Pat Allison
2 Linear Ft
A2016-050; A2017-023; A2018-039
1890-1945 (unknown)
Pat Allison had been doing research at the South Texas Archives for several years when this project was embarked upon. She has been a freelance writer for the Kingsville Record and the Bishop News, contributing articles about the railroad, the navy base, ranching, and the upcoming election. She is married to Charles B. Allison, a physics professor at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Pat Allison was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
She graduated from Washburn High School in 1969. Still not sure what she wanted to be when she grew up she enrolled in Control Data Institute in order to learn how to program those newfangled computer things. Immediately upon graduation from the CDC institute Pat was hired by Control Data to be a computer operator. She worked her way up to being an assistant programmer and finally a real computer programmer. Times turned difficult for Control Data in 1972 and they offered Pat the opportunity to either move to Texas or go on unemployment. She had spent too much time in the snow and cold and opted to move to Texas where she would work with the CDC contractor team at Johnson Space Center south of Houston.
Pat met a Texas boy who was working for another Johnson Space Center contractor, Singer. They fell in love. Pat accepted his proposal for marriage. The day after accepting that proposal her employer, Control Data Corporation, was again on hard times and offered Pat the opportunity to move to California or go on unemployment. Pat opted for unemployment thus making her future permanent in Texas. Pat worked for a lot of different companies; University of Houston, Synercom Technology, Scimetrics, and a few more. Somewhere along the way Pat decided that computers were evil, a.k.a. not fun. Her husband wanted to start his own business so Pat studied accounting and earned an AA degree in Accounting. Pat’s new career became the bookkeeper/purchasing agent/invoicing manager/collections agent/manufacturing floor/shipping agent/janitor for Allison Technology Corporation. Years went by.
Finally Pat and husband, Charles, decided to close the business, retire and move to Charles’ hometown of Kingsville. They remodeled an old Navy barracks located on property east of Ricardo, in the brush. Living in the brush satisfied Pat’s desire to be as far away from technology as reasonable, out of cell phone range for a number of years. A friend kept telling Pat that she needed something to do with her life. She kept saying, “No.” Finally Pat started to volunteer at the Kingsville Train Depot Museum. There she studied about trains and Kingsville history for several years.
Pat was contacted by Arcadia Publishing about the possibility of writing a book for them titled, “Images of America: Kingsville”. It was a book of old pictures of the community. That required that Pat spend a ridiculous amount of time loitering at the South Texas Archives studying old pictures. The book was published in 2011. Pat found writing to be enjoyable. Later Pat went to work as a part time tour guide at the King Ranch. Being out on the Ranch watching the brush, cattle and horses and miscellaneous critters was great fun. She continued to study local history. She started writing short articles for the Kingsville Record. That required her to hang out at the South Texas Archives some more. She started writing the Voices newspaper articles for the Archives. Pat retired from doing tours at King Ranch and focuses on being a nuisance at the South Texas Archives. Life is never boring. Life is good.
[Biographical history written by Pat Allison, herself.]
The material consists of Voices of the South Texas Archives newspaper articles, word files with footnotes identifying where the information is found in the Archives or in external reference material, and identifications for pictures from the collection that are used in the printed newspaper articles. Pictures that accompany the story for publication in the Kingsville Record and Bishop News are from the collection, with few exceptions. Two text files are developed in Word. One contains the footnotes for the Archives’ to assist any future researchers in locating the information source. One text file is formatted without the footnotes for publication in the newspaper. The subjects chosen for the articles include the first families to settle this region of South Texas, distinguished professor's papers and organization's documents created by citizens of Kingsville.
The collection is arranged into five series: Series I: South Texas Living Magazine Clippings Series II: Kingsville Record Clippings Series III: The Wrangler Newsletter Series IV: Voices From the Archives Articles Series V: Laughing in the Archives Presentation
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Open for Research
Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.
Pat Allison’s Voices from the Archives Collection, A2016-050.xxxx; A2017-023.XXXX; A2018-039.XXXX South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A2016-050 Contracted work by South Texas Archives,A2017-023 Gift from Pat Allison,A2018-039 Gift from Pat Allison
2016-050 and A2017-023 processed by Lori Atkins in 2016 and 2017, A2018-039 processed by Matt Tallant in 2018. Finding Aid written by Pat Allison and Daniel Thacker, and EAD done by Daniel Thacker in 2017, updated finding aid and EAD done in 2018 by Lori Atkins