HIST 5388: Public History - East Texas History

The majority of this collection deals with land cases in Walker and San Jacinto counties, with much focus on early Walker County. The correspondence reflects both legal and personal communication. The collection also contains some Civil War related correspondence, dating from 1862-1864. This includes many thank you letters that McKinney sent to donors of medicine or other supplies to soldiers of the 13th Texas Volunteers. There are thirty-one (31) Letter Books with copies of all correspondence written by McKinney from 1869-1906. Journals and other materials related to McKinney’s time in the House of Representatives as well as court proceedings in the Court of Civil Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas are also included.

The Austin H. MacCormick Papers contains materials documenting the personal life and career of Austin H. MacCormick, one of the nation’s most influential criminologists and prison reformers. This collection contains materials covering his career as Executive Officer of the U.S. Naval Prison, Assistant Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Professor and Dean of Criminology at Berkley, and Director of the Osborne Association of New York. Some of the many subjects include: state and federal prison conditions, prison reformation, juvenile detention centers, probation, parole, correctional standards and staff training. The collection includes over twenty five individual state correctional system reports conducted by Austin H. MacCormick and other criminologists of the time.

This collection of rare broadsides, orignial manuscripts, decrees, proclamations and military orders, documents the Hispanic heritage of the Spanish Province, Mexican Colony, and the Independent Republic of Texas.

The Charles Spear Collection (1840-1851, one box) contains the personal correspondence, journal, and passport of Charles Spear. The collection concerns Spear’s work to abolish the death penalty in the United States and his support of prison reform. Along with documents regarding Spear’s travels to England in pursuit of support to eliminate the death penalty in the United States, the collection also includes a subscription book carried by Charles Spear and his brother that contains signatures of prominent people of the time. Thomason Special Collections also has multiple editions of Essays on the Punishment of Death by Charles Spear, CJ Spec. HV8698 .S6 1844.

A collection of 23 documents relating to slavery, including slave inventories, selling slaves, third party hiring of slaves and valuation of slaves in Texas.

A large collection of drawings from US Marine and Huntsville resident John. W. Thomason. Topics covered in these drawings range from wild life, WWI, the Civil War, and life in China in the 1930s.

The Goree Family Papers consists of documents, correspondence, articles, and photographs concerning the Goree family of Walker County, Texas. The majority of the collection is the original correspondence of Thomas Jewett Goree who served as aide to General James Longstreet during the Civil War.

The Huntsville Walker County Photographs Collection is composed of photographs of various subjects throughout Walker County, primarily Huntsville, Texas.

A selected index of the Huntsville Items that can be found in Thomason Special Collections. The documents pertains to events, people, and places that the compiler thought would be of interest to historians interested in Walker County, Texas. This is not a complete index of the Huntsville Items in Thomason Special Collections.

A collection of personal photographs of James Van Benschoten Bennett. The photographs portray his role as the second Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and as a prolific prison reformer. The photographs cover his family life, his travels overseas to inspect prisons, and his work as the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The items in this collection represent Jane Howe Gregory’s extensive research into the Texas Penitentiary system, primarily focusing on issues surrounding female inmates. Journal articles, class notes, and prison records are the most common types of materials in this collection. Prison statistics and prison reforms pertaining to female prisoners are the most common themes.

The John F. Kelly Collection (1866-2007; one box) contains the original diary of John Felix Kelly, an early Walker County settler. His personal diary includes perspectives on events, weather, east Texas terrain, and people. The diary includes songs, scientific problems, surveying procedures, and medical treatments. The John F. Kelly Collection also contains photographs, correspondence, and additional documents that relate to John F. Kelly and his family.

The John Warren Smith Collection (1836-2009; ten boxes) contains materials documenting the history of John Warren Smith and the Smith family of Walker County, Texas. The Walker County probate and deed records include information that was used in the writing of John Warren Smith’s novel No Holier Spot of Ground published by Sam Houston State University’s Texas Review Press in 2004. The original manuscript and author’s notes for No Holier Spot of Ground are part of the collection, which also includes materials pertaining to many early Walker County residents, businesses, and historically significant incidents. Included are articles on the Trinity River and steamboat travel, early Huntsville newspaper clippings, early Texas and Walker County maps, information on Polk County, and material on the ghost town of Cincinnati, Texas. The majority of the materials concern the Smith family of Walker County (Cincinnati) and includes information regarding Hood’s Texas Brigade, the yellow fever epidemic, slaves, the mentally ill, lawsuits, family wills, as well as photographs of family gravestones. Also included in the collection are early Sam Houston Normal Institute and Sam Houston Teachers College certificates and diplomas for Boyce O. Smith and Mary Traylor.

This collection consists of letters from an English immigrant who settled in Huntsville, TX. Topics include yellow fever and farming in Huntsville.

The Mark Twain Correspondence and Ephemera Collection contains original correspondence from Samuel Langhorne Clemens. The letters and postcards consist mostly of thank you letters and correspondence concerning travel accommodations for a trip to Europe. The collection includes original photographs and postcards of Mark Twain. The collection also has numerous newspaper clippings and ephemeral booklets relating to Mark Twain.

This collection of letters documents R.M. Powell's time in the Confederate Army and his imprisonment at Johnson's Island.

This collection contains various manuscripts relating to Sam Houston and his time as President and Governor of Texas.

This collection of thirty documents represents original papers signed by a number of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" [among the earliest Anglo settlers of Texas].

This collection contains fifty early maps of the lands which came to be known as Texas. These items were acquired from the Clark Texana Collection, through private gifts and purchases, as well as "Keepsake" facsimiles.

The manuscript collection begins with the personal papers of Henderson Yoakum, who wrote the first comprehensive history of Texas. They include a muster roll from his Cherokee campaign, discharge orders and payment authorizations for his troops, as well as Yoakum’s license to practice law. The Texana Documents collection also includes papers and letters related to early Texas, primarily annexation issues, ranging from 1842-1845.

This collection assembles autographed documents of 53 early Texas attorneys and judicial officials.

This collection contains the personal correspondence, scrapbooks, journals, articles, obituaries, photographs, and documents of the Werner family of Huntsville, Texas. The correspondence includes letters concerning the Werner family and friends with specific instances regarding the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. The collection also includes many photographs of the Werner family and friends. Significant photographs include historic Werner family pictures, Robert A. Werner’s Air Force pictures, and Carolyn Werner’s travel pictures. Many of the family pictures contain images of the city of Huntsville in the 1950s and 1960s.

This is the fourth largest collection of Mexican masks in the United States; this collection was assembled by William J. Breitenbach between 1968 -2004.

The Wild Dog Collection contains correspondence documenting the lives and writing careers of authors and poets who started their careers writing for a small, campus magazine called Wild Dog during the early 1960s (the Beat period). The collection contains material documenting the small press publishing industry as demonstrated by the “Wild Dog” magazine, including correspondence between “Wild Dog” and other small presses. It also documents editorial workings that sustained the press during its short existence. This collection contains manuscript and first edition versions of poems and short stories written by the many authors who got their start writing for “Wild Dog.” The original artwork in the Wild Dog Collection includes various sketches for magazine covers.