Waco – Page 11 – The Texas Collection

A User's Guide to the Texas Collection, Part 2, Or, Dealing with Challenging Resources

Posted on August 19, 2013

Baptism in the Brazos River, Waco, undated — Photograph of a baptism in the Brazos River: images like this are astoundingly rare…and so are sources that so clearly “make” a portion of your research!

Kenna Lang Archer, a veteran researcher at The Texas Collection, is our guest blogger for this series, “A User’s Guide to The Texas Collection.” Drawing on her research on the Brazos River, Dr. Archer offered advice on identifying helpful (but not obvious) resources and making use of special collections staffers in her last post. In this installment, she discusses some of the perils of primary resource research: sources that contradict your thesis and the challenges of assessing authenticity in materials.

Unfortunately, archival research does not always yield information that one might call “helpful.” To research in archives is to invite uncertainty into your academic life. Yes, I have located sources that pulled everything together, but I have also found sources that contradicted all I expected to find. What is the proper response to a source that seemingly undermines your work? There is no one answer, but my advice would be to remember that there is promise in confusion.

Roughly halfway through my dissertation research, I found a source that seemed to weaken my argument in a serious way. It was nothing short of an intellectual catastrophe. I erupted in genuine (if, thankfully, short-lived) tears and stopped work early that day. That evening, I wrote up a brief outline for my project and began to ask difficult questions about the new material—what did it really say, how might it broaden my study, did it undercut the entirety of my thesis or portions of it, could I simply fine-tune my ideas? It took me awhile to incorporate these answers into my outline and then to adjust my writing, but as I struggled through the muddle that once was my project, it became easier to envision the ways in which new ideas could fit together. The end result: a stronger project!

Unfortunately, there have also been times when I couldn’t work out the contradictions that resulted from new information—I’ve discarded projects and entirely reworked projects. Whatever the ultimate outcome, “defiant” sources are beneficial—they help to refine research projects into something both more intriguing and authentic.

Canoeing on the river, 1908 — Though I knew something about this photograph (it came from a Baylor student scrapbook), I didn’t have a location. Was this the Brazos River? I sure wanted it to be, but ultimately I had no clear evidence one way or another and so I set aside this image as a source.

That being said, whether or not sources prove to be helpful, researchers must take the time to assess their authenticity. Letters, books, pamphlets—they’ve all been written by individuals with preconceptions and opinions. Photographs and paintings can be staged or emotionally skewed as well. In other words, every source is created in a context that shapes its meaning and its value.

Was a tract written to attract visitors to Texas? It probably emphasized the good and downplayed the bad about life in this state. Was a letter written in 1917? Ongoing war in Europe surely colored the text, and the contextual biases might have shifted from one month to the next.

It is imperative that researchers understand these nuances. So how do you account for the possibility of hyperbole, the use of incorrect figures, the fever of patriotism? When working with a primary source, I try to anticipate what biases might exist by considering the who, what, where, when, and why of its creation. For example, I might ask where this information originated and whether it was corroborated only by people from the same family or city. If possible, I also account for subjectivity by increasing the number of sources that I review and, thereby, increasing the validity of statistics, stories, and so forth.

Flooding at the Washington Avenue Bridge, Waco, circa 1913 — The Brazos River flooding, circa 1913: In some cases, it is possible to determine information for sources that is not explicitly given. For example, I can reasonably date this undated photograph by comparing the years of Brazos floods with the construction dates of Brazos River bridges, the advent of technology, and popular styles of dress.

Whether you have one crucial source or twenty adequate sources, take the time to judge the authenticity of your information…and, most difficult of all, have the courage to set aside a source, however valuable, whose information cannot be trusted. It is far more important to work in confidence knowing that you have prioritized accuracy than to squeeze a questionable source into an existing argument.

Stay tuned for the September entry (and final post) in this series.

Archer is an instructor in the history department at Angelo State University. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Baylor and then her doctorate at Texas Tech University. You can learn more about her research on her website, www. kennalangarcher.com.

Research Ready: July 2013

Posted on July 29, 2013

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 July:

Wellington children, circa 1888 — A few years after Anna Wellington Stoner and her husband, Clinton Stoner, moved to Bullshead, Edwards County in Texas, Clinton died in 1884. In October of the same year, Anna moved her three small children (pictured) back to the Nueces River Canyon and bought 320 acres of land there. This was the beginning of the Stoner Ranch, which has grown to 2,000 acres today.

[Waco] Branch Davidians: Bill Pitts papers, 1963-2001, undated: This collection contains materials produced and collected by Bill Pitts, a professor in the Religion Department at Baylor University. The materials primarily cover the Branch Davidians siege of 1993.
Benjamin Edwards Green papers, 1840-1865: Green’s papers consist of a postcard, pamphlets, written notes, an unpublished manuscript and other chapter fragments. Among other roles, Green was a lawyer, served as an American diplomat at the Mexican capitol in the early 1840s, and was a secret agent in the West Indies.
James Weldon Jones papers, 1917-1919, circa 2010: This collection contains a series of letters sent from Alexander “Tip” Jones to his son, James Weldon Jones, while the latter was serving in the United States Army during World War I.
Vivienne Malone-Mayes papers. Inclusive: 1966-1977, undated: Malone-Mayes’ papers consists of correspondence, minutes, reports and other records related to her terms as a member and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for the Heart of Texas Region Mental Health Mental Retardation Center in Waco, Texas. The collection also contains personal materials and coursework Dr. Malone-Mayes assigned in her mathematics courses at Baylor University. She was Baylor’s first black faculty member.

Women and Mathematics / Mathematical Association of America publication, 1976 — Vivienne Malone-Mayes was a trailblazer for women, particularly African Americans, in the mathematics profession. In 1966, she became only the fifth African American woman to earn her PhD in that field. After gaining employment at Baylor University, Vivienne did her part in encouraging women to pursue careers in mathematics, including editorial and consultation work with the Mathematical Association of America.

Irwin Green and Lillie Worley McGee papers, 1893-1899, undated: The McGee papers consist of notes, assignments, and exams produced by Irwin Green and Lillie Worley while attending Baylor in the 1890s, providing insight into Baylor’s curriculum during this period.
Walter Hale McKenzie papers, 1926-1952: The McKenzie papers contain correspondence and board and committee minutes illustrating McKenzie’s relations to prominent Baptists J.G. Hardin, George W. Truett, Pat Neff, and others, and his service to Baylor University, Baylor College for Women, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Wellington-Stoner-McLean family collection, 1833-2007, undated: This collection consists of family documents collected by Margaret Stoner McLean. The collection includes correspondence and postcards, photographs, financial documents, books, personal ledgers, and publications about the family and the Stoner ranch.

A User's Guide to the Texas Collection, Part 1, Or, How I Survived the Rigors of Research

Posted on July 22, 2013

Kenna Lang Archer recently presented a lecture hosted by The Texas Collection, “The Brazos River and the Baylor Archives: A History of Floods and Droughts, a Story of Resilience and Ideals.” Archer has been coming to The Texas Collection for many years to research the Brazos River and its environmental impact—she even earned one of our Wardlaw Fellowships for Texas Studies.

So we thought she would be a perfect candidate to share some of what she has learned about special collections research. Archer has a heart for educational outreach and far too much to say to fit into one blog post, so this is the first installment in a three-part series, “A User’s Guide to The Texas Collection.”

I recently completed a study on the Brazos River, and while I loved the topic, it wasn’t always easy to find sources for my research. People living in Waco in 1856 rarely sat down with the explicit goal of writing about water—“Dear Robert. Old Man River is especially murky today…I can think of nothing but mud pies as I stare into its depths (which total 15 feet, 100 yards north of Waco).” Ditto with individuals living in other cities at other periods. Instead, people wrote about matters of immediate importance—crops, kin, wars, etc.

This intellectual inertia is hardly unique to me. Most researchers, at one time or another, have encountered a similar problem. The obvious search words are sometimes not enough, and in those moments, it becomes necessary to follow alternative pathways. Fortunately, in that disorder is potential. I once used the record books of the Waco Bridge Company to determine the supplies used in the Waco Suspension Bridge, which incorporated trees that had been logged locally. These financial records, in other words, told me about the species that populated Cameron Park in the late 1800s, a park that itself sits along the Brazos.

Excerpt, Waco Bridge Company Minute Book, 1886-1889. After a series of dead ends, it was a painfully real sense of desperation that led me to this resource, but that desperation led to invaluable information. It forced me to consider not the river itself but the context that shaped the river.

Sometimes, the sources simply are not there, but oftentimes, information can be gleaned from the space between ideas. Search Brazos River but also search intellectually adjacent words—agriculture, Cameron Park, cattle. The use of non-traditional sources and peripheral search terms can be time-consuming, but it results in a richer understanding of the subject, making the intellectual effort more than worthwhile.

Along those same lines, if I could offer one piece of advice to individuals engaged in research, it would be this—get to know the employees of the archives/library.

Canoeing on the Brazos River, Waco, Texas — A Day on the River from a 1908 scrapbook. People writing about daily life may not mention the Brazos directly, but they do mention pursuits that circle back to this Old Man River.

A good relationship with archivists, curators, librarians, and coordinators is the surest path to a completed project. Likewise, a bad relationship with these same individuals (or no relationship at all) is a sure way to become mired in more material than you could ever process. That is the dirty secret of historic research—it is impossible to track every lead, tumble down every rabbit hole, follow every hunch. A bittersweet blessing: scholars, with few exceptions, have access to far too many letters, diaries, and photographs to peruse every line of thought. And, yet, projects can hinge on a single piece of evidence. What is an industrious scholar to do? Engage the experts.

Special collections employees can recommend finding aids, suggest search words, pull off-site material, or even let you know when collections are unavailable due to routine maintenance. Over the last five years, the employees of the Texas Collection made my project possible in a very literal sense. Amie Oliver suggested nineteenth century promotional booklets that did not mention the Brazos but nevertheless provided insight into the movement of immigrants; Geoff Hunt tracked down a panoramic photograph of industrializing Waco that unveiled flood patterns; Tiffany Sowell pulled manuscripts from the turn of the century that exposed urban growth patterns. Archival resources are not limited to pen and ink; get to know the men and women who work in the stacks.

See our staff listing to learn who those folks in the stacks are at The Texas Collection! And stay tuned for the August entry in this series.

Research Ready: June 2013

Posted on June 28, 2013

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 June:

Sul Ross as a young man, undated daguerreotype — The Barnard-Lane Papers contain materials from many of Waco’s oldest and most influential families, including this daguerreotype of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, a former governor of Texas and brother-in-law of Barnard Lane (found in box 28, folder 7).

Gladys Allen papers, 1882-1893, 1913-1952, undated: Gladys Allen was a teacher, served on the Baylor University Board of Trustees, and was a member of Seventh and James Baptist Church. Includes correspondence, personal notes, genealogical research, newspaper clippings, and photographs.
Lyrics to “America” manuscript, 1895: This manuscript contains a handwritten copy of the song “America” or, alternatively, “My Country Tis of Thee,” by the composer Samuel Francis Smith.
Barnard-Lane papers, 1800-1983, undated: George Barnard was one of the early Waco pioneers. The collection contains personal materials as well as those related to his trading post.
Ava Storey and Dixie Anderson Butcher collection, 1903-1998, undated: Contains documents and photographs from the Storey and Butcher family, as well as photographs of the affluent Waco drug store chain, Pipkin Drug Store.
Newel Berryman Crain papers, 1858-1948, undated: The Crain papers chronicle the experiences of a young man from Texas during the beginning of the twentieth century, from his time at Baylor through his various jobs and military service. It also includes correspondence from Crain’s grandfather, Newton M. Berryman, about his studies at Baylor University at Independence in 1858.
BU Records: Dean of the Union Building (Lily Russell), 1936-1966: Administrative
records related to Baylor’s Union Building, as well as some of Russell’s personal
records and materials from when she was Director of Public Relations at Baylor.
[Edcouch] First Baptist Church records, 1941-1974, undated: [Edcouch] First Baptist Church, originally named Los Indios Baptist Church, was organized during the summer of 1924 in Los Indios, Texas. It has undergone a few name and location changes since then. Records consist of manuscripts pertaining to administrative operations of the church.

Telegram from Mary Jane Hannah to her husband, Robert Lee Hannah, following the loss of their son, Bob, 1927 — Telegram from Mary Jane Hannah to her husband, Robert Lee Hannah, following the loss of their son, Bob. Bob Hannah was one of what Baylor calls the Immortal Ten who died in a train/bus collision en route to a basketball game in Austin. Hannah-Wiley papers, box 1, folder 5.

Hannah-Wiley Family papers, 1909-1930, undated: The Hannah-Wiley Family papers contain correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, and literary production relating to the family of Baylor student Robert “Bob” Lee Hannah Jr., who was one of the “Immortal Ten” who died in a tragic bus/train collision.
Independence Baptist Church records, 1873-1918: Independence Baptist Church was one of the first Baptist churches in Texas. Contains one bound minute book that describes church activities, finances, and disciplinary issues from 1873-1918 and also includes a condensed history of the church from 1839-1873.
Colonel Chris H.W. Rueter collection, 1927-2004, undated: Consists of correspondence, certificates, postcards, artworks, photographs, and biographical information collected by Baylor alum and WWII veteran Colonel Chris H.W. Rueter and his family.
BU Records: Rufus C. Burleson Society, 1900-1919: Documents the operations and activities of one of Baylor’s women’s literary societies that was most active in the early 1900s.
James Anderson Slover papers, circa 1907-1913, undated: Copies of a manuscript written by Slover, Minister to the Cherokees: A Civil War Autobiography, describing early family history on the frontier in the United States and Texas.
Thurmond-Tramwell Slave papers, 1857: These papers include a document originating from Gonzales, Texas, which gives an account of a legal dispute between Thurmond and Tramwell over an enslaved woman.
Frank L. Wilcox Papers, 1923-1966, undated: Contains the personal and professional materials of Frank Wilcox, a former mayor of Waco and the son-in-law of former Texas governor and Baylor University President Pat Neff.

Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth's Love of History: His Passion, The Texas Collection's Gain

Posted on June 11, 2013

The year 2013 marks the 90^th anniversary of The Texas Collection. To say that the landscape of human history has changed since 1923 would constitute a most severe understatement. During the twentieth century, humanity has witnessed the carnage of two World Wars, the space race, the creation of the television and Internet, civil rights movements, and the atomic age…just to name a few changes!

Brandes-Aynesworth correspondence, 1933 — Acting Baylor librarian Gertrude Brandes to Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth, April 1933, regarding one of many gifts of books to what would become The Texas Collection

Repositories such as The Texas Collection have taken up the mantle of preserving this history and cultural heritage. We are one of the largest Texana collections in the nation, but this accomplishment would not have been possible without the generosity and vision of its first donor, Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth.

Aynesworth was born in Florence, Texas, on February 9, 1873. He earned his undergraduate degree in 1894 from Baylor University, where he was classmates with famous Texans Tom Connally and Pat Neff. Aynesworth went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Texas at Galveston in 1899.

Certificate granting Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth's protection as a citizen when studying in Berlin, Germany, circa 1901 — Certificate granting Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth’s protection as a citizen when studying in Berlin, Germany, circa 1901

His work in the field of medicine opened up a wide variety of opportunities for Aynesworth. While earning his M.D., he interned at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. In 1901-1902, Aynesworth pursued postgraduate studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Seven years later, Aynesworth traveled to Johns Hopkins University for continued research.

After marrying his sweetheart Maude Brian on December 31, 1902, Aynesworth began his own private practice of general surgery in Waco, Texas. For more than forty years, Dr. Aynesworth practiced medicine in the Waco area, primarily at Providence Hospital. Despite his busy work schedule, Aynesworth was involved in a number of medical and local organizations including the Waco Board of Health, the Waco School Board, the Waco Planning and Zoning Commission, and the American College of Surgeons.

"Greatest Battle of Modern Times at Manila," May 2, 1898 — Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth was an avid collector of local, state, and national history. This periodical, one of a series of documents, details the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War of 1898.

But in addition to all of that, Dr. Aynesworth was a collector of history, especially that of Texas. In 1923, he donated hundreds of items to Baylor University in order to found The Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth Texas History Collection. To ensure the collection was properly funded, Aynesworth contributed to the institution on an annual basis. His gifts also supported the salary of an instructor to teach Texas history, which was not being taught anywhere else in Texas at the time.

His donations—of books and of finances—also inspired others to give. He wrote a moving solicitation on “The Needs of the Texas History Collection” for the April 1926 issue of Baylor Monthly, encouraging alumni to search their houses for valuable books, family papers, and other historical manuscripts to donate to Baylor. He mourns the documentation lost from Texas’ early days and exhorts readers that “some one must see that current history is properly filed away and kept for the future. Our descendants will not forgive us if we do not do this one thing.”

It only took a year or two of Aynesworth’s donations and that of others before the Dallas Morning News hailed the collection as a “Mecca of Historians.” After a time, the name of the repository was changed to the Texas Historical Collection, which later became The Texas Collection.

The Physician as Citizen, by Aynesworth — “The Physician as a Citizen,” address given by Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth to the graduating class of the Medical Department of the University of Texas, Galveston, May 31, 1929. This speech exemplifies Aynesworth’s philosophy of supporting one’s community and living a well-rounded life.

Aynesworth personified much of what it meant to be a well-rounded citizen during the early half of the twentieth century. In addition to working hard at his profession and maintaining his civic involvement, Aynesworth gave of his time and finances to preserve the history of his day. The Aynesworth papers serve as a testament to his emphases on the importance of family, the medical profession, and the preservation of history.

We at The Texas Collection are celebrating our 90^th anniversary in large part because of the generosity of Dr. Aynesworth. As John K. Strecker wrote in 1926, “Baylor historians of the future will owe a deep debt of gratitude to Doctor Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth, eminent surgeon, bibliophile and founder of Baylor’s greater Texas history collection.”

Family tree showing the children of Isaiah Hezekiah Aynesworth — In addition to his interest in Texas and U.S. history, Kenneth Aynesworth also pursued family history, as demonstrated by this family tree on Isaiah Hezekiah Aynesworth, Kenneth’s grandfather.

By Thomas DeShong, Archival Assistant and Digital Input Specialist

Research Ready: May 2013

Posted on May 31, 2013

Katherine Lucylle Cope Fulmer scrapbook on Baylor University life, 1939-1941 — Lucylle Cope Fulmer created this scrapbook documenting her life as a Baylor coed in the early 1940s. On this page she included student IDs, handbooks, and church promotional pieces.

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 is our one-year anniversary of telling you what’s Research Ready, so we added things up. We’ve announced nearly 90 finding aids completed between May 2012-May 2013. Wow—that’s a lot of research just waiting to happen! We look forward to sharing many more research opportunities with you. Here’s the scoop for May 2013:

[Waco] Branch Davidians: FBI Letters and Negotiation Transcripts Collection.
Inclusive: 1993: Copies of letters written to the FBI during and after the Branch Davidian siege, as well as transcripts of negotiations between the Branch Davidians and the FBI.
BU Records: Fulmer (Katherine Lucylle Cope). 1939-1941, undated: Fulmer’s scrapbook on student life at Baylor University, 1939-1941.
Grace Rosanky Putnam Jones Papers, 1934-2009, undated: Correspondence, literary productions, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials related to Jones’ experiences as a World War II WASP pilot, New York fashion model, and owner of a dress shop.

Unidentified downed biplane, undated — Unidentified downed bi-plane from the Nick Pocock papers. Pocock, a pilot who emigrated from England to Waco in the mid-twentieth century, was a scholar whose book, Did W.D. Custead Fly First?, explores the possibility that a Central Texas man flew a flying machine before the Wright brothers.

Nick Pocock papers, 1971-1983, undated: Correspondence, photographs, and a newspaper clipping pertaining to Nick Pocock, a former aviation correspondent for The Waco Citizen and a former professor at Texas State Technical College.
R. H. Smith Papers. 1836, 1839: Three letters, one of which has a typed transcription. Several incidents described in the letters relate to the Texas Revolution.
Wichita Falls Symphony Records, circa 1962-1966: Correspondence, minutes, and bylaws about the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra.

A Day in the (Texas Collection) Life: Paul Fisher, Processing Archivist

Posted on May 29, 2013

Meet Paul Fisher, Baylor graduate (BA 2009, MA 2011), native Texan, and Processing Archivist, in our latest staff post giving you a peek into the day-to-day work of The Texas Collection:

From Civil War hospital records, to documents about Baylor’s activities in Independence, to old photographs of early Texans, The Texas Collection has a great deal of fascinating materials. My work preparing archival record groups (groups of records that share the same creator or collector) for researchers means that I get to see all the cool items we have on a daily basis. I have a BA in museum studies and an MA in history, both from Baylor, so “old stuff” definitely fascinates me, especially Civil War-related materials.

James E. Harrison report, 1861, Carter-Harrison Family papers — One of Paul’s favorite documents in The Texas Collection is this handwritten report by Waco native and Confederate general James E. Harrison. The full document tells of his journey to the American Indian tribes in present-day Oklahoma, to see whether they would side with the Confederacy in the American Civil War.

So how do I go about preparing archival record groups for users? This usually includes organizing the collection if needed, rehousing the materials in new acid-free folders and boxes, and writing documents called finding aids to help researchers locate and use them. An increasing part of my job is to help students discover how to do this work well, whether they are student interns, students in a class, or students who work for us.

Much of my work now is devoted to preparing our new archival software system, called Cuadra Star, for launch this summer. For the past 11 months I have led a team of staff and students on a number of projects to get ready for this launch. There have been some challenges to solve along the way, but we address them and continue to forge ahead. Cuadra Star will allow us to find information, organize our collections, and provide better archival service to you than ever before.

One of my favorite activities as part of working at The Texas Collection has been working with a class from the Department of Museum Studies here at Baylor. In fall 2012, Dr. Julie Holcomb taught her annual Archival Collections and Museums class to thirteen students, and as part of the class each student processed one archival record group for use by researchers. The class was taught here at The Texas Collection, and I offered special office hours every week when students would come to work with me on their assigned archives. The project gave them valuable professional experience, and also prepared thirteen of our record groups for use.

A Homegrown Vision: Robert L. Smith and the Farmers Improvement Society" exhibit — The Keeth display case, part of the February 2012 exhibit “A Homegrown Vision: Robert L. Smith and the Farmers Improvement Society.”

We also showcase exhibits on various interesting topics throughout the year, and I have helped with several during my time at The Texas Collection. One of the most interesting was our spring 2012 exhibit, which featured the Farmers Improvement Society (FIS) and R.L. Smith. The society was founded by Smith to help African American sharecroppers in the early 1900s have access to financing for their farms, life insurance, better farming methods, and an agricultural school. Such exhibits help increase awareness of the resources we preserve. More than year after this exhibit was over, we were still receiving questions about our FIS-related records on this blog, and we hosted a research fellow this year who came from New York to spend a week studying these records.

With all of these different projects to work on at The Texas Collection, from working on record groups to planning the next exhibit, every day is different. Yet some things remain the same day to day. Every day is a chance to do more than tell people about history—it is a chance to highlight rediscovered pieces of history from the actual documents written by Baylor and Texas people past and present.

The Texas Collection turns 90 this year! But even though we’ve been at Baylor for so long, we realize people aren’t quite sure what goes on in a special collections library and archives. So over the course of 2013, we are featuring staff posts about our work at The Texas Collection. See other posts in the series here.

A Lifelong Learner: The Education and Service of Dr. Francis Gevrier Guittard

Posted on May 15, 2013

“I will help you in every possible way to get before the people, to cultivate the students and reach a maximum of opportunity for you to develop in.”

Samuel Palmer Brooks to Francis Guittard, 1902 — This letter written from Baylor University President Samuel Palmer Brooks is the initial offer of employment made to Francis Guittard. The latter accepted his friend’s proposal and gradually moved up the ranks of his peers to the Chair of the History Department.

Samuel Palmer Brooks wrote those words to Francis Gevrier Guittard in a 1902 letter asking for Guittard to come and lend his services to the students of Baylor University. Today Baylor faculty and staff today are given the same message—that Baylor will give them opportunities to develop professionally, while also helping them to cultivate students who will go above and beyond.

We see the fruits of this support from Baylor as we celebrate each graduating class. But some professors, like Guittard, offer an especially good example of what is possible. On this Commencement weekend, we offer the graduating class Guittard’s story as a model of lifelong learning and service.

Guittard’s beginnings are similar to that of many others who lived in late nineteenth century America. His father, Dr. Francis Joseph Guittard, had immigrated to the United States from France. The elder Guittard, who had renounced his parents’ desires that he pursue the Catholic priesthood, moved to America in search of a better life. He settled in Ohio, where he met his wife, Lydia. As the younger Francis came of age, his parents agreed that the economic prospects in Ohio were bleak. Thus, in 1886, the Guittards sent young Francis on a one-way trip to Texas with the hope that he would succeed and find financial success.

Francis Guittard with Mrs. Norman Smith, 1927, at the Sam Houston piano at The Texas Collection. Guittard and his wife, Josephine, helped to bring the piano to The Texas Collection.

Now on his own, Francis decided that the medical profession his father had pursued was not for him. Instead, he wanted to teach history. In the early 1890s, Guittard attended Baylor University but was unable to complete his degree. Not to be deterred, he applied to the University of Chicago, one of the nation’s rising schools. It was here that Guittard earned his bachelor of arts in 1901 and his master of arts in 1902.

Armed with his new degrees (and following the letter quoted above), Guittard returned to Baylor University. His friend, Samuel Palmer Brooks, had just become President. Neither Guittard nor Brooks knew at the time just how long they would serve Baylor and her students. For over forty years, Guittard taught in the Baylor history department, serving most of these years as the department’s chairman. He also was an adviser to the debate team, offered input on Texas Collection acquisitions (including the Sam Houston piano pictured above), helped coordinate the first Homecoming, and made many other contributions to the lives of Baylor students.

Francis Gevrier Guittard's diary, open to 1902-1906 — This excerpt from Francis’ diary highlights some of the key events in his life including his promotion to an instructor of history, his attendance of the University of Chicago, and his marriage to his first wife, Mamie Welhausen.

If such devotion to his profession was not enough, Guittard’s pursuit of a doctoral degree was a testament to his belief in the value of education. Many would have become complacent with steady employment and raising a family, but not Guittard. (Brooks’ encouragement of his faculty to pursue doctoral degrees helped too.) In the 1920s, he began taking summer courses at Leland Stanford University (more commonly known as Stanford) in California. His dedication paid off in 1931, when Guittard, at the age of 64, earned his doctorate with his dissertation, “Roosevelt and Conservation.”

Francis Gevrier Guittard's dissertation, 1931 — Dr. Guittard earned his Ph.D. with the completion of his dissertation concerning President Theodore Roosevelt’s views of conservation. Notecards, an unpublished manuscript, and a final draft relating to the project can be found in the collection.

Dr. Guittard continued to teach at Baylor and cultivate young minds with a love for history until his passing in 1950. Even now, he continues to support the education of others through the Guittard Fellowship, a family-funded scholarship given to first-year history graduate students. (In fact, I was a grateful recipient of that fellowship.) Guittard showed how one can shape the future, even while preserving history.

The Francis Gevrier Guittard papers, which consist of 38 boxes, house the personal and professional papers of Dr. Guittard. Because of Guittard’s long tenure at Baylor University and his desire to remain relevant in his field, researchers can find a number of subjects to explore in his papers. Come to The Texas Collection and discover the legacy of a man who not only improved his own lot in life, but then went on to devote his time and energy to the education of the up-and-coming generation. And to the graduating class of 2013—remember to walk in Guittard’s footsteps and pursue lifelong learning as you shape the future.

By Thomas DeShong, Archival Assistant and Digital Input Specialist

Documenting the “Monster from the Skies”: Photographs Telling the Story of the 1953 Waco Tornado

Posted on May 10, 2013

By Geoff Hunt, Audio and Visual Curator

"Monster From The Skies," Waco Tornado, May 1953 — “It was so wide and the rain so heavy, it was impossible for anyone in the city to see the funnel approaching.” The cover of this publication demonstrates how T.E. Caldwell of Thornton, Texas, remembers how this storm on May 11, 1953 looked.

This week marks the 60^th anniversary of the May 11, 1953, tornado that hit Waco, Texas, causing the deaths of 114 people. To honor those who lost their lives on this tragic day, and the great loss of a large part of Waco’s central business district, we have put on our Flickr page some unseen or seldom seen photographs of the affected areas of Waco, before and after this storm.

This group of images includes digitized 35mm, 4×5 and 8×10 photograph negatives, Kodachrome slides, stereo-slides, and printed photos, and features images captured by Waco photographers such as Hiram Blaine Sherrill, Randall W. Todd, Fred Marlar, and the Army Air Force Photography Division. We also included “before” photos, giving us a sense of what these stricken parts of Waco were like before the catastrophic storm.

Before and After: The Devastation of the 1953 Waco Tornado — The top image, taken by Fred Marlar in about 1951, contrasts with the image below taken by Jimmie Willis of the same vicinity after the 1953 tornado.

Fred Gildersleeve, a well-known Waco photographer, also documented the storm’s wreckage. In a 1977 oral history interview, Waco historian Roger Conger remarked of Gildersleeve that “…Waco was most fortunate in having him here because he rode the crest of Waco’s remarkable development during the first twenty-five or thirty years of this century.” But sadly, just a few years prior to his death in 1958, he also saw the destruction of part of the city he had made a living photographing. He likely lost friends in the tragedy. However, like his earlier work, his documentation of the aftermath of the 1953 Waco Tornado helps to record an important part of the city’s history.

Before and After the Tornado, South Side of Waco, Texas, City Square, 1953 Waco Tornado — Before (1950) and after (1953) the tornado, south side of Waco, Texas, city square, by Fred Gildersleeve

Another photographer whose work is being brought to light is Dr. Hannibal “Joe” Jaworski. He resided in the nearby Roosevelt Hotel (400 Austin Avenue) and had a medical practice on the third floor of the Amicable (ALICO) Building, on the corner of 5th and Austin. In the aftermath of the storm, he led medical care of the wounded at Waco’s Hillcrest Hospital. Jaworski previously served as a colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corp, and so his experience earned during WWII made his contribution vital in helping those injured in this catastrophic natural disaster.

First Responders to the 1953 Waco Tornado (2) — The collapse of the Padgitt’s and RT Dennis buildings onto 5th Street, by Hannibal “Joe” Jaworski

When going to some of these hard-hit areas now, all that remains are some empty lots and historical markers. However, there is nothing like a photograph taken during this time or just before to help us realize why this event was sometimes referred to as the “Monster from the Skies.”

Check out more before and after images of the 1953 Waco tornado in our Flickr slideshow. Click the arrow to make the slideshow start, and click the crosshairs in the bottom right corner to make the slideshow full-screen.

Discover more about the 1953 Waco tornado…

Learn how The Texas Collection collaborated with the Dr Pepper Museum and other local cultural heritage organizations to commemorate the 1953 Waco tornado.
Visit the Baylor Institute for Oral History to explore their many oral histories that discuss the tornado.
Come research the tornado in our holdings at The Texas Collection.
Read a blog post we wrote about the tornado last year, drawing from our archival materials.

Baylor Responds to the West Fertilizer Co. Plant Explosion: Using Storify to Curate Social Media

Posted on April 26, 2013

After the April 17 explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant, the Baylor family almost immediately sprung into action via prayer and service. West is situated about 20 miles away from Waco, and many students, past and present, have enjoyed the small town’s culture. We used Storify to curate a selection of tweets, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram posts, as well as links from various websites, to tell the story of Baylor’s response to the tragedy through DiaDelWest, blood drives, volunteer work, and hosting the firefighters’ memorial service. You also can see a collection of archived web content on Baylor’s response to the tragedy on our Archive-It page.