Anne McCaffrey was one of the most popular and revered science fiction writers of the 20th century. Born on April 1, 1926, in Cambridge, MA, she graduated in 1947 from Radcliffe College with a B.A. in Slavonic languages and literature. Before becoming an author, she worked as a copywriter, studied theater and voice, and even directed several operas and operettas.

McCaffrey embarked on her long literary career, which grew to encompass hundreds of novels (many co-written) and short stories with the publication of her story "Freedom of The Race" in the October 1953 issue of Science-Fiction Plus. Her first major literary achievement was the 1961 story "The Ship Who Sang", published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and which was the first work in her heralded "Brain & Brawn Ship" series of novels, novellas, and stories. The series takes place in McCaffrey's Federated Sentient Planets Universe and concerns a society in which physically (but not mentally) disabled people can be encapsulated in shells and their brains made to operate spaceships, computers, and even entire cities. (The main character of The Ship Who Sang, her collection of the first stories in the series, is Helva, whose brain is connected to a starship. Helva can be considered one of the earliest cyborgs in science fiction literature.) McCaffrey wrote the series between 1961 and 1994. The longest story in the series, "Dramatic Mission" was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1970.

McCaffrey is most famous, however, for her Dragonriders of Pern series. Pern, a distant planet settled long ago by humans from Earth, is inhabited by flying creatures termed 'dragons' by the inhabitants. Humans learn to communicate telepathically with the dragons and ride them, protecting the surface of Pern from the Thread, a species of destructive spore that periodically falls to Pern from a neighboring planet. The first book in the series, Dragonflight, was published in 1968: the first story in the book, "Weyr Search" had been published the year before and had won the 1968 Hugo Award for Best Novella. (It was the first win by a woman of a Hugo.) The second story, "Dragonrider", won the 1969 Nebula for Best Novella, marking the first win by a woman for a Nebula as well.

The Pern series eventually grew to include over 20 novels and several additional short stories (from 2003, the books were co-written by McCaffrey's son Todd). The original trilogy also includes Dragonquest (1971) and The White Dragon (1978). Some of the later books include the Harper Hall trilogy (1976-1979), Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983), Dragonsdawn (1988), and The Dolphins of Pern (1994). The series has enjoyed an intense following since its inception.

Other series by McCaffrey include the Crystal Universe trilogy (1982-1992), the Talents Universe series (1959-2000), the Doona series (1969-1994), and the Acorna Universe series (1997-2007). McCaffrey has won a great many awards during the length of her career. Besides the ones mentioned above, these include the 1976 Skylark Award, the 1979 Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction and the 1979 Gandalf Award for Book-Length Fantasy for The White Dragon, the 1980 Balrog Award for Best Novel for Dragondrums, the 1986 SFBC Book of The Year Award for Killashandra, the 1989 SFBC Book of the Year Award for Dragonsdawn, the 1990 SFBC Book of the Year Award for The Renegades of Pern, the 1991 HOMer Award for Best SF Novel and the 1992 SFBC Book of the Year Award for All The Weyrs of Pern, the 1993 SFBC Book of the Year Award for Damia's Children, the 1994 SFBC Book of the Year Award for The Dolphins of Pern, the 2000 BFA Karl Edward Wagner Award, and the 2007 Robert A. Heinlein Award. In 2005 she was made a Grand Master by the SFWA (only the third woman to be so honored, after Andre Norton and Ursula K. Le Guin).

McCaffrey married H. Wright Johnson in 1950, with whom she had three children (Alec, Todd, and Georgeanne). The two were divorced in 1970. She moved from the United States to Ireland in 1970 and resided there until her death on November 21, 2011.

Holly Brown is a longtime _Star Trek_fan and fanfic writer, who writes under the pen name "Carleen". She was particularly interested in the Kirk/Spock "slash" relationship, and had several stories published in 1995 in the noted slash fanzine As I Do Thee. She continues to write the occasional K/S story, but now also writes stories set in the universes of several video games, including _Halo_and Mass Effect.

Dr. David G. Woodcock graduated from the Universtiy of Manchester (England) in 1960 with a Bachelor of Architecture along with a Certificate in Town and Country Planning.  In 1962 Dr. Woodcock was named a Fulbright professor and came to Texas A&M where he taught architecture classes.  He returned to England in 1963 to accompany his ill wife and taught at the Canterbury College of Art and was principal of his own practice, specializing in urban design studies and historic building reuse.  In 1966 he earned a Diploma in Town and Country Planning from the Universtiy of Manchester (England).

Woodcock returned to A&M in 1970 to head the urban design option for the College of Architecture and Enrironmental Design master of architecure degree program.  By 1973 he was named the head of the architecture department, a position he held until 1978, when he returned to teaching.  He was again named department head in 1983 and served until 1989, before returning to teach.

In 1991 Dr. Woodcock established the Histroic Resource Imaging Lab in the College of Architecture, which later became the Center for Historic Conservation.  The center’s mission is to train students, professionals and others in the use and application of imaging processes relative to historic and cultural resources, to develop new techniques for documentation, analysis, visualization and interpretation, and to apply imaging techniques to the study of historic resources.  Woodcock directed the HRIL and CHC for 16 years before stepping down and in 2009 was named director emeritus. He also created and developed the College of Architecture's Certificate in Historic Preservation.

Dr. Woodcock retired from Texas A&M Universtiy in 2011 and has an endowed professorship was established in his honor, the David Woodcock Professorship in Historic Preservation.

John L. Sandstedt was born in Los Angeles, CA on December 6, 1920. He was raised in Brazos County, TX where he attended A&M Consolidated High School in College Station. Sandstedt went on to graduate from the University of Texas in 1942 and enlisted in the U.S. Army fighting in World War II (WWII).

After the war, Sandstedt returned to UT and earned a law degree in 1947. Sandstedt opened a law practice with Brownrigg Dewey and was a city attorney for both College Station and Navasota, TX. He was also a professor of management at Texas A&M University, President of the Toastmaster's Club of the Brazos County Bar Association, President of Texas Exes in Brazos County, and a member of the Continuing Education Committee of the State Bar of Texas.

Sandstedt married Clara Ullrich in 1956 and the couple had four children. He was an active member of the A&M United Methodist Church in College Station, TX and taught Sunday school there. John L. Sandstedt died on March 9, 1988.

Django Wexler was born in New York on January 13, 1981. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in computer science and creative writing, and before embarking on a full-time writing career conducted research on artificial intelligence for Carnegie Mellon and was a programmer for Microsoft in Seattle. Wexler's first novel, Memories of Empire, was published in 2005. His second, Shinigami, God of Death, was released the next year.

2013 saw the publication of the first in Wexler's noted The Shadow Campaignsseries, The Thousand Names. The Shadow Campaigns novels are early and prominent examples of the literary subgenre that has become known as 'flintlock fantasy' or 'gunpowder fantasy', that is, fantasy narratives that do not inhabit the traditional sword-and-sorcery medieval European analogues but instead are set in worlds more culturally and technologically reminiscent of 18th and early 19th-century Europe and America. In this subgenre, alongside the gods, magic and unworldly creatures of traditional fantasy stand early modern technologies such as cannons and flintlock rifles. The Shadow Campaigns follows the adventures of several individuals (many of them soldiers) living in the Vordanai Empire, a rough fantasy analog to the 18th-century British Empire. There are five novels in the series, including The Thousand Names, The Shadow Throne, The Price of Valor, and The Guns of Empire, as well as several short stories. The final volume, The Infernal Battalion, was released in 2018.

In 2014, Wexler released the first of a fantasy series for young adults, The Forbidden Library .The novel and its three sequels tell the story of young Alice, who lives with her uncle Geryon and discovers her ability to enter into the magical realms contained within books in her uncle's massive and mysterious library. Wexler also wrote another well-received YA fantasy series between 2019-2021: the Wells of Sorcery trilogy, a saga of mysterious warriors, ghost ships, and travels to strange new worlds. His latest book is the epic science-fantasy Ashes of the Sun, published by Orbit in 2020.

Wexler has also published a number of works of short fiction, including the story "The End of the War", which achieved 2nd place in the 2016 Asimov's Readers Poll for Best Novelette; the Star Wars story "Amara Kel's Rules for TIE Pilot Survival (Probably)"; and the 2021 Tor.com novella Hard Reboot.

Wexler currently resides in Washington State.

Frederik Pohl is an icon of science fiction. He has progressed through the various aspects of the genre, active as a fan, writer, editor, and literary agent. He edited Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories, and later edited both Galaxy and If magazines. Pohl is highly regarded as a writer, with The Space Merchants, Man Plus, Gatewayi and Jem cited among his noteworthy efforts.

Republic Pictures was a Southern California based film company that operated from 1935-1959, and which specialized in film serials, Westerns, and lower-budget B-movies. Although, it did occasionally produce more significant films, such as Orson Welles' 1948 Macbeth and the John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara movie The Quiet Man in 1952.

Film serials were among Republic's more prolific productions, these were episodic stories that would be shown in movie theaters before the main feature, as something of a precursor to broadcast television and derived from the serialized stories found in pulp fiction of the era. Episodes would always end on a cliffhanger (a term actually coined in reference to serials). Serials were created for a number of different genres, especially Westerns (the cheapest type to film), espionage, crime fiction, and comic book adventures, but they have become particularly associated with science fiction.

Though many studios produced serials from the 1910s-1950s, Republic was one of the more well-known studios, notable for its choregraphed fights and (for the time) advanced special effects. Its serial characters included Dick Tracy, the Lone Ranger, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Spy Smasher.

Republic produced the serial Undersea Kingdomin 1936, in direct response to Universal's Flash Gordon. The serial was directed by B. Reeves Eason and Joseph Kane and starring Ray 'Crash' Corrigan. Corrigan played a US Navy Lieutenant and star athlete who lead an expedition via rocket submarine to the site of Atlantis and thwarting an undersea invasion by the evil, technologically advanced Atlanteans.

In 1950 Republic produced Flying Disc Man From Mars, which chronicled the story of Mota, an invader from Mars who is accidentally shot out of the sky by an experimental atomic ray gun and who resolves to conquer the Earth in order to protect Mars from Earth's new atomic technology. Mota enlists the aid of Dr. Bryant (the inventor of the ray gun), but is eventually defeated by Walter Reed (the pilot who caused Mota to be shot down in the first place). The film was directed by Fred C. Bannon.

Lawrence S. Dillon was born in Reading, PA in 1910. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Pittsburgh in 1933. For a time, Lawrence S. Dillon worked as a zoologist at the Reading Museum in Reading, PA. Lawrence S. Dillon then married in January 1932 and had a daughter. He became a Biology instructor at Texas A&M in 1948 and pursued his master’s and PhD at Texas A&M while teaching undergraduate biology. His Biological career focused on Progressive Evolution Theory. He published numerous articles related to his field and received numerous awards during his lifetime in Biological Science. He was elected Fellow member in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AIBS, and Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. He taught at Texas A&M from 1948 until his retirement in 1976.

Arthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker (1914-2006) enjoyed a long career as both a science fiction fan and a professional author of science fiction and mystery stories. A resident of Bloomington, Illinois, Tucker published a wide variety of fanzines over the course of his life, including The Planetoid (1932), which was one of the first fanzines ever made; the Bloomington News Letter/Science Fiction Newsletter, Fanews, D'Journal, Invisible Stories, Le Zombie, Fantasy and Weird Fiction, Yearbook of Science, Fanewscard, Fanzine Yearbook, and several others. In 1955 he published the Neo-Fan's Guide to SF Fandom.

Tucker was a fan guest of honor, professional guest of honor, toastmaster, or master of ceremonies at uncountable numbers of science fiction conventions over the years. He was a notable and constant presence in the world of American fandom.

In addition to his fannish activities, Tucker also wrote a number of novels and short stories, including The Long Loud Silence (1952), The Lincoln Hunters (1958), and The Year of the Quiet Sun (1971), which was nominated for the 1970 Nebula and 1971 Hugo for Best Novel (and which won the 1976 John W. Campbell Memorial Award).

Tucker won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1970, and the 1954 Retro Hugo for Best Fan Writer in 2004. His Science Fiction Newsletter (a.k.a. Bloomington News Letter) won the Retro Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1951. In addition, Tucker also won the 1985 First Fandom Award, the 1986 Skylark Award (Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction), the 1990 Phoenix Award, and the 1996 Nebula Award for Special Author Emeritus. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tucker is credited for the 1941 invention of the term "space opera", referring to the popular subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes melodramatic adventure and episodes of outer space warfare.

Lisa Tuttle was born in Houston, TX on September 16, 1952. She was active from an early age in science fiction fandom (she founded and edited the Houston Science Fiction Society's fanzine Mathom while still in high school, and much of her early writing appeared in various fanzines), as well as writing. Tuttle graduated from Syracuse University in 1974 with a BA in English Literature, after which she moved to Austin and became an active member of the Texas science fiction community as well as a journalist for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

Tuttle published her first professional short story, "Stranger In The House", in the 1972 Clarion II anthology. In 1973 she helped found the Turkey City Writer's Workshop in Austin, together with Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, and Tom Reamy. The workshop has graduated a number of important writers, including Bruce Sterling, Ted Chiang, Cory Doctorow, George R.R. Martin, Steven Gould, Maureen McHugh, Lewis Shiner, Martha Wells, and Connie Willis.  In 1974 Tuttle was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (shared with Spider Robinson).

Tuttle has been writing continuously over the succeeding decades. In 1975 she co-wrote with George R.R. Martin the novella "The Storms of Windhaven", which won the 1976 _Locus_Award for Best Novella and was expanded into the 1981 novel WindhavenTuttle's first). Her other novels include, among others, Lost Futures (1992, nominated for the 1992 BSFA Award for Best Novel, the 1992 James Tiptree Award, and the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel), The Pillow Friend(1996, nominated for the 1996 Tiptree Award and the 1996 International Horror Guild Award), The Mysteries (2005), and The Silver Bough(2006). She has written a large number of acclaimed short stories and novellas, including, among others, "Stone Circle" (1976, nominated for the 1977 Nebula Award for Best Novella), "One-Wing" (1980, co-written with Martin and winner of the 1980 _Analog_Award for Best Serial Novel/Novella), "In Translation" (1989, winner of the 1989 BSFA for Best Short Fiction), "And The Poor Get Children" (1995), and "My Death: (2004, nominated for the 2004 International Horror Guild Award for Best Long Form, the 2005 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and the 2005 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella).

Tuttle made history in 1982 for being the first, and to date only, writer to refuse a Nebula Award. Her short story "The Bone Flute" was awarded the Nebula for Best Short Story, but Tuttle had already withdrawn it from competition in protest of another nominee having actively campaigned for the award.

She has also written YA fiction, including Catwitch(with illustrator Una Woodruff) (1983), Panther in Argyll(1996) and Love-on-Line (1998). Tuttle has written under different pseudonyms for a number of books. In 1987 she wrote the novel Megan's Story under the name Laura Waring, and Virgo: Snake Inside for a series of twelve young-adult books called Horrorscopes(1995) under the house pseudonym of Maria Palmer. She was a contributing author to Ben M. Baglio's 2000-2002 YA series Dolphin Diaries.

Tuttle has also written non-fiction, including the Encyclopedia of Feminism(1986) and Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction(2002). As editor she has compiled several anthologies, including Skin of the Soul: New Horror Stories by Women(1990), and Crossing the Border: Tales of Erotic Ambiguity(1998) .Her work, both fiction and non-fiction, is known for her focus on strong female characters and on gender issues.

Lisa Tuttle was married from 1981-1987 to fellow SF writer Christopher Priest, and is now married to Colin Murray. The two reside in Scotland. Her recent published works include the "Jesperson and Lane" paranormal mystery series, with The Curious Affair of the Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief (2016) , its 2017 sequel The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross, and the latest book in the series, The Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies (2023); and the 2021 Stoker-nominated collection The Dead Hours of Night. Her most recent published collection of stories was Riding The Nightmare, published by Valancourt Books in June 2023.

Oliver Joel Hunt, or “Joel Hunt” was born October 11, 1905 in New Mexico territory. He graduated from Waco High and was the second All-State Halfback. He entered into Texas A&M College 1924. Joel Hunt played as the Quarterback and Halfback for Texas A&M between 1925-1927. He was awarded a ‘T’ letterman for Baseball and football. Joel Hunt played in the Shrine East-West Football Game in San Francisco in 1927. Joel Hunt also played baseball and went on to play professional baseball with Laurel, MS; Fort Wayne, ID.; Houston, TX; Rochester, NY; Columbus, OH, and the St. Louis Cardinals. He coached football in various college and professional teams from 1928 to 1955. He retired from coaching in 1956 and passed away in 1978.

Walter Jon Williams (1953-) was born in Duluth, MN, but has resided most of his life in New Mexico, where he received his B.A. in 1975 from the University of New Mexico. Williams' earliest novels were non-SF historical works , written under the name 'Jon Williams': nautical adventures (1981-1984) set on board American ships as they battle the British in the Age of Sail, and based on games he designed for Fantasy Games Unlimited. His career in science fiction began with the 1984 novel "Ambassador of Progress"; his second SF novel, "Knight Moves" (1985) was nominated for the 1986 Philip K. Dick Award.

From 1986-1989 Williams produced the 'Hardwired' series of novels, a well-received group of novels in the emerging cyberpunk genre; Williams' interest in cyberpunk continued with the 1989 novel "Angel Station". Over the course of his career, Williams has written novels and short stories in a number of other genres, such as science fantasy (the 'Metropolitan' series, 1995-1997), SF noir (the 'Dagmar Shaw' series, 2009-2014), comedy (the 'Drake Majistral' series, 1987-1996), and far future military space opera ('Dread Empire's Fall', 2002-ongoing). He is also a noted fantasy writer, having written the 'Quilifer' series (2017-2019).

Williams also plays in other people's universes from time to time. He has written two works in the 'Star Wars' Expanded Universe series: "Destiny's Way" and "Ylesia" (both 2002). He has also written for George R.R. Martin's 'Wild Cards' shared universe series that explores the real-life societal effects over decades of a virus that struck Earth in the 1940s and infected many people with superpowers and others with horrible deformities.

He has been nominated for numerous awards in the course of his career, including Hugo Awards for the 1987 novelette "Dinosaurs", the 1988 novella "Surfacing", the 1993 novella "Wall, Stone, Craft" (also nominated for a Nebula Award), the 1998 novel "City on Fire" (also nominated for the Nebula), and the 2003 novella "The Green Leopard Plague"; and Nebula Awards for his 1986 novella "Witness", the 1991 novella "Prayers on the Wind", the 1995 novel "Metropolitan", the 1997 novelette "Lethe", and the 1999 novella "Argonautica". He won the 2001 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, for "Daddy's World" and the 2005 Nebula for Best Novella for "The Green Leopard Plague". He was a finalist for the 1998 Theodore Sturgeon Award for Best Short Science Fiction for "Lethe", and for the 2000 Sturgeon Award for Best Short Science Fiction for "Daddy's World".

Alvord Van Patten Anderson was born April 10, 1872, in New York City, to John R. Anderson and Clara Van Patten Anderson. Clara Van Patten Anderson soon died, and John left their son with maternal relatives for some time. John Anderson married Isabel Sime or Gime when Alvord Anderson was five years of age, at which time the boy was reunited with his father and his new wife. Alvord attended grammar school in Upper Montclair, NJ, from 1879 to 1885, and Wesleyan Academy in Willingham, MA, from 1885-1886. He was enrolled at Pennington Seminary, in Pennington, NJ, from 1886-1888, but was suspended for mild but frequent misconduct. His post-secondary education consists of eight months of study at the University of the City of New York in 1889, and a full year at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, from 1890-1891. Several letters from 1893 refer to his experience as a schoolteacher.

On May 28, 1891, Anderson enlisted in the Cavalry. He was stationed at Fort Niobrara, NE, where he attempted to gain a commission as an officer in 1893. He was not recommended for final examination for promotion, but he stayed on, working to gain the experience that, it was generally felt, he was lacking. During this time he was a non-commissioned corporal with the 6th Cavalry's Troop G. He went up for promotion again, again unsuccessfully, in 1894. On May 10, 1894, Anderson left Troop G on the advice of some officers from his post. Not long after, he took up his post at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with Troop B of the 6th Cavalry.

At Fort Leavenworth, Anderson met Cora Collins. They were married on March 2, 1897. A daughter, Dorothy Van Patten Anderson, was born on February 6, 1898, in Ft Leavenworth. Anderson was called to Cuba, via Tampa, FL, in the spring of 1898, leaving his family in Leavenworth for the duration of the Spanish-American War. He received a Silver Star for his role in the battle of Santiago.

Anderson was next called to China as part of the Relief Expedition in 1899, where he remained until the end of 1900. His family stayed at Nagasaki, Japan, during this time. Near the beginning of 1901, Anderson was sent to the Philippine Islands. His family joined him for a time, in 1902, at Lucena, Tayabas Province, PI According to a letter from Cora to John R. Anderson, Alvord Anderson was hospitalized with malaria in the spring of 1903.

By early 1904, Alvord Anderson and family were residing at Fort Keogh, MT, where they remained for three years. During this time they had a son, A.V.P. Anderson Jr., born November 8, 1905.

Anderson was detailed to a prisoner of war camp, Camp Avery, in Corregidor in 1910, an assignment that caused him to dispatch his family to the states for the duration of his tour of duty in the Philippine Islands. General John J. Pershing then recruited Anderson as a district governor. From 1911 to 1912 Anderson traveled extensively in the Philippine Islands settling land disputes, enforcing a quarantine against a disease affecting cattle, and moving troops and supplies about the islands. Cora and Alvord Jr. rejoined Anderson in November 1912. The three may have briefly toured the Far East, while Dorothy remained in boarding school in the states. Anderson spent some weeks with his son in El Paso, TX, around January 1913, but was back in the Philippines by January 19th with his wife and son.

Anderson returned to El Paso toward the end of 1913, serving as a commanding officer of Troop B, the 12th Cavalry, and later Troop "M" of the 6th Cavalry, during the Mexican Revolution. While A.V.P. Anderson patrolled the Mexican border, Cora Anderson at first stayed at Fort Robinson, NE, with her son, where she received almost daily communications from Anderson, apparently in answer to her own daily letters, (which are not included in this collection).

Over the next several years, Anderson moved from station to station along the border, first from El Paso to Harlingen. A captain in command of Troop "B" of the 12th Cavalry of the United States Army at this time, Anderson was wounded in a skirmish with Mexican forces near Progresso, TX. After a brief stay in the field hospital, Anderson was assigned duty in nearby Donna, Tex. with Troop "M" of the 6th Cavalry, where he was joined by his family at nearby Santa Maria, TX. The family had barely settled into camp when Anderson was ordered to a new station at Shafter, near the Big Bend area. Cora Anderson apparently removed to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where she again received frequent letters from her husband.

Captain Anderson's letters indicate that he stayed in Marfa for a short while, taking examinations for promotion. He went directly from there to Presidio, TX, although he returned to Marfa on business from time to time. In a letter dated July 2, 1916, he informed his father that he was now in command of "four companies of the 4th Texas, four troops of the 6th Cavalry, one machine gun troop, one machine gun company, one pack train, fourteen wagons, and one gun," making him feel "quite the brigadier general," even though he had not yet had confirmation of his promotion to the rank of major. At Presidio he and his command were separated from hostile forces at Ojinaga, Mexico, only by the Rio Grande River, and rumors of Villas approach made their way into an official report by Anderson.

Some time between January 8, 1917, and August 31, 1917, Anderson, now a colonel, was sent to Fort Dix, NJ as commanding officer of the 312th Regiment of the Infantry. Almost a year later, in May 1818, Colonel Anderson sailed to Europe, leaving his wife to board with brother Hale Anderson in New York City. Anderson arrived in London by June 7, 1918. He took his regiment to Calais for training until early July before proceeding to the front lines and the Argonne Forest. By December of that year, Anderson and the 312th Infantry were comfortably billeted at Bussy-le-Grand-Cote d'Or, France, where they remained until May 6, 1919.

After returning to the states, Anderson apparently was assigned to recruiting service in Chicago, and possibly Cleveland and Greensboro, NC According to information provided by Anderson's family, Cora Anderson died in Greensboro in 1920. Anderson was stationed at Camp Harry J. Jones, Douglas, AR in 1921. By 1923 he was in Marfa, TX. Again according to information supplied by his family, Anderson was in Presidio, CA, in 1927, and married Jean Raison in 1928. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, WA, in 1934. According to family information, Anderson was in Portland, OR in 1935, and retired in 1936, becoming a Brigadier General upon his retirement. He apparently spent the time between his retirement and his death, probably sometime in 1951, in San Francisco.

Over the course of his military career, General Anderson received many awards and service medals, including the Silver Star for the Battle of Santiago. Other awards not included in this collection, but listed by Anderson's family include a Purple Heart for the Spanish-American War, a Distinguished Service Medal for command of the 312th Infantry, World War I, as well as a French Croix de Guerre with Palm and a Verdum Campaign medal for World War I. He received service medals for the Spanish-American War, the Cuban Occupation, the China Relief Expedition, the Philippine Insurrection, Mexican Service, and three World War I campaigns, including St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne.

Gene Rodman Wolfe was born May 7, 1931, in Brooklyn, New York. Wolfe attended Texas A&M University from 1949-1952, and attained a B. S. degree from the University of Houston in 1956. Wolfe worked as a product engineer from 1956 to 1972, and as senior editor for Plant Engineering Magazine from 1972 to 1984, before turning to full-time writing. Wolfe is regarded as one of the major contemporary writers of science fiction. Wolfe has been honored with Nebula Awards, a Rhysling Award, British Science Fiction Award, British Fantasy Award, World Fantasy Awards and other awards.

Gene Wolfe was born on May 7, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Texas A&M University from 1949-1952, where he published (in 1951) his first short fiction, in the student literary magazine Commentator. Wolfe left Texas A&M during his junior year and was drafted into the U.S. military, serving in the Korean War. Upon his return to civilian life he graduated from the University of Houston in 1956 and became an industrial engineer until 1972. From 1972-1984 he served as senior editor for Plant Engineering Magazine, while at the same time building a legendary career as a writer of science fiction.

Wolfe's first published novel was _Operation Ares_in 1970, although he began to achieve real fame with his second, The Fifth Hand of Cerberus(1972). Since then he has produced a large and critically-acclaimed body of work, most notably the novel cycle The Book of The New Sun(1980-1983), which consists of The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, and The Citadel of the Autarch. (Wolfe followed this series up with a coda, The Urth of the New Sun, in 1987). _New Sun_tells the story of Sevarian, an apprentice torturer who is exiled and forced to wander a far-future dying Earth.

In 1984, Wolfe retired from his editing career and devoted himself to writing full-time. He published two more works in the _New Sun_universe: _The Book of the Long Sun_consists of the novels Nightside the Long Sun(1993), Lake of the Long Sun(1994), Caldé of the Long Sun(1994), and Exodus From the Long Sun(1996). Wolfe then wrote a sequel, __ _The Book of the Short Sun,_which include On Blue's Waters(1999), In Green's Jungles(2000) and Return to the Whorl(2001). The three _Sun_works are often referred to collectively as the "Solar Cycle." Other major works of Wolfe include The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories(1980) ; Soldier of the Mist(1986) and its two sequels Soldier of Arete(1989) and Soldier of Sidon(2006); The Wizard Knight(2005); and The Land Across(2013).

Wolfe has won a number of major literary awards, including two Nebula Awards, a Rhysling Award, two British Science Fiction Awards, a British Fantasy Award, four World Fantasy Awards, an Apollo Award, a Deathrealm Award, a Skylark Award, and the 1996 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. In 2013 the Science Fiction Writers of America awarded Wolfe the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

Bernard Gordon (1981-2007) was a noted screenwriter whose left-wing sympathies caused him to be denied overt credited work throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Under the pseudonym Raymond T. Marcus, Gordon wrote scripts for such films as Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), Hellcats of the Navy (1957), and Chicago Confidential (1957). He wrote the screenplay for the science fiction classic The Day of the Triffids (1962), which was credited to the film's producer Philip Yordan.

When the Writers Guild of America took up the task of correctly crediting pseudonymous screenwriters from the 1950s and 1960s, awarding retroactive screen credits to them, Gordon received more after-the-fact credits than any other blacklisted writer.

Sewell Hepburn Hopkins (1906-1984), a marine biologist best known for his research into the effects of oil spills on marine life in the Gulf of Mexico, was born 24 March 1906 in Nuttall, Va., the son of Nicholas Snowden Hopkins and Selina Lloyd Hepburn Hopkins. He received a B.S. in 1927 from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., followed by the M.A. in 1930 and the Ph.D. in Zoology in 1933 from the University of Illinois. In 1930 Hopkins married Pauline Cole and they had two sons, Thomas Johns Hopkins (b. 28 July 1930) and Nicholas Arthur Hopkins (b. 4 Sep. 1936).

Hopkins was appointed as a Biology Instructor at Danville Junior College in Virginia (1933-1935), but in 1935 he transferred to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, now Texas A & M University. Hopkins remained on the faculty at Texas A & M University as an Instructor, then Associate Professor until 1947, when he was promoted to Professor of Biology, a position he held until his retirement in 1972.

Perhaps the highlight of Hopkins' career was when he was appointed Director of Research Project 9 with the Texas A & M Research Foundation (1947-1950). His research interests included parasitology; taxonomy, morphology and life history of trematodes; life history of crabs; oyster biology; and ecology of estuaries. Hopkins was made Professor Emeritus of Texas A & M University in 1972. He died 15 Nov. 1984.

Everette Beach Long, one of America's foremost experts on the Civil War, was born 24 October 1919, in Whitehall, Wisconsin to Cecil Everettee and Florence (Beach) Long. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1937 to 1939 and Northwestern University from 1939 to 1941. In 1942, E. B. Long married Barbara Conzelman.

E. B. Long began his career working for the Chicago Bureau of the Associated Press for eight years and as an associate editor of American Peoples Encyclopedia. After this time, he decided to devote himself to historical research and teaching. "I got interested in the Civil War as a hobby," he explained. "Then it became an avocation, then a way of life."Long was the director of research for Doubleday's multi-volume Centennial History of the Civil War, written by Bruce Catton from 1955 to 1965. He was a member of the advisory council of the National Civil War Centennial Commission. Long was a member of the Chicago Civil War Round Table and served as its president from 1955 to 1956. He was a member of the Friends of the Chicago Public Library and was its president in 1960.

E. B. Long's list of honors and awards includes a D. Litt. from Lincoln College in 1961 and the Harry S. Truman award for Civil War scholarship in 1964. He received the Award of Merit from the Illinois Civil War Centennial Commission in 1963 and 1965, the Award of Commendation from the Oklahoma Civil War Centennial Commission in 1965, and the Centennial Medallion from the U. S. Civil War Centennial Commission in 1966.

The writings of E. B. Long include As Luck Would Have It co-written with Otto Eisenschiml and published by Bobbs in 1948, as well as The Civil War, A Picture Chronicle, Vol. 2, co-written with Ralph Newman and published by Grosset in 1956. He was the editor, with Ralph Newman, of The Civil War Digest which was published by Grosset in 1960, and a contributor to Lincoln for the Ages which was published in 1960 by Doubleday. E. B. Long was the editor and wrote the introduction to Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant and History of the Civil War, 1861-1865, and wrote the introduction to The Post Reader of Civil War Stories. Long wrote the abridgement and the introduction to Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War, by George F. R. Henderson, and the introduction to Four Years in Rebel Capitals, by Thomas Cooper De Leon. He was a member of the editorial advisory board of Civil War History, and of the bibliographical committee of Lincoln Lore. In 1971, Doubleday published The Civil War Day by Day, Long's chronology of the American Civil War.

In his research for Centennial History of the Civil War, Long compiled over nine million words of notes. Much of this material was obtained from original manuscripts, diaries, and records, and was gathered during trips throughout the country. He visited over 125 libraries, universities, and archives and traveled over 60 thousand miles. In 1966, Doubleday presented his research notes to the Library of Congress. He owned more than five thousand books, most of them about the Civil War or American History.

E. B. Long died on 31 March 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, the day after the publication of his last work, The Saints and the Union: The Utah Territory in the Civil War.

Jean Arden Eversmeyer, born in 1931, is a long-time resident of Houston, a graduate of Texas State College of Women (1951), and a life-long lesbian. She spent several decades improving the lives of her fellow citizens including serving 23 years working at the Houston Zoological Gardens and serving 6 years as the Mayor's appointee to the Area Agency on Aging.

She helped form LOAF, Lesbians Over age Fifty, a social network designed to ensure a safe environment for mid-life and old lesbians. In 1998 Arden began collecting oral history interviews done with lesbians 70 and older, this initiative grew into a very successful and impressive contribution to the LGBTQ community, this is now known as the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP). Over 600 of these oral stories are now archived in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, MA. She also donated much of her personal library of lesbian books, music, videos, and memorabilia to the Texas A&M University Libraries. Arden continued for the remainder of her life to serve as the Project's Director,until she passed away in November 2022.

Raiford Leak Stripling was born November 23, 1910 in San Augustine. As a child, Stripling enjoyed many activities, showing a distinct artistic talent early on in his life. He did not express an initial interest in becoming an architect until after a trip at the age of 13 to the Chicago Livestock Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois where he was surrounded by many exceptional examples of architecture. Once returned to San Augustine, Stripling set his sights on that career path and graduated high school as the salutatorian of his class. In the fall of 1927, Raiford L. Stripling enrolled as a freshman in the department of architecture at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.

Raiford’s first two years were spent in a mix of military and artistic training. He was a member of the Corps of Cadets C Company infantry with quarters in Leggett Hall on the A&M campus. After two years and considerable company mischief, Stripling was advised that he would not be recommended for advancement in the ROTC program. He moved off of campus and continued his studies in architecture.

Under the guidance of Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper and Ernest Langford, two distinguished faculty members in the department of architecture, Raiford was schooled in the Beaux Arts tradition. Beaux Art training provided an architectural education with a strong basis in classical design, rigorous attention to fine detailing, and sound construction methods.

Immediately after graduation he worked with College Architect Frederick E. Giesecke and staff architect Samuel Charles Phelps Vosper. Stripling later spent some time working for the National Park Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with NPS staff member Charles E. Peterson, an opportunity that introduced him to the analytical examination of vernacular and religious historic architecture. Following the outbreak of WWII, Stripling worked with then Lt. Cmdr. Peterson in the camouflage unit at the Washington Navy Yards. In 1947 Stripling opened his own practice in his hometown of San Augustine, Texas. Over the course of his career he worked on some of Texas’ most significant restoration projects, as well as many single family residences, banks, churches, and schools. He was very involved in consultation work, and traveled often to provide his services and knowledge. In the latter years of the practice he was joined by his son, Ray, who continues to work in the area, often on projects started by his father.

In 1990 Raiford L. Stripling passed away, leaving behind a body of work that will contribute significantly to the fields of architecture and architectural history for many years to come.

Based on excerpts from the biographical folder on William M. Taylor, his parents were slaves owned by a Dr. Clement, a former Tennessee native who moved to Texas. Taylor’s father’s name was Edward Taylor and his mother’s name was Paralee. Rev. Taylor was born January 28, ca.1864. He attended Bishop College and took the county exam and passed to become a certified teacher in his early teens. He was the youngest person to pass the Anderson County Board. He taught school in Palestine,TX and Gonzales, TX.

In 1890, he took a business trip traveling throughout the North visiting Detroit and other cities in Michigan. He also visited Chicago, St. Louis, Ontario, Canada, Niagara Falls, Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany, New York, Philadelphia, Jersey City, and Memphis.

In 1891, Taylor attended Guadalupe College and graduated in 1894. His benefactor, mentor, and teacher was a black professor he first met during his studies at Bishop College,Professor David Abner. He renewed his acquaintance with Professor Abner when he became president of Guadalupe College and Taylor began his studies there in the fall of 1891. He graduated in 1894 with the funding and support provided by Professor Abner and other instructors and staff at the College.

He was elected state organizer for the General Baptist State Convention. He served four years as President of BYUP ( Baptist Young Peoples Union President) and handled financial affairs for the East Texas Associational District that represented the financial interest of Bishop College,Hearne Academy, and Guadalupe College. During this time Taylor decided to answer his calling to the ministry. He was examined and ordained a minister March 4, 1895. His first church was Palestine Baptist Church then in 1896 he became pastor of Second Baptist Church in Port Lavaca, TX. He resigned from this church in the fall of 1896 to become the educational field agent of Guadalupe College.

Throughout all of these educational and religious endeavors, Rev. Taylor lost his parents, had to care for his brothers and sisters through illnesses, death, and provide all of their financial support. After the death of his siblings, Rev. Taylor moved to Brenham, Texas and married Mayme Alice Sinclair of Gonzales, Texas. The biography included in this collection ends at this point in his life. Anyone interested in what African Americans had to overcome to attain an education and become productive members of society will find Reverend William Taylor’s life story of compelling interest.

Guadalupe College, a black-owned and black-operated institution, was founded in 1884 by the Guadalupe Baptist Association. Bishop College was founded in Marshall in 1881 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society.Hearne Academy was founded in 1881 by Black Baptists in Central and South Texas. Additional information on the founding of these schools is available at the Red River Authority of Texas website: http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/History1/BLACK%20COLLEGES.cfm

Theodore Francis Powys was a British writer of short stories and novels, was the brother of John Cowper Powys and Llewelyn Powys. He was born in Derbyshire and spent most of his life in the West Country, writing mostly while living at East Chaldon in Dorset.

Dr. John Q. Anderson was an educator, folklorist and songwriter who earned many honors. Born on May 30, 1916, in Wheeler County, TX, Dr. Anderson attended Oklahoma State University where he received his A.B. degree in 1939. Though his college career was interrupted by a tour of duty during World War II. Anderson completed his M.A. at Louisiana State University in 1948 and subsequently earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952. In 1946, Anderson married Marie Loraine Epps.

During this time, Anderson held several teaching positions, at the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and McNeese State College in Louisiana. In 1953, Dr. Anderson became an instructor at Texas A&M University where he remained until 1966. By the time of his departure from Texas A & M, Dr. Anderson had risen from serving as an instructor to holding the office of Head of the English Department. Dr. Anderson's final position was Professor of American Literature at the University of Houston, which he had to leave in 1974 due to illness.

Not only was Dr. Anderson a renowned and respected teacher, but he was also an author and a songwriter. Among his over 70 articles and books are Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, edited by Anderson, A Texas Surgeon in the C. S. A., and Louisiana Swamp Doctor: The Life and Writings of Henry Clay Lewis. Dr. Anderson recorded as well as wrote many folk songs, among which was a medley of American folksongs for the ballet "Fiddle Tunes."

Among Dr. Anderson's many interests, folklore was predominant. Dr. Anderson was a member of several folklore societies all over the state of Texas. He sponsored The John A. Lomax Folklore Society and served as president of The Texas Folklore Society. His other professional activity included work with English societies and editorial boards.

Due to Dr. Anderson's many talents and accomplishments as a teacher and scholar, he was awarded several honors, including the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching, Outstanding Professor, and Professor Emeritus of English, all at Texas A&M University.

Ide Peebles Trotter was born in Brownsville, Tenn. on 12 December 1895, the son of Isham Patten and Susie Eager Trotter. Most of his working career was devoted to education, mainly in Texas, though he also spent several years in Missouri.

Trotter received a B.A. from Mississippi College in 1915, and a B.S. (1918) and M.S. (1921) from Mississippi A & M. In 1933 the University of Wisconsin awarded him a Ph.D. in Agriculture. His dissertation topic was A Comparative Study of the Individual and Group Behavior of Farmers as Influenced by Certain Methods of Soils and Crops Extension Teaching Used in Missouri.

For one year following the receipt of his B.A., Trotter served as the Assistant Principal of the High School in Hernando, Miss. He then re-entered college. Immediately after receiving his B.S., he entered the military and served as Director of Agriculture for the military base hospitals at Camp Travis, Texas, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Upon being released from military duties, he entered graduate school. For slightly more than two years after receiving his M.S., Trotter worked at the Delta Branch Experiment Station in Stoneville, Miss., serving first as Foreman and later as Assistant to the Superintendent.

During 1923-1936, Trotter served as the Extension Agronomist at the Missouri College of Agriculture. While serving in this capacity, he was charged with several additional responsibilities, in 1933 he was placed in charge of the Federal Cotton Plow-up Program, and in 1934, the A.A.A. Program in eighteen counties in Southeastern Missouri. Trotter also represented the University of Missouri on the Bankhead Committee, and, from 1935 to 1936, served as Agronomy Advisor to the Administrator of the U.S.D.A., the A.A.A., and Soil Conservation Programs.

In 1936, Trotter came to Texas A & M University, then called the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, where he held several responsible positions before his retirement in 1960. Until 1944, he served as Head of the Department of Agronomy. From 1944 until 1949, he was Director of the Agricultural Extension Service. During these years, he made several changes, such as having regional directors reside in the regions in which they served rather than in College Station, and, to avoid duplication of effort, having subject specialists in the Extension Service work more closely with the people in their subject area in the School of Agriculture. Trotter also devoted a great deal of effort to the professional improvement of Extension personnel. Between 1949 and 1956, Trotter was Dean of the Graduate School and thereafter served as Associate Dean until his retirement in 1960. In addition, he was an Extension Consultant on Personnel and Professional Improvement during this time. He was particularly active in the training of African-American Extension personnel.

Twice during his long career, Trotter was engaged in activities that took him abroad for extended periods. Upon retiring from Texas A&M University, Trotter accepted a position on the faculty of the University of Missouri. He served on the U.S. AID team for India until 1964, during which time he helped organize the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology on the Pattern of U.S. Land Grant colleges, where research, teaching, and extension are coordinated.

In 1948 Trotter also served as an International Commodity Specialist in cotton, and surveyed cotton activities in Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and Greece for the Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations.

Throughout his career, Trotter was committed to religious and civic involvement. His numerous early morning radio talks on various agricultural topics as well as New Year's and Thanksgiving greetings demonstrate this. He was largely responsible for the planning for and organization of the first Rural Church Conference in College Station in 1946. His speech on that occasion, "Soils and Souls," was reprinted several times in church and agricultural publications.

Trotter and his wife, Lena Ann Breeze Trotter, live in Bryan, Texas. They have two sons, Ide Peebles Trotter, Jr., and Benjamin Breeze Trotter, both of whom are graduates of Texas A&M University. Ide Peebles Trotter has also long been an active member of numerous societies and social and fraternal organizations.

The Las Moras Ranch (1879-1913) was located mainly in Menard County, Tex., but also included property in Comal, San Saba, Tom Green and Concho counties. The genesis of the Las Moras Ranch can be traced to about 1875, when a French immigrant, Ernest Carlin, purchased 30,000 acres of land at the head of the Las Moras Creek in Menard County, Tex., where he established a ranch, sometimes called King Carlin's Ranch. Unfortunately, Carlin's lavish lifestyle led to his loss of the property 21 Dec. 1879, when the property was forclosed upon by the Galveston, Tex. banking firm of Kaufmann and Runge.

Kaufmann and Runge was owned by Henry Runge (1816-1873), head of a prominent German family, several members of which had emmigrated to Texas in the 1840s. After Henry Runge's death, his oldest son, Henry J. Runge (1859-1922) took over running most of his father's businesses. Louis Hermann Runge (1861-1936), Henry J. Runge's youngest brother, and his family took over the Carlin property soon after the bank foreclosure, making Carlin's ill-fated mansion house the headquarters for the newly christened Las Moras Ranch. Other properties, also foreclosed upon by Kaufman and Runge, which had been the result of the financial failure of the German Emigration Company in 1847, were incorporated into the original Carlin property to enlarge the Las Moras Ranch.

The Verien zum Schutz deutscher Einwanderer, or Society for the Protection of German Immigrants, later known as the German Emigration Company was organized 20 April 1842 by a group of German noblemen at Biebrich on the Rhine, near Mainz, Ger. This group of noblemen called the Adelsverein, Mainzer Verein, or simply the Society of Noblemen, had as their goal the encouragement of mass German emigration to the United States, and in particular, to the vast and relatively cheap lands available in Texas, originally made available to emigrants by land grants from empresario agents of the Mexican government and, later, the Republic of Texas. New Braunfels, Tex., founded in 1845, and Fredericksburg, Tex., established in 1846, were two very successful results of the activities of the Adelsverein's Texas settlement endeavors.

About 1844, the Adelsverein had purchased the rights to a portion of a nearly three million acre grant first received from the Republic of Texas on 7 June 1842, then renewed 1 Sept. 1 1843, by Henry Francis Fisher, Burchard Miller and Joseph Baker. The rights to settle the land had been forfeited because of the would-be empresario's inabilty to fulfill their settlement scheme. This Fisher-Miller Grant, located about 100 miles west of Austin, Tex., was, at first, a very unfavorable location because of its intrusion into the Comanche tribe's camping and hunting ground. This particular problem was solved by a treaty between the Comanche tribe and the German settlers, concluded 9 May 1847 by Baron Ottfried Hans von Meusebach, who had been sent to Texas as the Adelsverein's Land Commissioner. Other areas of the lands purchased for German settlement by the Adelsverein, however, posed more serious problems to successful settlement, and were eventually abandoned to the mountains running through them, or the wastes which had defeated the settlers, many of whom either returned to Europe, or relocated to German towns such as Fredericksburg, Tex. or New Braunfels, Tex. Some members of the Runge family, for example, eventually returned to Hannover, Ger.

A close friend of Meusebach, Henry Runge (1816-1873), the son of an affluent landowner in Germany, trained for a commercial career and emigrated to the United States, arriving in New Orlean, La. in 1841. The success of the German Emigration Company in establishing German settlers in Texas drew Henry Runge to relocate to Indianola, Tex. in 1843, where he became an important merchant, then banker and financier. As a result of the Civil War, Henry Runge had to abandon his business concerns in Indianola, which included the Indianola Railroad Co., but he relocated to the predominantly GermanNew Braunfels, Tex., and founded a cotton factory. After the close of the Civil War, Henry Runge reclaimed his businesses in Indianola, Tex., and, by 1866, the Runge family moved to Galveston, Tex. In Galveston, as a partner in Kaufmann and Runge, with major interest in shipping, merchandising and banking, Henry Runge was one of the major creditors in the 1847 bankruptcy of the German Emigration Co. Properties seized as a result of this bankruptcy were added to the original properties forfeited by Ernest Carlin, to form the extensivie Las Moras Ranch, owned and run by members of the Runge family until the sale of the ranch properties was completed in 1913.

TheLas Moras Ranch was managed by Louis Hermann Runge (1861-1936), youngest brother of Henry J. Runge, from Sept. 1888 until 27 February 1897, when management of the ranch was assumed by Walter Tips (1841-1911), a German emigrant and Texas businessman who, after the death of Henry Runge, had formed the Las Moras Ranch Company on 21 December 1879, with his wife's aunt, Julia Runge, wife of Henry Runge, and Runge's sons Henry J. Runge, and Louis H. Runge. Tips was in charge of the Las Moras Ranch when liquidation was intitiated, though he died in 1911, and the ranch properties were not completely dispersed until 1913.

Founded in 1991, the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute (RESI) was established to highlight Texas A&M University's strengths and academic leadership in research relating to the study of race and ethnicity and their various dimensions (e.g., intersections with class, gender, and sexuality; past, present, and future relevance to issues of education, immigration, politics, culture, and health).

RESI was founded by Dr. Gail E. Thomas (1991-98) and Dr. Mitchell F. Rice (1999-2004). Dr. Thomas is Professor of Sociology, Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, California and Dr. Rice is currently Professor of Political Science in the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University. In 2006 Dr. Joseph Jewell was named interim director until his departure in 2008. RESI current interim director is Dr. Sarah N. Gatson, Associate Professor in Sociology.

Dr. Gwendoline Alpha Young Fortune , novelist, teacher, and singer, was born on September 27, 1926, in Houston, TX to Georgia Mitti McCain, pharmacist ,and William Hermon Young, physician and son of Harbison president Rev. Calvin Monroe Young. Gwendoline moved from Texas and lived in the Carolinas, Illinois, and Florida; additionally, she traveled extensively over five continents. She was a life long educator, classically trained soprano, writer, and winner of many awards. Gwendoline held a Doctor of Education, Masters of Philosophy and Science, and Bachelors of Science.

She studied voice, clarinet, and piano at Juilliard at age 14. She went on to be a beloved teacher at the elementary, secondary, and college levels. Since retiring, she published three novels: Growing Up Nigger Rich, Family Lines, and Noni and the Great Grands, with an additional memoir Outsider in the Promised Land to be published posthumously. Dr. Fortune died in Gainesville, Fl on July 27, 2014.