The Alexander Thomson letter is dated August 5, 1832, from Texas, Austin's Colony. Addressed to "Mr. Wm. D. Thomson, Giles County, Tennessee, Cornerville P.O.," with the salutation "My dear son," and signed "your Aff. Father, Alexs. Thomson."

The text of the letter recounts recent events in Austin's colony which, in retrospect, have a direct bearing on the brewing struggle for independence of the colony from Mexico. Most noteworthy is the account of the early revolt of Anglo-Texas colonists against the Mexican government's steady encroachment on the freedom of colonists to conduct free trade or encourage further immigration into Texas from the United States.

In the letter, Thomson details the build-up of hostilities between Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn, born in Virginia, but in service to Mexico, who was made commander of Fort Anahuac.

Noteworthy also in the letter are the expressions of loyalty and admiration shown toward General Antonio López de Santa Anna by the colonists, who saw him as championing their rights in the condemnation of Bradburn, who was known to be a supporter of the hated General Anastacio Bustamante. Bustamante, who had been the dictator of Mexico since January 1830, was now involved with Santa Anna and his allies in a fierce civil war. (see general note)

As the Thomson letter records vividly, the Texas colonists threw their support to Santa Anna, believing him to favor their freedom to enforce their own laws and maintain their own system of trade and civil courts. The letter records Stephen Austin's whole-hearted support of Santa Anna and Thomson's encomium on Santa Anna as "a true republican ... determined not to lay down his arms until republicanism prevails," rings ironically optimistic in the face of events only a few years later, culminating in the bitter defeat of the colonists by Santa Anna at the Alamo, and the equally bitter final defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, assuring Texas's independence from Mexico.

Accompanying the letter are three other items.
A sepia-toned picture apparently reproduced from an oil painting. The picture is pasted inside a dark brown oval paper matting on a piece of cardboard measuring about 20 cm by 15 cm. The image measures about 13 cm by 7 cm. Though the original painting is as yet unidentified, "Alexander Thomson" is written on the back of the cardboard in pencil.

A sheet of letterhead stationery for the "St. Louis Southwestern Railway Lines, St. Louis 2, Mo.," with the logo for the "Cotton Belt Route," and below that "F. W. Green, President." On this much-folded piece of letterhead is an undated and unsigned biography of Alexander Thomson handwritten in pencil.

A photocopy (circa 1980) of a booklet originally prepared by Ralston P. Haun in Coleman, Tex. around 1936, which includes a transcription of the August 5, 1832 letter, as well as other family letters and papers. According to the copy of an explanatory note appended to the booklet, dated May 1, 1980, and signed Jim Glass of Houston, Tex., one of the three copies made by Haun was given to Ana Gardner Thomson and passed down to her granddaughter Ana Haun Frómen, thence apparently to Gardner Osborn. The booklet includes transcriptions of five other family letters and two memoirs. Though speculated upon in the Glass note, the current disposition of the other letters and papers is still unverified.

The US Passport of John Livezey and wife, signed by Secretary of State James Buchanan.

This collection contains original letters exchanged between George W. Ingram and his wife, Martha F. Ingram, while George was serving as an officer in the 12th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Typed transcripts of the letters are included.

This collection contains the original diary handwritten as a fair copy by John W. Anderson in 1867, in a notebook made by A. Drury, measuring approximately 24 x 19 cm. The notebook is bound in cardboard, covered in paper, with quarter leather corners and backstrap. Pages are machine ruled in blue, almost all filled with entries handwritten in ink. An albumen photographic print of Richmond before the Civil War is included as a full-page size frontispiece.

An extremely ornate calligraphic title page drawn by Anderson dedicates the diary "To His Beloved Sister, Minnie (Mrs. M. L. Hopkins) ... By John W. Anderson, M.D. 1867." The entries, dated 1861-1866, were copied over in 1867 after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865), from various other journals Anderson kept during the war, as a commemorative record of historical events, including his personal experiences and observations. Sections are enhanced with decorative initial letters and given titles such as "First Year of the War. 1861," with the last section, dated 1866, entitled "Reconstruction."

In the manner of a scrapbook, the journal is profusely illustrated with: pasted in photographs of military and political figures, as well as Anderson family members; pasted in Confederate money and stamps; pen and ink, mostly humorous sketches by John W. Anderson, some hand-colored; hand drawn and colored rebuses, with pasted on, or pen and ink drawn sections; as well as two hand-drawn maps, one showing the First Battle of Bull Run, annotated in red ink with the location of Alabama companies, and of the deathsites for those soldiers well known to Anderson, the other a map in a circular format, showing, at the center, Richmond, Virginia, with roads, railroads and fortifications radiating from or surrounding it. The photographs of family members are particularly interesting as they are included to accompany sketches of the "dramatis personae" of Anderson's narrative.

The original diary pages were numbered 2-300 in pencil on the upper outer corners of each page by Mrs. Robert W. Barnett, whose husband's great-great-grandfather, John W. Anderson had written the diary in 1967, as a fair copy compilation of journals he kept throughout the war and its immediate aftermath.

The original diary is very fragile and housed in a phase box under Restricted access. Permission must be requested from the Cushing Memorial Library Director and an appointment made to view the original diary.

Anderson's reporting skill is evident in the pithy, often vivid diary entries, evidently written by a quite well-educated and informed individual. As a member of the more privileged Southern classes, he is adamantly opposed to what he views as Northern tyranny and does not criticize the institution of slavery. While under siege in Richmond, Va., Anderson and his family, and particularly his fellow soldiers, face hardship in obtaining adequate shelter and food. Although often lighthearted, the entries betray an increasing awareness of the grimness of a drawn-out war and siege on Richmond.

Comments on battles include disparagement of Beauregard's failure to pursue the Federal forces at the battle of Shiloh, as well as mixed evaluations of General John Bell Hood and his Texas Brigade. On a more personal note, during one of Anderson's trips outside of Richmond on business to Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, or Maryland, Anderson's beloved daughter dies. In contrast, there is a charming account of his little boy's birthday party, complete with a pen and ink sketch of the child tearing into a rare treat of a meat pie. The death of a friend, wounded and without the comfort of family, is told without the usual light touch, but full of sympathy.

Events described expressing public opinion on the part of the Southern citizens under besiegement in Richmond include a "bread riot," illustrated with a sketch of women stealing bacon, with one shooting a policeman. Currency values are often mentioned. The flogging of Missouri Representative George Graham Vest by Mrs. Dowell in the House of Representatives is recorded, as is the 1865 New Year's feast prepared by Richmond citizens for the soldiers. After the war, the decision to institute cleaning of the Confederate graves and place flowers on them every 31 May foreshadows the official designation of Memorial Day to commemorate all U. S. soldiers killed in battle.

Also included with the original diary as Item 2. is a black and white photographic copy of the diary pages made by the repository in 1988. This photographic copy includes a few colored enlargements of illustrations in the diary.

Each 8 by 10-inch photograph of a page in the original diary is numbered on the back in pencil. The photographs are inserted in photograph sleeves, two photographs inserted back to back in each sleeve, and bound in three three-ring clamshell box albums holding approximately 50 photograph sleeves each. The black and white photographs of the diary pages are thus divided between the three clamshell box albums, with the colored photographs of selected illustrations added as a group in the back of the third clamshell album box (Item 2. Box 4/album 3). All photograph sleeves clearly bear in print marking pen the Collection ID number and the appropriate page number from the back of the print on the margin of the sleeve.

Negatives for the photographic copy of the diary are included in Box 5, folder 1. As with the photographic prints of the pages, the negatives are also inserted in sleeves and labeled with the Collection ID number and page numbers. The pages were obviously photographed in groups of all "Even" and "Odd," corresponding to recto and verso pages; therefore, the sleeves are labeled with the page numbers and either "Even" or "Odd." It is preferred that this copy of the diary be used as a surrogate copy.

Item 3. of the Diary is a photocopy made on archival quality paper in 2002 of the photographic prints of the original diary. This copy is also suitable for a surrogate copy.

This collection contains 54 original handwritten letters by Arnold, one page of poetry, one page of prose, and two pieces of paper with his signature. Each letter includes a typed transcription within its folder.

This collection is comprised of 12 scrapbooks (compiler unknown) that contain magazine and newspaper clippings, maps, and other printed ephemera chronicling the Spanish-American War (April-August 1898) in Cuba, and the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) in China. No commentary or other original text has been provided by the compiler. The volumes differ slightly, but all are bound in either dark green or dark brown cloth, with maroon quarter calf. Most of the spine covers are damaged or missing. The scrapbooks measure from 20-25 cm. high and from 24-29 cm. wide.

• Volume 1, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
  • A copy of the war-revenue law of 1898, with index [approved June 13, 1898] is pasted onto the inside back cover
• Volume 2, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 3, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 4, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 5, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 6, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 7, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 8, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 9, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 10, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 11, Spanish-American War Scrapbook, circa April - August 1898
• Volume 12, Boxer Rebellion Scrapbook, circa June 29 - July 15, 1900 (A few loose clippings are included inside the front cover)

This collection comprises twenty-seven autograph letters from various family members, three autograph documents written by Joel Crawford, additional unsigned correspondence, fout vintage photographs, five black and white photograph reprints, thirteen mailing envelopes, and a number of other address panels on the letters, some with quite scarce postal stamps from small towns in Georgia and Florida. Short excerpts of some letters are included in the description listing.

The collection also includes biographical information on the Crawford family, a photocopy of a marriage certificate for Charles P. Crawford's marriage to Anna Ripley Orme, and a page from the estate of Joel P. Crawford, signed by his executors James Buchanan and Charles P. Crawford admitting it into the record.

Postal history envelopes contained throughout the correspondence: cancellation stamps from La Grange, Fort Gaines (1855), Bainbridge (1855), Blakely (1855), and Macon (1858), Georgia, Orange Mills (1858), Florida, and Richmond (1862), Virginia. There are also five additional undated envelopes from members of the Crawford family.

This collection dating from 1846 to 1906 (bulk: 1846-1847) consists chiefly of handwritten letters, journal entries, a memoir, a proof copy of a report from the U. S. Secretary of War on Army operations in Texas and on the Rio Grande during the Mexican War (1846-1848), as well as plans, maps and nine hand-colored copies of lithographic engravings drawn by Everett, which vividly chronicle southwest Texas cultural as well as military history during the late1840s.

Series 1, Letters (1847-1863), mainly handwritten in ink by Edward Everett to his brother, Samuel W. Everett, from 1846-1847, while Everett was serving in San Antonio de Bexar with the U. S. Army during the Mexican War. A few letters from other correspondents pertain to Everett's disability and eventual official discharge from the Army. Three letters written in the period 1852-1863 are about business or from family members.

Series 2, Journal and Memoir (1846-1899) contains three sets of journal entries for Sept. 1846-Jan. 1847. All are handwritten in ink on loose sheets of paper. The memoir, also handwritten in ink, on machine-ruled paper measuring about 8 x 5 inches, covers the years 1846-1848, with additional material added and dated, on at least one page, with 1899. This memoir is edited in pencil by Everett, evidently for publication, since one note suggests that the memoir was donated in 1899 to the Quincy Historical Society, later known as The Illinois Historical Society. The memoir was actually published, at least part, or possibly all of it, under the title "Military Experience," in Transactions of the Illinois Historical Society for 1905.

Series 3, Engravings, Maps, and Plans (ca. 1846-1849) includes nine copies of lithographed illustrations drawn by Edward Everett and engraved by C. B Graham Lithographers in Washington, D.C. The engravings were to be published in a report on U.S. Army operations in Texas during the Mexican War. A proof copy of this 67-page report, titled Report of the Secretary of War, communicating ... the Operations of the Army of the United States in Texas and the Adjacent Mexican states on the Rio Grande (31st Congress, 1st Session, Senate. Executive Document 32), published in 1850, is annotated throughout by Everett in pencil. For this publication Everett was at least responsible for eight illustrations: seven engravings of the San Antonio de Bexar area, including the Alamo church, as well as locations in Mexico; a plan of the ruined Alamo as it was in 1846, before being renovated according to Everett's direction, as a U. S. Army supply depot and workshops.

Engravings include nine copies of the lithographed prints. Notations made in ink on the separate prints, and on p. [4] of the proof copy of the published government report, indicate that: illustrations numbered for publication 2, 3-6 were engraved from original drawings made by Everett; those numbered 1, 7-8 were engraved from drawings made by Everett based on pencil sketches by other individuals, particularly no. 1 titled "Watch Tower Near Monclova," which was drawn by Everett from a sketch by Lieutenant McDowell of the U.S. Army.

Everett's proofs of the lithographic prints have all been exquisitely hand-tinted, in contrast to the severe black-and-white reproductions in the printed report. Of the nine hand-colored prints, two are duplicates of two illustrations, one titled "Church Near Monclova," and the other "Watch Tower Near Monclova." These identical prints are each hand-colored in two versions, apparently to represent the depicted buildings' appearances during the daytime, as well as at dusk or sunset.

Maps include one copy of a published map, possibly also by Everett, though it has been attributed to Josiah Gregg, which also appeared in the 1850 Army Operations report, titled "Map Showing the Route of the Arkansas Regiment from Shreveport La. to San Antonio de Bexar Texas," which is annotated with a penciled in route drawn from San Antonio to Austin, and a town location labeled "New Braunsfels." Also included are two manuscript versions of a map by Edward Everett, one copy titled "Plan of the Vicinity of Austin and San Antonio, Texas."

Plans are represented by two copies of an illustration drawn by Everett for the 1849 Army operations report showing plans of the Alamo before the renovation, titled "Plans of the Ruins of the Alamo near San Antonio De Bexar, 1846." Also present is one manuscript plan, titled "Plan of San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, 1848," which is labeled as "Drawn from recollection by E. E." The legend states that locations number 1-5 on the plan show, for instance, the spot near the Plaza in town where Everett received his disabling gunshot wound in the leg, the Hospital where he convalesced, and the Quartermaster's Office, to which he was assigned to work after being declared disabled from active service in the field.

A handwritten loose-leaf page kept with the proof copy of the report is titled "Index to Col. Hughes Report," and lists subject divisions and page numbers, though these divisions are not present in the published report by Hughes.

Thus Everett's accounts of frontline actions in the Mexican War mainly rely on reports from occasional volunteer soldiers or scouts, or Mexican nationals, returning back to Texas from the front lines of battle in Mexico. As much as he is able, however, Everett produces very detailed accounts of the various battles and skirmishes in and around the Texas-Mexico border, including battles at Monterrey, Saltillo, San Luis, Camargo, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, and Tampico, recording a large number of casualties on both sides.

Of particular interest is Everett's extensive first-hand description of the ruins of the Alamo, and how it was converted for U.S. Army use as a military headquarters, according to plans drawn up by Everett. He deplores the vandalism already wreaked by relic seekers and stressed the respect shown to the mission church by the U. S. Army restorers, who refused to plunder it for building stone but instead merely cleaned away the debris. In the process, skeletons were uncovered, which Everett assumes to be from the time of the siege and Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Everett's accounts of frontier life in the rather rambunctious confines of San Antonio, complete with ambushes, shootouts, rough and ready court trials, and various local characters are often riveting.

Everett also pictures the moods and attitudes of the soldiers toward a variety of issues. Everett describes their arduous marches, unsavory living conditions, often dire medical care, and the cruel climate tormenting them. Having been left behind in San Antonio with all the stores rejected by the army, which had proceeded on into Mexico, Everett's men were faced with nursing broken down mules and horses back to usefulness, salvaging wagon parts from several damaged ones to make a serviceable one, and generally, trying to make do with what could be had in the vicinity, or easily transported from the Quartermaster at New Orleans.

According to Everett, communications on the Texas frontier often proceeded through "solitary express riders." He describes Mexican culture co-existing with "the Indians" and their horse-stealing. He also gives an excellent but pejorative account of the Texas Rangers and their activities, calling them desperados. Everett describes Mexican Generals Santa Anna, Torrejón, and Woll, the exceedingly unpopular U. S. Army Colonel Churchill, officers George W. Hughes, 1st Lieutenant W. B. Franklin, 2nd Lieutenant F. T. Bryan, General Zachary Taylor ("Old Rough and Ready"), General Winfield Scott, and General James Morgan, Captain J. H. Prentiss, Brigadier General John E. Wool, Major General Worth, Captain James Harvey Ralston, Captain L. Sitgreaves, as well as Edward Everett's own two brothers Charles Everett and Samuel W. Everett (Sam).

Full of absorbing narrative and elusive details often lost in larger historical works, the content of Everett's narratives and letters may be summed up in his own words from the handwritten memoir: "Mine is not a tale of battles, or of the movements of great armies, but the details will show some of the hardships and vicissitudes of a soldier's life, the exposure to which causes a greater sacrifice of life than that ensuing from wounds of death received from the enemy."

This collection consists of one notebook (housed in a phase box), measuring approximately 10 x 8 inches, containing 49 leaves of machine ruled paper, in cloth over cardboard covers, which was manufactured with two-hole punched metal fasteners.

The front cover design shows: at the top "…A. & M. COLLEGE…, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS"; in the center, a black and white picture depicting the Old Main building on the Texas A & M College campus, measuring 4.5 x 4 inches; below picture, "Department of" with a ruled space filled in by hand with ink the word "Horticulture," and "Name" with a ruled space filled in by hand in ink with the name "Jess Easterwood."; at center bottom, "PUBLISHED BY, W. M. WELCH MFG. COMPANY, 100 LAKE ST., CHICAGO, WELCH'S PATENT AUTOMATIC FASTENER." The name "EASTERWOOD" and other initials, etc. are scrawled in ink or pencil on the front cover as well.

Most of the notebook's leaves are filled in on the recto page only with class notes written by hand in either pencil or ink, labeled as taken from lectures. A few pages are filled with scrawled names and phrases, repeated over and over, the phrases usually in some way related to the lecture notes, but often just variations on Easterwood's name or initials.

One exception found on leaf 19 is the beginnings of a draft letter, dated January 25, [19]08, to his father, noting that Easterwood has been recently ill for a "protracted" period of time. Lecture notes in roughly the first half of the notebook pertain to Animal Husbandry [l. 1-14; l. 15-18 & 20 are blank], especially causes, symptoms, and treatment of conditions such as colic, heaves, constipation, dysentery, catarrh of stomach and bowels in livestock, while the latter half are concerned with a class labeled "Horticulture 4" [l. 21-49; the top half of l. 45 is torn out], particularly the cultivating of fruit trees and the marketing of their produce.

Aside from presenting an interesting taste of curriculum offerings at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College in the early twentieth century, some of the notebook's scrawled asides give a quite colorful glimpse into the mind of a restless and enterprising cadet straying from the lecture in progress.

This collection consists mainly of correspondence (1858-1888) in which Brigadier General William Wallace Burns, of the United States Army, gives detailed accounts of Civil War battles fought during the Peninsular Campaign (March-August 1862), particularly the Seven Days Battles (June 25 - July 1, 1862 ), including Peach Orchard, Allen's Farm, Savage Station, Glendale, Nelson's Farm, and Malvern Hill. Burns discusses topics such as military strategy, troop movements, military surgeons, weather conditions during battles, building pontoon bridges, building defense works and, and capturing Confederate works. One letter is present from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

Also included is personal correspondence with high-ranking officials such as President Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Secretary of War Charles Stanton, General Henry W. Halleck, General Winfield Scott Hancock, General George McClellan, General William Starke Rosecrans, and Major General Edwin Vose Sumner, as well as Emil Schalk who was a war journalist. The latter correspondence concerns political viewpoints on the causes of the war, primarily slavery, as well as the conduct and outcome of the war.

Some correspondence (1888-1904) was written just before and after Burns' death among family members, notably his grandchildren Lloyd Burns Magruder, who was a cadet at the United States Military Academy, and Pauline Magruder, as well as William Wallace Burns' sister Mabelle Burns, usually called "Mab." A substantial group of letters to Mabelle Burns is from her suitor for marriage, B. L. Prince. A few of the family letters from Pauline Magruder to her Aunt Mabelle Burns are written in French from Paris, France.

Also present is a substantial group of copies of military orders and official reports focused on Burns' thwarted ambitions to become Major General, and lead a Division in the Army of the Cumberland under the command of General Rosecrans. Apparently Burns believed political maneuverings of high governmental officials obstructed his promotion to Major General and precipitated his resignation as Brigadier General in 1863.

A few financial records and documents from legal proceedings are included concerning disputed rights to the "Sibley Tent," an invention whose patent royalties were eventually shared by Burns with Henry Hastings Sibley. Also present are a few documents concerning Texas real estate transactions.

This collection consists mainly of correspondence, legal documents, a corporate minute book, and handwritten notes recording the litigation connected with ownership of a large tract of land (89,000 acres) in Hidalgo country known as the "Big Santa Rosa Pasture". Actual litigation took place from 1903-1910.

Individuals involved in the case were: Dillard Rucker Fant and his wife, Lucy Fant; Daniel J. Sullivan; J. C. Sullivan; James V. Upson; Wiliam R. Elliott; Conrad A. Goeth; James Webb; J. M. Chittim; Archie Parr; Kate V. Elliott; G. G. Clifford; A. E. Chavez; J. A. Galligher; W. M. Sanford; Fred Kelly; F. A. McGown; F. W. Church; H. R. Wood; F. Groos and his wife, Hulda Groos. Legal counsel involved in the proceedings were: James E. Webb and Conrad A. Goeth of Webb and Goeth, F. A. McGown of Denman, Franklin & McGown, and R. L. Ball, all based in San Antonio, Texas.

At the onset of the difficulties, D. R. Fant had leased the Big Santa Rosa Pasture to the cattle-raising partnership of Chittim and Parr. J. M. Chittim was a large rancher in South Texas and Archie Parr, was a State Senator popularly known as the Duke of Duval. Based on the large annual rent monies Fant had expected to collect from Chittim and Parr, he then also borrowed money from D. Sullivan of D. Sullivan and Company Bankers (founders and owners of the large South Texas Mariposa Ranch) and, using the same collateral, borrowed more money from the competing F. Groos and Company Bankers (later a founder of Wells Fargo Bank).

When it appears, that Chittim and Parr defaulted on their rent payment for the Big Santa Rosa Pasture to Fant, Fant was then forced to default on his own payments to both banking organizations from whom he had borrowed funds. The bankers, in return, sued and foreclosed on the Big Santa Rosa Pasture.

Through the Santa Rosa Ranch Papers extensive set of legal documents, attorneys' memoranda, telegrams, letters, and financial disclosures, the most absorbing story of Texas land politics unfolds.

Notable among the papers is the Santa Rosa Ranch Minute Book, a ledger volume with handwritten entries detailing the Articles of Incorporation, By-laws and minutes of the first stockholders' meeting of the Santa Rosa Ranch Company. Also present is a manuscript plat map in black and red ink on light blue linen, of the 1905 Maria Rodriguez survey, which has been encapsulated and is housed separately in a Map Case Drawer.

This collection consists chiefly of correspondence regarding the Runge family of Galveston, Tex. and Menard, Tex., including Henry Runge, his sons Henry J. Runge and Louis Hermann Runge, their cousin Julius F. Runge, as well as family members in Hannover, Germany, including heirs Hans Eyl and his wife Meta Eyl; German immigrant and Texas businessman Walter Tips (1841-1911) who, after the death of Henry Runge, had formed the Las Moras Ranch Company (December 21, 1879) with his wife's aunt Julia Runge, wife of Henry Runge, and Runge's sons Henry J. Runge, and Louis H. Runge; German Emigration Company lands, lawyers and law firms in Austin, Tex. and San Antonio, Tex., including C. A. Goeth, the firm of Webb & Goeth, Adolph Goeth, the business partner of Walter Tips and brother of C. A. Goeth.

Also present are: legal documents, including deeds, wills, powers of attorney, some ranch operations records, including ranch inventories, accounting ledgers, and handwritten notes. These papers record the operations and transfers of ownership of over 130,000 acres of property, principally in the Texas counties of Comal, San Saba, Tom Green, Concho, and Menard, collectively known as the Las Moras Ranch.

Beyond the acquisition, operation, and ultimate liquidation of this ranch property, however, an interesting part of Texas history, that of the Adelsverien or German Emigration Company, and early German immigrant settlement are illuminated through the documents in the collection.

The collection series reflect the history of the ranch from its foundation until its sale in 1913.

• Series 1 begins with an 1867 legal document showing a transfer of ownership of many thousands of acres of land from Hermann Arnold Henry (Heinrich) Runge (1821-1861) of Funchal, Madiera, Portugal to his brother and business partner, Henry Runge (1816-1873). Henry Runge paid for the land in American Gold. Other documents in the papers include a very large judgment against the Adelsverien or German Emigration Company, a copy of the lengthy handwritten "Last Will of Henry Runge," probated April 2, 1873, and that of his wife, Julia, dated March 23, 1896.
• Subsequent documents in Series 2-Series 4 of the papers highlight the operation and eventual liquidation in 1913 of the Las Moras Ranch, including transcontinental communications between Germany and Texas among heirs to the Runge fortune. Several of these family letters scattered through the papers may be particularly difficult to translate since they are written in Kurrentschrift, a Gothic handwriting style.
• Playing important roles in the later transactions concerning the ranch properties were the sons of Henry Runge (1816-1873): Henry J. Runge (1859-1922), Louis Hermann Runge (1861-1936), and his nephew Julius F. Runge (1851-1906). Henry J. Runge and Julius F. Runge were financial advisors, while Louis Runge served as the ranch manager and lived on the Las Moras Ranch property. Walter E. Tips (1841-1911), another German immigrant, Texas Senator, and successful hardware merchandiser, who married into the Runge family, along with C. A. Goeth (b. 1869), a San Antonio attorney, were involved in the ranch operations and legal issues concerning the eventual dispersal of Las Moras Ranch property.

The diary begins at an entry for 19 May 1915 with the driver's departure from Paris, to report to the Bureau, or main Section office of the service, at Pont-á-Mousson, which he often abbreviates to Pont. in diary entries. The diary's driver is often under fire, either while driving the roads among convoys, or in the towns being shelled, and, on a least one occasion, even at his billet, called a caserne. He is also clearly interested in becoming an aviator and visits a French aviation field with a friend from the American Field Service during his time off.

There are descriptions of German prisoners in the town square, serious casualties called couchés, episodes of shelling, the hazards of evacuating casualties under fire, as well as the daily life of an American soldier serving in World War I before the official entrance of the United States, is terse and vivid. The narrative presents an interesting contrast of intense activity and intermittent loafing in the French towns and countryside, including a tour of such battle areas as Bois-le-Prêtre, the site of the First Battle of the Marne.

The diary may have come into Stratemeyer's possession at Kelly Field from an aviator being trained or otherwise based there. Ambulance drivers who served first as volunteers in France seem to have transferred to other branches of the service, in several cases the Air Service, after serving in the American Field Service for possibly only a few months.

The entries end abruptly on June 9, 1915.

The shiny dark brown paper-covered diary measures 17 x 10 cm., with 26 of its 40 blue-ruled pages filled with entries handwritten in ink. Although found inserted into an issue of the Kelly Field eagle published between April 1918 and January 1919 and donated to the repository by General George Stratemeyer, the diary is neither labeled, nor signed, and the entries are dated [May] 19 - June 9, 1915.

A newspaper clipping is slipped into the diary, dated 1873 by hand in ink, probably from a British newspaper, which contains a poem, "To Loch Skene", on which corrections to the text have been made in ink.

It may be noted that George Stratemeyer, probably did not write the diary since he served with the 7th and 34th Infantry divisions in Texas and Arizona until September 1916, immediately after his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy in June 1915. He subsequently became commanding officer of the Air Service Flying and Technical Schools at Kelly Field, Texas in May 1917. The diary may have come into Stratemeyer's possession at Kelly Field from an aviator being trained or otherwise based there.

The 25-page paper transcript was made in February 2002 by Aletha Andrew, who processed the collection in the repository.

This collection contains personal letters of the McDaniel family from 1855-1916 along with civil war letters from Confederate soldiers. The letters originate from the McDaniel family in Texas and Mississippi during and after the civil war. Many of the items in the collection are fragile, and transcriptions were made of the letters. This collection also contains family recipes, remedies, along with stereoscopic view plates.

The McDaniel family spans across Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Julius and Minerva (Rodgers) McDaniel were farmers who lived in Ben Hur, Texas during the 1800s.

The Bernard Sbisa Family Collection consists of photographic scrapbooks, personal correspondence, photographs of the Sbisa Family, and early Texas A&M College photographs along with other early college photographs of the campus of Perdue. The items included either have no date or are dated from between 1877 to 1919.

Bernard Sbisa was one of the first Texas A&M College professors who lived and taught the early Texas A&M College.

This collection contains a diary (December 9, 1919 - November 25, 1920), signed by hand in ink on recto of the first leaf "Willmund Reaux Glaeser", held on top and bound with three-hole-punched loose-leaf ring binder memo book, with imitation brown leather covers, measuring about 14 x 9 cm. Filler paper (120 leaves) is narrow-ruled in blue, with most entries closely handwritten in ink, a very few in pencil, on both sides of the leaves, with only 21 leaves left completely blank. Some leaves preceding the diary entries are filled with names and addresses of friends and family, lists of traveler's cheques and numbers, as well as other miscellaneous lists. Unused index divider sheets labeled A-Z are included in a group at the back of the main body of diary entries. Diary entries begin on leaves just after the group of index dividers, continue for only two leaves, then begin again starting from the other end of the diary. Typed transcript on 39 pages of 8.5 x 11-inch white bond paper is undated, untitled and the author is unknown.

Entries in the diary are fairly evenly divided between Glaeser's service on the tramp steamer Sag Harbor, and on the New York-based excursion ships, the S.S. Chester W. Chapin and S.S. Richard Peck.

As a wireless operator aboard the "tramp freighter" S.S. Sag Harbor, Glaeser sailed the coast of South America to the port of Antofagasta, Chile, to take on a cargo of "nitrates and saltpetes." Glaeser describes hordes of migrating birds, ducks, whales, sea lion, sharks, and pelicans. With great gusto Glaeser includes much detail on life aboard ship, including a crew of mixed nationalities, contending with furious storms at sea and drunken brawls ashore, often ending in arrests and wounds. One steward, in particular, addicted to both "booze and cocaine," proves especially disturbing, since ships stores of food are being sold off to fund the man's habit. The S.S. Sag Harbor puts into port at Malon, Panama, then Balboa and Panama City, passing through the canal on January 22, 1920, with orders to proceed to Baltimore. Storms are reported disabling and sinking several ships off the coast of Georgia (January 30, 1920 - February 3, 1920), but the S.S. Sag Harbor reaches Baltimore safely on February 9, 1920, proceeding on to Washington, DC. With a new captain and much better steward, hence better meals, the S.S. Sag Harbor takes on a cargo of coal bound for Havana, Cuba, where a long longshoreman's strike holds up both delivery of cargo and taking on new cargo, from early February to mid-March 1920. Finally free to take their new cargo of phosphates to Wilmington, NC the S.S. Sag Harbor continues on its journey, finally arriving on May 8, 1920, in New York City.

In New York City, Glaeser stays at the YMCA intermittently as he is transferred May 28, 1920, to the S.S. Chester W. Chapin, an excursion steamer based in New London, Conn., and later (June 5, 1920) to another excursion boat, the S.S. Richard Peck. While in New York, Glaeser has quite a social life, visiting restaurants, theatres, and the shore on dates, but also looking for an office job. He buys stock in the Century Adding Machine Co. and is offered a job starting a sales agency for the company in Texas, but Glaeser declines that offer, later taking a position as an accountant with the A. H. Bull Steamship Co. in New York.

Glaeser includes vivid descriptions of life in the ports of Havana, Cuba, Miami, and Tampa Bay, FL, Charleston, SC, Wilmington, NC, as well as the cities of Baltimore and New York in 1920. He is attuned to the unrest of longshoremen in Cuba, observes the unsteady nature of trading on the stock exchange, and aware that, although life on a tramp steamer is romantic to a young man fresh out of the Army in World War I, it is eventually not that attractive a life considering the storms, brawls, and other natural vicissitudes of peacetime seafaring life. Glaeser's sense of adventure and humor are both keen, so he manages to infuse the diary with both in equal measure.

This scrapbook contains materials from Gibson's time as a student at A&M College.

This scrapbook belonged to George B. Quillen and contains materials from his time at A&M college from 1924-1927.

This collection contains over 125 original handwritten letters by Charles Goodnight to M. S. Garretson and others discussing buffalo, Indians, animal husbandry, the origin of and extinction of certain cattle breeds, the Goodnight Ranch, and many other topics.

This collection includes a travel diary of E.M. Arnold, MD, documenting his journey through Mexico, Canada, and the United States during 1936-1939.

These papers also contain an audit of the Stanley Warehouse. Photographs also include interior and exterior shots of Stanley Warehouse and additional photos of military personnel.

Of special note are photographs of a visit to inspect the facilities and visit troops by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There are two photographs of Mrs. Roosevelt, accompanied by Colonel Dorris A. Hanes, speaking with African American soldiers.

A photographer identified as Ingledew in Liverpool, England, in 1942, took a majority of the photographs and many have a series of numbers written on the back. Many of the photographs identify individual soldiers by name and their hometowns. Hometowns include Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, Winthrop, Massachusetts, Passaic, New Jersey, New York City, Cuero and San Antonio, Texas, and West Virginia.

Note that although photographs of Eleanor Roosevelt have her name spelled incorrectly, the finding aid uses the correct spelling. Other names are spelled one way on the back of the photograph and differently in the front captions. Information about photos is typed on the back and handwritten on the front. Finding aid attempts to duplicate information as written including grammatical and punctuation errors. The exception is in the inconsistent and confusing use of primarily upper case letters. An attempt was made to make this more uniform in the finding aid by using both upper and lower case letters.

This collection includes copies of administrative orders, field orders, and weekly reports compiled by the staff of the Sixth Army and sent to General Krueger, as well as copies of operation reports sent from General Krueger to the Adjutant General in Washington, D. C. Also included are after-action operation reports concerning the 6th Army.

The administrative orders primarily contain data or amendments to accompany Field Orders and are concerned with supply, evacuation, traffic, service troops, personnel, prisoners of war, and miscellaneous items. Also included are instructions and annexes dealing with captured enemy equipment, individual clothing and equipment, supply, burials and cemeteries, native labor, sanitation, prisoners of war and enemy dead, captured material trophies, air supply circulars, and plans of operation. Maps and sketches are also found among the administrative orders.

The field orders contain data and instructions relating to hostile dispositions and support of operations, task forces, command posts, supplies, and communications. Also included are annexes concerned with staging, loading and embarkation plans, intelligence, artillery and antiaircraft artillery, communications, and engineering. Maps, sketches, and code names are also included in the field orders.

The weekly reports contain intelligence information on enemy activities, terrain, counterintelligence, material and equipment, captured documents and POW interrogations, reclassification of documents, enemy tactics, psychological warfare, and code names and numbers. Also included are photographic coverage reports, sketches, and maps.

The operation reports provide the history of the operation, including organization and operating instructions, plans and preparations, background and terrain, reconnaissance, communication, operations, enemy reaction, engineer activities, captured materials, relations with natives, the recapitulation of casualties, commendations, awards, and decorations, conclusions, credit for success, and lessons learned.

This collection consists of letters between Robert H. Kokernot and his first wife, Edith May Babcock (Edith Kokernot Grinnell) during and after World War II from 1943-1946.

The majority of letters collected by Edith are from Robert with the exception of one folder of correspondence from Edith to Robert in March and April 1944, one folder of letters written to Edith's parents from Robert, and two folders of letters written by friends addressed to Robert and Edith.

The corresponding postmarked envelopes were not with their accompanying letter when the collection was processed. These are held in separate folders at the end of the collection.

This collection contains clippings, news articles, and photographs of J. R. Cole, Sr., as well as the resources that he used to write his autobiography (included). Also included is correspondence from J. R. Cole, Jr. and correspondence between the archives and donors.

This collection consists of a few letters, notes, drafts, and final copies of book reviews, articles, and chapters of books.

Book chapter topics include Gothic Culture, Medieval Architecture, Romanesque Art and Architecture, Baroque Art, and Renaissance Painting, particularly the paintings of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The bulk of the latter material probably pertains to a book on which Mayo was working at the time of his death in 1954. The book was to have been titled The Great Pendulum and would have recorded the cycles between romanticism and rationalism in art and literature.

The Arkham House Collection consists of correspondence from August Derleth to Howard Wandrei. Derleth, a writer, founded Arkham House to publish and keep in print the work of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, a friend and fellow writer. Lovecraft died in 1937; for the next two years Derleth tried unsuccessfully to find a publisher for Lovecraft's writings. Using money from prepaid orders and the personal investment of Donald Wandrei (brother of Howard Wandrei), Derleth founded Arkham House in 1939. Arkham House published science fiction works by Lovecraft and other writers such as Algernon Blair, Clark Ashton Smith and Henry S. Whitehead.

In his letters to fellow science-fiction writer Howard Wandrei, August Derleth writes about his publishing efforts at Arkham House, his own writing career and the details of his personal life. His letters also mention other authors and publishing houses. The letters date from 1930-1953; most letters are accompanied by the original stamped envelopes.

This collection consists of materials relating to the 1956 A. E. Van Vogt novel Empire of the Atom, including the original typescript, galleys, and correspondence related to the book's publication and review.

The collection includes articles, books on gas measurement, and materials relating to the awards and achievements of Dr. Roland O. Cox.

The E. J. Kyle (1894-1957) Papers contains reports, correspondence, speeches, articles, applications, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, programs, pictures, memorandums, lists, and resolutions. Materials include correspondence, reports, speeches, and articles on E. J. Kyle's attempts to acquire more land and construct new buildings for the School of Agriculture at Texas A & M College. Other speeches and articles written by E. J. Kyle are concerned with subjects as cotton, soil conservation, and the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and nuts, particularly pecans.

Also present are reports Kyle wrote pertaining to Texas A & M College's enrollment plans and teaching techniques in Agricultural classes. Since Kyle was the head of many different programs at Texas A & M College, his papers contain applications and other information regarding the Land Prize, Anderson-Clayton Company Scholarship, and programs on Short Courses taught from 1913 to 1936. In addition to his academic duties, Kyle was also deeply involved with various types of research and the papers contain a few of the booklets, articles, and resolutions pertaining to the Soil Erosion Project, Frozen Food Research, and Texas Wildlife Research.

Correspondence in the papers deals with not only E. J. Kyle's work, but also contains letters from former students, commendations sent to Kyle, and letters concerning the naming of Kyle Field sports arena on the Texas A & M College campus.

Photographs contained in the collection are pertain to agricultural topics, such as cattle and pecan trees, the NYA program, Texas A & M College buildings, Texas A & M College football teams and sports events, and Kyle Field.Several football team rosters, programs from football games, newspaper clippings about sports events, and correspondence dealing with Kyle's position on the Athletic Council represent Kyle's close connection with many of the Texas A & M College athletics program.

Also present is a certificate of Kyle's appointment to the Farm Credit Association.

This collection includes an exchange of letters between Berenice Napper and an official of Connecticut's Commission on Civil Rights, six items concerning Napper's membership in the National Council of Negro Women, eight printed ephemeral items including a photograph of Berenice Napper with three other individuals looking over a copy of Walter White's book How Far the Promised Land?, and a small group of newspaper clippings concerning her work as a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The Samuel Erson Asbury Papers consist of research materials, correspondence, mainly original contemporary letters and copies of the older historical correspondence, Asbury's writings and copies of state and national documents, held in eight boxes and one map case drawer occupying approximately twelve linear feet of shelf space. Asbury's broad range of interests is reflected in the variety of topics contained in these papers. Foremost among them are the files of correspondence, historical documents, articles and research notes concerning various aspects of Texas history.

Also included in the Asbury papers are articles, short stories, essays, plays, poetry, and a Texas Revolution opera written by Asbury; research notes and correspondence on the cultivation of roses and the growing of plants without soil; articles written about Asbury; correspondence with family members; general correspondence; and photographs of Asbury, his family and friends, and North Carolina A & M College.

This collection contains biographical data, publications, and data on the Biology Department at Texas A&M in which Sewell was a faculty member, as well as reports and other papers relating to oyster mortality research carried out through the Texas A&M Research Foundation Research Project 9 (February 1, 1947 - May 31, 1950).

The research project 9 was funded by six major oil companies and led by two Texas A & M University Professors, Sewell H. Hopkins (Head) and John G. Mackin (Associate Head).

Prompted by several lawsuits filed by Louisiana oystermen against major oil companies claiming damages to oyster fields as a result of drilling in the Gulf Of Mexico region, Project 9 was conducted under the auspices of the Texas A & M Research Foundation. Project 9 allowed researchers to design and implement field and laboratory studies seeking to determine the effects of oil production activities on oyster production. Eventually, a then as-yet-unknown parasite was discovered which preyed upon the oyster crop after they had begun to reach maturity.

Two other large research groups investigating the same allegations against oil production in the Gulf headed by H. Malcome Owen (Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission) and Albert W. Collier (Gulf Oil Company) compared notes with the Heads of Project 9, coming to the same conclusion. As a result of this collaboration, a description of this newly discovered parasite called Dermocystidium marinum was published in 1950. The lawsuits were subsequently dropped or settled out of court.

More importantly for the history of the Texas A & M University System, however, is the fact that Research Project 9 led ultimately to the creation and expansion of a Marine Sciences program, represented by the newly established (1949) Department of Oceanography at Texas A & M University in College Station. On 1 June 1950, after the termination of Research Project 9, Research Project 23 was begun to continue studies on oyster disease and maintain a Marine Laboratory at Grand Isle, La. The Texas A & M Marine Laboratory was established (1952) at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Tex. In 1968 Texas A & M University was named a Sea Grant College. The Marine Laboratory and the Texas Maritime Academy were merged in 1971, which is now known as Texas A & M University at Galveston.

These papers, therefore, form a picture of the ground-breaking research in oyster mortality conducted by Sewell H. Hopkins as head of Project 9, which led to increased sensitivity of the interplay of industry and the ecosystem, and to the formalized study at the university level of marine biology in the Gulf area.

Other researchers whose work is represented in the papers include Jay Donald Andrews, A. D. Bajkov, Harry J. Bennet, James L. Boswell, Clair Brown, Sidney O. Brown, M.D. Burkenroad, Fred Caulthron, C. Ray Elsey, I. I. Gardescu, Gordon Gunter, C. K. Hancock, Harold W. Harry, Joel W. Hedgpeth, Willis G. Hewatt, A. A. Jakkula, Fred W. Jensen, P. Korringa, Louis Lambert, Hugh B. Lofland, Elmer J. Lund, G. Robert Lunz, Jr., John C. Aull, Alvin F. Dodds, Shirley Alfred Lynch, John G. Mackin, Wiley G. Lastrapes, H. A. Marmer, R. Winston Menzel, Thurlow C. Nelson, Joseph F. Prokop, W. C. Rasmussen, Sammy M. Ray, J. H. Roberts, Fred W. Sieling, John J. Sperry, Victor Sprague, and Claude E. ZoBell.

    * Bibliography

    * Ray, Sammy M. "Historical Perspective on Perkinsus Marinus Disease of Oysters in the Gulf of Mexico." Journal of Shellfish Research. Vol. 15, No. 1:9-11.

    * Ray, Sammy M. "Texas A & M University's Contributions to Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Research." [Viewed 2002-10-10 at: ]

The Mercurio Martinez Papers (1797-1963 (bulk: 1910-1963)) include correspondence, copies of legal documents such as wills, deeds, affidavits and courtroom briefs, maps, a few photographs, field notes for land surveys, genealogical charts, accounts of family and regional history by Mercurio Martinez, and historical accounts from other sources, principally newspapers. There are also financial records of various kinds including tax records, bills and receipts, books of check stubs and account sheets.

The vast majority of the papers relate to families, places and events in Zapata County. Webb County is also well represented, as is the region surrounding the town of Guerrero, Tamaulipas located on the south bank of the Rio Grande opposite Zapata County, Texas. A few papers deal with families, places and events in Starr County and further south in the Rio Grande Valley and a few files deal with Mexican, United States and world affairs. Unless otherwise noted in the inventory, files deal with Zapata or Webb County matters.

The oldest original papers date from the latter part of the nineteenth century and include such documents as Mercurio Martinez's Texas Teachers Certificate, 1898 (Series 1-3/4); a General Land Office map of Zapata County, 1885, (Series 3-14/25); and a certificate appointing Proceso Martinez, Sr., Mercurio's father, to the Zapata County Board of Appeals, 1870, (Series 3-25/23). There are also copies and translations of nineteenth-century documents including partition deeds, deeds of sale, birth records, and maps. Accounts of family and local history written by Martinez in the 1950s and early 1960s deal with events dating back to the Spanish settlements along the lower Rio Grande in the 1750s. Genealogies are generally traced back to the first colonists to arrive in the region. Family records, therefore, cover a time span of more than 200 years, from the settlers who arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande in about 1750 to their descendants in the early 1960s. Each decade from 1900 onward is represented in the papers. There are more files from the 1950s than any other single decade.

Among the most important files in the collection are those on the relocation of the town of Zapata due to the construction of Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande in the early 1950s, the salvation of the community of San Ygnacio from destruction during this period, the accounts of family history and genealogy from Zapata County, and the papers related to the division of lands between descendants of original holders of Spanish grants and sales of family lands. Maps, genealogies, and legal documents provide a clear picture of the rapidity with which even extensive landholdings can be reduced to tracts hardly adequate to support the families of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original owners. Reconsolidation of holdings through the purchase of interest from siblings and through cousin marriage are also documented. It is also possible to trace shifts in settlement and land-use patterns. For example, the original grantees of porciones along the Rio Grande held land in long narrow blocks extending inland from the river. Over the generations, these blocks were subdivided among heirs and parts of them were sold outside the families. Through separate inheritance from parents, through marriage, and through purchase, individuals came to own small pieces of land located in widely separated tracts. This pattern of dispersed holdings, each of economically inefficient size and too far apart to be worked as units, has been noted for many peasant societies. These papers clearly reveal the processes whereby such a land-holding pattern developed out of the more economically efficient block holdings within a few generations. The most completely documented tract of land is the vast Jose Vasquez Borrego Grant made in 1750. It was later divided into the Dolores, Corralitos, and San Ygnacio Subdivisions. The first settlement was made at the Hacienda de Dolores on August 22, 1750. This settlement was abandoned, apparently during Indian troubles in the early 19th century. A settlement or Rancho of Dolores was founded nearby in the Dolores subdivision of the Borrego Grant by Cosme Martinez in 1859. Meanwhile, the town of San Ygnacio had been founded in the San Ygnacio subdivision in 1830. Until the early 20th century, an hacienda in the Corralitos subdivision was occupied by members of the Vidaurri family, who were descendants of the original grantee's daughter, Alejandra Vasquez Borrego de Vidaurri.

Also of interest are the Corridos, or ballads, composed by Mercurio Martinez and dealing with dramatic events in Zapata County history such as an escape from prison, a contested election and the destruction of Zapata by the rising waters of Falcon Reservoir.

This collection consists of some correspondence, a significant number of mostly typed manuscript drafts, both published and unpublished, and a printer's galley for her book, Coryell County Scrapbook, published in 1963 by Texian Press of Waco, Texas. Also present are a few newspaper clippings, as well as handwritten and typed research notes for her published book.

The manuscript drafts reveal an engaging blend of scholarship, personal recollection, and anecdotal history chronicling the development of Coryell county from when the area was part of Coahuila, Mexico, through to its formal organization as a county in the state of Texas in 1854. Included is an account of the growth of Fort Hood as a military base in the early 1960s.

Stories are cited from early twentieth-century newspapers recounting Indian skirmishes with pioneering settlers, deeds of cattle rustlers and trail drivers, as well as events surrounding prohibition and various political rivalries. The early days of Fort Gates, now Gatesville, and the later development of Camp Hood, now Fort Hood, one of the nation's largest military installations, are described. Statistical tables and records present expenditures for, and descriptions of, buildings, jails, courthouses, prominent homes, banks, and businesses in Coryell county.

Interspersed among the political and economic accounts of the county's progress are more personal stories of weddings, births, parties, church events, legendary horses, dogs, local heroes, and even the county's centennial celebration in 1954. Mears' relatively unadorned narrative describes in some detail the increasing social, economic, and political prosperity and influence, as well as the setbacks, of Coryell County. Mears' work brings to life frontier Texas culture during the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth century.

This collection consist of correspondence, telegrams, notes, reports, speeches, newspaper clippings, and publications which span most of Trotter's career in Agricultural Education.

Some periods are much better documented than are others. Materials for the period before 1936 include some leaflets, a few letters, circulars and clippings, and one pamphlet. Trotter's move from Missouri to Texas is well documented in letters, bills, and telegrams, but his transfer to Agricultural Extension and then to the Graduate School at Texas A&M College in College Station, Texas are poorly covered. Most of the available information is in the newspaper clippings. Both moves were made during periods of controversy. Hopefully additional documentation can be found elsewhere in the records of Texas A&M University.

Trotter's activities as Director of Extension and Dean of the Graduate School at Texas A&M College should be fairly well covered in the records of those two offices. Unfortunately his personal papers conatain very little information on them. The only documentation on Trotter's two periods of foreign service is in the reports he wrote on his cotton surveys in 1948. Some special activities such as service on the Postwar Planning Committee and participation in Rural Church Conference are fairly well documented.

This collection consists of letters written by or about Edward Thomas, an English author, and one manuscript of a foreword written by his wife, Helen Thomas. The subject of each one varies from Edward Thomas' death, a rejection letter for a short story he later published elsewhere, to general correspondence with a photographer friend, Frederick Evans, and Mrs. Thomas' foreword which was added to a new edition of her then-late husband's children's book, Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds.

The collection came with detailed notes on each item, as well as a transcription of what is written on the original pieces of paper. Thus, it was copied to this finding guide, as a helpful aid to deciphering the handwriting.