Sam Houston State Teachers College Scrapbook
Scope and Contents
The scrapbook, complied by Sam Houston Normal Institute and Sam Houston State Teachers College faculty member Augusta Lawrence, is comprised of 117 pages of newspaper clippings, photographs, and printed materials covering faculty changes, community deaths, notable events, and ex-student/alumni and faculty/staff accomplishments from 1929-1940.
Dates
- Creation: 1929 - 1940
Conditions Governing Use
The materials represented in this finding aid have been made available for research, teaching and private use. For these purposes, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) these items without prior permission on the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies.
Please contact the Newton Gresham Library's Special Collections and University Archives department to request permissions to reproduce materials for any other purpose, or to obtain information regarding the copyright status of a particular digital image, text, audio or video recording.
Biographical / Historical
Augusta J. Lawrence was born in Smith County on August 5th, 1867. She taught English at SHSTC for 43 years (1894-1937), before retiring to work in the Estill Library. In addition to her faculty duties, she led Sunday school at First Baptist Church and aided in organizing the campus YMCA. She died in Tyler, Texas on September 5, 1952.
Student residence Lawrence House (formerly located on University Avenue and 16th), built in 1958, was named in her honor. It was torn down in 2009 and replaced by dining facility Old Main Market, which opened in 2011.
Her older sister, Ida Lawrence (d. 1934), was a SHSTC history professor.
The Ex-Students News Letter was created in November 1929 with Miss Victoria Frels as editor and Miss Mamie C. Lister as associate editor. The newsletter was used to keep the SHSTC community informed of alumni/ex-student and faculty/staff accomplishments, university developments, and retirements and deaths in the SHSTC community.
From 1926-1931 the letter was published every other month, with six issues per year. In the summer of 1932, the editors were away from campus and didn’t publish the letter. In the following years (1932 through at least 1937), the letter was sent out five times a year: February, April, June-July, October, and December.
In 1937, the February letter was mailed to 8,500 addresses, though close to 100 were returned due to change of addresses. At this time, the 1937 Alcalde states the ex-student/alumni population was close to 30,000.
The Ex-Students News Letter was preceded by The Exy and eventually replaced by the Alumnus Magazine in the 1940s.
Extent
1 boxes (flat box)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The scrapbook remains in its orginal order. The articles loosely move through time from 1929 to 1940 from front to back, though many clipping are out of order. Similiar themes, such as articles on the same person, are often grouped together regardless of year.
Custodial History
The pages of the scrapbook have been removed from their binding for preservation and scanning purposes.
Existence and Location of Copies
Two bound copies of the scrapbook were made in 1979. They are located in the Thomason Special Collections and SHSU Univeristy Archives.
Physical Description
This scrapbook was compiled by Sam Houston State Teachers College (SHSTC), previously Sam Houston Normal Institute (SHNI), English Professor and Librarian Augusta Lawrence. It is comprised of clippings from SHSTC community publications The Ex-Students' News Letter(bulk) and The Houstonian, and additionally contains an essay titled The English Department, a Brief History. The materials span from 1929 to 1940 and cover faculty changes, community deaths, notable events, and ex-student-alumni and faculty/staff accomplishments and honors. In addition to the clippings and essay, empty envelopes of various sizes are pasted inside.
Notable events featured in the scrapbook include SHSTC Mathematics professor and Dean of Men Joseph Lucien Pritchett and his wife Lenora Melissa's (Evans) Golden Wedding Anniversary (1932), SHNI graduate and engineer Thomas Ulvan Taylor becoming the first honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers from Texas (1940), and summer student Melvin Handley’s advancements for castor plants within the field of chemurgy (1939).
The scrapbook includes many retirement announcements and obituaries, some of which comprise full-page “In Memoriam" editions. Notable retirements featured include that of Anna C. Loring, who spent thirty years as art instructor at SHSTC, and Augusta Lawrence, the scrapbook compiler, as well as SHSTC librarian and benefactor Beatrice Craig. "In Memoriam" editions feature SHSTC history instructor and librarian Ida Lawrence (d. 1929), distinguished alumni Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker (d. 1938), Loulie Sharpe (Sexton) Estill (d. 1935), wife of SHSTC president Harry F. Estill, and Annie (Bryan) Shaver (d. 1941), former SHNI student and wife of SHSTC president Charles N. Shaver.
Several pages in the scrapbook are dedicated to Ramsey Murray Woods, who attended Sam Houston State Teachers College and later became its first professor of sociology and economics. Clippings address his work in the public school system and his position as Director for Texas for the Inter-racial Commission, in additions to his death in 1940 and subsequent donation of his private library to the university.
The scrapbook also includes articles on various campus buildings and dormitories such as Andrew Jackson Hall, Elizabeth Elliott Hall, the Greek Theatre, the Estill library, and the film library.
Processing Information
Potentially Harmful Content Note- Some content found in this collection may be harmful and difficult to view. These materials may reflect racist or biased views. In some cases, they may conflict with strongly held cultural values, beliefs, or restrictions. We provide access to these to preserve the historical record, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found within them.
Several newspaper articles on page 78-79 of the scrapbook have been flagged for potentially harmful language related to the Black community and the Civil Rights movement.
Sam Houston State Teachers College (SHSTC) has undergone several name changes. It was orginally known as Sam Houston Normal Institute (SHNI) (1879-1923), followed by Sam Houston State Teachers College (1923-1965) and Sam Houston State College (SHSC) (1965-1969), before taking on its current name in 1969, Sam Houston State University (SHSU).
Many faculty and alumni featured in the scrapbook worked at the institution during its early days as SHNI and during its time as SHSTC. They have been referenced as SHSTC faculty and alumni in this finding aid for clarity.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Welsch, J.
- Date
- Febuary 2023
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Lawrence, Augusta. "A brief history of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Texas." 1941.
- Lawrence, Augusta. "Glimpses of ninety years of the history of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Texas. A paper read by Miss Augusta Lawrence at the 90th anniversary service of the church, Sept. 30, 1934." 1934.
- Lawrence, Augusta. "Sam Houston Normal Department." 1895.
- Lawrence, Augusta. "Faculty of Sam Houston Normal Institute and of Sam Houston State Teachers College, 1879-1940. Biographies." n.d.
- "SHSU Lawrence." Vertical Files. SHSU University Archives.
Repository Details
Part of the Thomason Special Collections & SHSU University Archives Repository