occupies this site.
Waco University ceased operations at the end of the spring 1886 term. Baylor University at Waco was not much of a change for students of the defunct university. The same curriculum, faculty, facilities, and polices were retained for the first few years. That would soon end as Baylor gradually shifted away from what was established at Waco University. Baylor began to build new buildings to the south and altered the curriculum. After the completion of buildings on the new campus, the remaining Waco University structure became the Maggie Houston Hall dormitory before eventually being phased out. Waco University was Baylor’s entry to Waco, but it is more than just a footnote in Baylor’s history. Visit the Texas Collection to view the Waco University collection and see its digitized catalogs to explore this institution’s own rich history.
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here’s the scoop for January:
Detail of 1860 Sneed-Patton divorce settlement. The legal document provides a detailed plan for the separation of Mary Sneed and James Patton’s property, and the future yearly annuities that James was to pay. In this excerpt, the kitchen furniture is addressed–Mary keeps all that she brought to the marriage, and half of what they acquired during their short union.
Sneed-Woodward-Patton family papers: Correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and literary productions produced by the extended Sneed-Woodward-Patton Family in nineteenth century Texas.
Reverend Samuel Pascal Wright papers: Legal and personal documents pertaining to the family of Reverend Samuel Pascal Wright, a Texas pastor and president of Waco Female College from 1883-1887.
Descendants of Samuel Pascal Wright pose for a family photo, circa 1930s. (See the Ford Model A in the background.)
President Brooks commends Guittard for “remarkable tact in winning others to your plans and getting them to do the things that ought to be done.” Guittard’s notes on the parade illustrate how he accomplished those Homecoming plans! (Guittard papers, box 4, folder 9)
The Homecoming parade is one of my favorite Baylor traditions, but I must confess that I never thought much about all the work that goes in to planning the event. Knowing who’s participating, assigning the order, getting everyone into position, encouraging marchers to, ahem, represent Baylor well…that’s a lot of work! These days the men and women of Baylor Chamber of Commerce organize the parade, but back when Homecoming and the parade were new traditions, it was faculty members who made the parade happen.
One of these faculty members was Francis Guittard, a history professor who had been teaching at Baylor since the early 1900s. Frank helped organize Baylor’s first Homecoming in 1909, and President Samuel Palmer Brooks called on him again to serve as one of the marshals for the second Homecoming in 1915.
Note Guittard’s emphasis on the spacing between marchers. He clearly wanted no one stepping on heels or straggling behind–this parade was a tightly run ship! (Guittard papers, box 20, folder 4)
Almost 100 years later, Charles Guittard (BU ’64) was doing research this spring at The Texas Collection for a book he plans to write about his grandfather. In the Francis Gevrier Guittard papers, Charles came across Frank’s notes for his comments to the 1915 parade participants. With the 2013 Homecoming parade coming up tomorrow, we thought this was the perfect time to look back at one of Baylor’s first parades.
First of all, Frank Guittard calls the event a “pageant,” not a “parade.” (The phrases seemed to be used interchangeably at the time in describing this Homecoming event.) Parade participants included student groups like the Baylor band, the Town Girls club, the “B” Association, the senior class (already suited out in caps and gowns), and Baylor’s four literary societies: the Philomathesian, Erisophian, Calliopean, and Rufus C. Burleson organizations. Lillie Martin’s model primary class from the Department of Education provided the cute children for the parade. President Samuel Palmer Brooks, prominent faculty, alumnus of Baylor at Independence, and more rode in the auto section. Bringing up the rear was “Prof Evans’ Human Calliope.”
Wonder how Professor Evans talked students into being part of his Human Calliope–perhaps extra credit? Image scanned from the Baylor Bulletin on Homecoming 1915.
Wait, need some explanation of that last bit? First, a calliope is a musical instrument that produces (very loud) sound by sending steam or compressed air through large whistles. Apparently Evans, a piano professor, had concocted his own version (see photo to the right), consisting of Evans pounding a cookstove as the keyboard and various Baylor men serving as the whistles, “tooting of some popular airs which brought repeated applause,” according to the December 2, 1915 Lariat.
The parade progressed from Austin Avenue to 4th Street, then to Franklin and on to 5th Street, which took them to Carroll Field for the Homecoming game. Guittard heavily underlined in his notes “marchers three steps back of those in front”—perhaps marchers walking too close or too far from each other had been an issue in the 1909 parade. Students were encouraged to enlist all present members of the organization to participate in the parade, as well as alumni—as long as those alumni were “not too fat and wheezy and full of rheumatics.” Evidently Guittard had no time for potential stragglers!
Guittard called on Baylor students of 1915 to realize they were participating in a historic event–indeed, these early parades laid the groundwork for years to come! (Guittard papers, box 20, folder 4)
Despite Guittard’s close attention to detail, he also took the long view—he reminded students that pictures would be taken that could be enjoyed for years to come. And indeed, The Texas Collection sees researchers coming every year just to see photos of early Homecomings.
Guittard also noted that “this pageant is to be representative of the loyalty of Baylor students as well as a graphic representation of Baylor’s strength and influence….Each of you has been given a role in this pageant which will be a long-remembered event in the history of Baylor and it is earnestly hoped that each one of you will act his part nobly and loyally.”
Guittard understood the importance of Homecoming when the tradition was just beginning—it wasn’t an annual event till 1924 (and then World War II disrupted the tradition). But he was right that those early parades would be long-remembered, and the summary of the parade in the 1915 Baylor Bulletin would be an apt description for succeeding Homecoming parades: “it isn’t an overplus enthusiasm nor pride of university or city to insist that few institutions in the United States could have made the showing Baylor made in the parade.”
Check out our latest Flickr set, a slideshow of Kodachrome slides from the 1953 Homecoming parade.
