Ida Lawrence, Photograph - Pages 31 and 32
Scope and Contents
The May Benson Lyle Scrapbook contains Fifty-six (front and back) unnumbered pages with forty-nine black and white photographs (one each on the front and back covers of the scrapbook) recording May Benson Lyle's time as a student at Sam Houston Normal Institute from 1905-1908.
The images in the scrapbook are of campus buildings such as Austin Hall, Old Main Building, and the Peabody Memorial Library. There are also images of faculty members such as Ida Lawrence, Sue Smither, Professor Coleman, Professor Henry Fishburne Estill, Joseph (Joe) Pritchett, and his brother President Henry Carr Pritchett. Additional images show May Benson Lyle and her friends at the boarding house they lived in while attending Sam Houston Normal Institute.
Dates
- 1905 - 1908
Biographical / Historical
Ida Lawrence was born in Milledgeville, Georiga, on April 20, 1854, to Dr. Michael Jackson Lawrence, a prominent physician of East Texas, and Martha Crayhill. Her sister, Augusta Lawrence, taught English and was an assistant in the library, and oversaw the Texas Room at Sam Houston Normal Institute.
In 1860, she and her family moved to Texas, living in and near Tyler.
In 1880, Ida Lawrence attended Peabody Normal College in Nashville, Tennessee, where she graduated with honors in 1882. In the same year of her graduation, she received a teaching position in the city schools of Corsicana, TX. Ida taught for eleven years and was elected principal of the high school in Corsicana, which was considered unusual for a female in that period. In 1893, Ida resigned to accept a faculty position at Sam Houston Normal Institute in history and geography.
In 1919, Ida went back to school to study library science at George Peabody College for Teachers. Upon finishing her studies in 1920, she became an assistant in the library at Sam Houston State Teachers College. She also took summer courses at Texas, Colorado Chantanqua summer school of the South, New York Chantanqua, and Havard University.
Ida and her sister Augusta lived together in Huntsville at 1804 Avenue I.
Ida Lawrence died on January 3, 1934, in Huntsville, Texas, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Tyler, Texas.
Extent
1 Photographic Prints : Black and white photograph. Handwriting in black ink.
Language of Materials
English
Physical Description
Page 31: Black and white photograph of Ida Lawrence standing on a house porch. Underneath the photograph in stylized writing is "Miss Ida." in black ink.
Page 32: Blank
Repository Details
Part of the Thomason Special Collections & SHSU University Archives Repository