This collection contains the papers of Sterling C. Evans including personal correspondence with friends, family members, and business associates; personal notebooks; plat maps, blueprints, diagrams of land: legal and financial documents surrounding real estate transactions; favorite quotations and poems; manuscripts; a travel diary; notes, notebooks of advertising and commercial brochures; photographs, newspaper clippings, receipts for gifts, and personal artifacts. The collection also contains the papers of his lifelong assistant, Dorothy Whitley.
The papers reflect Evans' personal life, his early career in the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, his professional career with the Federal Land Bank, and his retirement to a second career of investments in and operating large ranches and plantations in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana. In addition, the papers reflect his generosity and his involvement with Texas A&M University through his service to the Board of Regents during a pivotal time in the university's history as well as his support of the university library.
While the papers record Evans' early career, they more extensively detail his agricultural business after his retirement from the Federal Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Land Bank. This post-retirement career is highlighted by a growing friendship with Gus Wortham of Houston, Texas, and their joint real estate ventures such as Randle Lake Plantation in Milam County, Texas, Bear Lake Plantation in Tallulah, La., Crescent Plantation in Louisiana, Little Eva Plantation in Chopin, La., Nine Bar Ranch in Cypress, Texas, and the U Bar Ranches in Medina County, Texas and Hidalgo County, N.M., as well as other smaller operations. These subject files include personal correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, photographs, brochures, advertising materials, and news clippings.
Correspondence includes Evans' exchanges with his wife, Cathrene Thomas Evans, and well-known professional associates such as Gus Wortham, W. N. Stokes, John Wasson, Eugene Butler, Mildred McCoy, Carl Detering, John Lindsey, Earl Rudder, Frank Vandiver, William Mobley, Perry Atkission, Ray Bowen, Irene Hoadley, Fred Heath, Ambassador Edward Clark, and Dolph Briscoe. Also included is correspondence from many family members, and close friends, as well as students from Texas A&M University and Evans' former employees.
