Briscoe Center Guide to Civil Rights and Social Justice Materials

Manuscript collections are collections of paper record, photographic material, physical artifacts, and other items used to document the history of a specific individual, group, or organization. These materials are generally created or gathered by the individuals, groups, or organization. These materials are generally created or gathered by the individuals, groups, or organizations over the course of their life time and can include items such as correspondence, financial and legal documentation, business records, family histories, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings. The collections listed below are a partial listing of collections.

• Ruth Alice Allen Papers, 1943-1946, 1971, 1973 (9 inches) - relates to events at the University of Texas at Austin, where she held a professorship in economics from 1923 to 1959. These include the 1944 firing of University of Texas president Homer P. Rainey by the board of regents, the ensuing actions of the faculty, and the issue of academic freedom.  

• Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 Records, 1886-1985 (1 ledger) - The Centennial Farmers Alliance No. 3344 Records, 1886-1895, consist of a ledger documenting the activities of the agricultural organization’s political activities. The ledger includes minutes of Alliance’s meetings, most of which were recorded by Secretary W. H. Madely, as well as accounts of the organization’s finances, membership lists, and quarterly reports. 

• Byron and Rannie Cook Papers (not on TARO/AS) 

• Eugene Victor Debs Papers, 1881 - 1941 (1 ft.) - Papers concern the career and political activities of Eugene V. Debs and consist primarily of the correspondence of Debs and his brother Theodore, and with Frank X. Holl, a union organizer for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. Papers also relate to the family of Frank X. Holl, including his wife Anne (Love) Holl, and her brother W. A. Love. 

• Frances Tarlton Farenthold Papers 1913-2016 (165.5 feet) - documents Farenthold’s support of women’s rights and women’s increased involvement in politics; activism in the nuclear disarmament and peace movements; promotion of civil and prisoners’ rights; international relations in China, the U.S.S.R., South Africa, and other countries; as well as education, health, militarization, and other social and political issues in developing countries.  

• James Leonard, Jr. and Lula Peterson Farmer Papers, 1908, 1921-1999 (46 feet, 1 inch) -  documents the Farmers' professional and personal activities including their involvement in the U. S. civil rights movement. Correspondence, minutes, financial records, and other materials relate to the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the civil rights organization James Farmer founded in 1942. The papers also contain extensive documentation of three organizations Farmer established in the 1960s and 1970s: the Center for Community Action Education, the Council on Minority Planning and Strategy (COMPAS), and the Public Policy Training Institute. 

• Galveston (Texas) Typographical Union Records, 1860-1935 (1 foot, 2 inches) - Minutes, pamphlets, legal documents, and assorted printed material comprise the Galveston (Texas) Typographical Union Records, 1860-1935, and document the activities of the union.  

• Franklin Garcia Papers, 1961-1990 (8 inches) - contains 44 oral history audiocassettes and related documents (1979-1980) as well as transcripts, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings on Texas Farmworkers’ strikes (1964-1966), correspondence, literary productions, legal documents, handbills, reports, and other documents regarding union organizing and other labor issues in south Texas and on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexican border. 

• Henry B. Gonzalez Papers 1946-2015 (498.75 feet) - includes approximately 500 linear feet of correspondence, committee records, campaign files, schedules, personal schedules, appointments, legislative files, photographs, video and audiotapes, memorabilia and artifacts. The papers document Congressman Gonzalez’s years of public service as an elected official on the San Antonio City Council, the Texas State Senate, and the U.S. Congress, though the bulk of the records document his tenure as U.S. Representative from Texas (1961-1998). 

• Good Neighbor Commission Records 1949-1950 (¼ inch) - contains manuscripts pertaining to Mexican discrimination in Texas, labor and human relations and problems between Texas and Latin American nations, and intercultural education and history. 

• The Great Southwest Strike Clippings (not on TARO/AS) 

• International Ladies' Garment Workers Versus Dorothy Frocks Company Records (not on TARO) - One typescript volume of petitions, briefs, appeals, and other documents used in lawsuit of International Ladies Garment Workers Local Union No. 123, et al., vs. Dorothy Frocks Company (San Antonio). 

• Labor Movement in Texas Collection 1845-1954 (4 feet, 7 inches) - Documents include correspondence, transcripts, newspaper clippings, newsletters, notes, interviews and manuscripts resulting from research begun in 1936 under Bureau of Research in Social Sciences, University of Texas, by Economics Professor Ruth Allen (1889-1979) into the history of organized labor in Texas. The bulk of the collection covers three industries: railroad, with an emphasis on the 1886 Southwest Rail Strike and leader Martin Irons; longshore, predominantly early union organizing in Galveston, Gulf Coast strikes (1885-1939), and maritime organizations; and oil, including the organizing of Houston-area refineries.  

• Charles Wright Mills Papers 1929-1975, 1997, 2000 (36 feet, 8 inches) - Typescripts and drafts, notes, notebooks and journals, research reports by Mills and others, survey instruments and tables of survey results, correspondence, reviews and clippings from newspapers and journals document the academic, professional and personal interests of C. Wright Mills. 

• Oral History of the Texas Oil Industry Collection, 1952-1960 (35 feet) - documents the development of the Texas oil industry, and includes taped interviews of reminiscences, and written materials. The 218 interviews record the memories of pioneers in all phases of oil field work and oil booms, including roughnecks, drillers, promoters, financiers, contractors, leasemen and law officers. 

• Jana Pellusch Papers, 1952-1992 (7 feet) - Newspaper clippings, printed material, serials, letters, audio cassettes, quasi-publications, and writings (1952-1992, bulk 1969-1980) collected and created by Jana Pellusch document her membership in the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union from 1974-1989; her involvement in political, social, and economic organizations in Kansas and Texas; her campaign for Texas Railroad Commissioner; and her writings for The Militant. 

• Paul B. Ragsdale Papers 1959-2006 (42 feet) - consists of classified files assembled when Ragsdale was state representative from Dallas (1973-1986). 

• Southwestern Ice Manufacturers' Association Records, 1913-1969 (19 feet, 1 inch) - Records relate to the management and operation of the association and contain technical information on the manufacture of ice and the building of ice plants, legislation concerning the regulation of the ice industry and labor relations, marketing and advertising plans, and proceedings of conventions and conferences. 

• Steve Russell and Donna Mobley Papers, 1959-1992 (24 feet) - Comprised of correspondence, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, teaching materials, campaign brochures, printed materials, and notes that document Russell’s career as a lawyer, activist, and trial court judge as well as Mobley’s career as a union organizer and activist.  

• Texas State Federation of Labor Records, 1910 - 1961, (3.75 ft.) - Documents include court records, correspondence, bills, reports, newsletters, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, notices, and speeches related to the Federation or its member unions; the bulk of the collection consists of court records and correspondence concerning legal cases.