King Ranch
Jimmy Dodd Photograph Collection
This collection includes photographs and negatives; over 500 images, taken by pioneer Kingsville, Texas Citizen, James (Jimmie) Andrew Dodd. The photographs are mostly of Kleberg County and the surrounding areas throughout the first half of the 20th century.
Sam A. Millar Photograph Collection
The collection is a one album containing photographs of quarter horses and racehorses on the King Ranch, mostly on the Norias Division, around 1944. Sam Millar was a friend of Dr. J. K. Northway's, King Ranch's veterinarian.
Ben Glusing Collection
The Benjamin A. Glusing Collection was donated in parts over thirty years. Ben donated favorite historical books, items of local interest and personal items from his office. The collection chronicles events of his life in Kingsville as a lawyer for the King Ranch and the town. He was involved at the state level as a legislator and the local level in community activities and his church's organizations.
Manuel Castro Baseball Collection
Manuel Castro was a King Ranch semi-pro baseball player and umpire. The team called the King Ranch Cowboys began as a semi-pro team of ranch employees in the 1940s. They were better than most teams in South Texas and became known in the region. Castro collected baseball publications in the 1960s and 1970s which his niece, Cynthia S. Castro donated to the John E. Conner Museum in November 1999. The museum transferred the documents to the South Texas Archives in 2000.
Texas Tropical Trail Region Records
This collection is the Texas Historical Commission’s Project: Texas Heritage Trails Program Records dating from 2002 to 2013. The South Texas Region, Tropical Trail Region, covers 20 counties including the Gulf Coast from South Padre Island to Refugio to the Brush Country from George West to Cotulla and Brownsville, all-encompassing the Wild Horse Desert in the heart of the region which includes Hebbronville and Falfurrias. The records reflect the site visits to this region.
Maggie Blanco Salinas Papers
This collection describes Maggie Salinas’ community involvement and contributions to Kingsville during the last half of the twentieth century and first part of twenty-first century. A business owner, Salinas volunteered her time and resources to many local and regional organizations. The projects range from La Posada de Kingsville to being a member on the Advisory Board with the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Engineering Department.
Worth Wright Photographs
Photograph copies of Worth Wright. He was the superintendent of King Ranch during the 1930s. Various other workers and family members are photographed at the Ranch.
Dr. Z.T. Scott Family Collection
Dr. Zachary Thomson Scott was the director of the Texas Tuberculosis Association in Austin, Texas. This collection contains 46 photographs of the Mary Kleberg’s maternal family (Masterson), publications, books, genealogical information, and one soil map of Corpus Christi. The genealogical information are on various members of the Scott family and their lineage, along with biographical information on members of the King, Kenedy and Kleberg families.
John Salisbury House Family Collection
The House family moved to Texas from Illinois in 1905. At first John Salisbury House, his wife Ellen Victoria Comeau, his sons Edmund Walter and Charles Percival and his daughter Clara Comeau settled on a farm near the town of Alfred in South Texas. All three of the House men went to work for the railroad, but each one moved on to enterprises that tied them closely to the growth of Kingsville. J. S. House went on to be postmaster and later the city treasurer. Walter and Percy House both went to work for the R. J. Kleberg and Co. Bank for many years. All three speculated in residential and farm real estate and each of them participated in many civic groups. The members of the House family arrived in Kingsville just after it was first created. As the town grew and prospered so did the House family and the records in the House Family Collection trace the growth and prosperity of the town through that of the House family.
Kingsville Garden Club Records
The Kingsville Garden Club was organized in 1948 and are still active today. Some of their objectives are to stimulate cooperative interest in gardening, conservation, horticulture, flower arranging, and civic engagement. Their civic engagement includes but not limited to: starting junior garden clubs, beautification projects, seminars, publications, flower shows, plant exchanges and fundraisers.
J. L. McDougald Papers
J. L. McDougald, known as Mack, was the Game Management Department Supervisor for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department from the 1940s to the 1970s. In this capacity he also served the King Ranch as the game warden beginning in 1962. By 1975 McDougald was the chief of security for the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. His collection of papers reflects his professional life.
John Rollo’s Collective Research of South Texas Pioneer Ranching
John Rollo, a citizen of Australia, donated his collection of digital files relating to the pioneer ranching families of South Texas. These include materials on the King Ranch in Australia, images of newspaper clippings, and publications concerning the activities of the King Ranch in the United States. Materials also cover Mr. Rollo’s genealogical work on important families of the South Texas region including the James Bryden Family, the King Family, the Kenedy Family, the Chamberlain Family, and the Chapman Family. Included in the collection is the background leading to the litigation of Chapman vs. King Ranch Inc. concerning the Rincón de Santa Gertrudis property which involved James Bryden. The genealogical timelines for the various family connections, though not complete, are their footprints from the past and add another dimension to the historical context of the area.John Rollo complied genealogical information of the James Bryden Family, the Chapman Family, and background of the Chapman vs. King Ranch Inc. ligation over the Rincón de Santa Gertrudis property which James Bryden had a part in. The collection also has some nonrelated series about Chet Downs estate sale that includes King Ranch items, Australian sales catalogs from the King Ranch, a King Ranch 1950’s era slideshow and other materials on the King Ranch in Australia.
Conner Family Collection
John E. Conner was a member of the first faculty at the South Texas State Teachers College that opened in Kingsville in 1925. He was a chairman of the history department, and later dean of the college. He trained students in history by having them visit historic sites and collect documents throughout South Texas; establishing the Robert J. Kleberg History Club and laying the foundation of the South Texas Archives. He left personal papers, records of the South Texas Historical Association, and the early days of Texas College of Arts & Industries as well as research materials from his work and his study. His son, Dr. William Conner and his daughter-in-law Katherine Smith Conner also gave historical records, and family photographs.