Texas A&I University
Benjamin F. Wilson Jr. Collection
Col. Benjamin F. Wilson Jr. was born July 4, 1913, he was the third child of Judge Benjamin F. Wilson Sr. and Alice Warnock Wilson. He attended the University of Texas and graduated from Texas A&I University (then College) in 1940 with a MBA degree. Ben Jr. married Florence Collins in Kingsville in 1941. He was mobilized when the Texas National Guard, 36th Division was called into Federal service. He served throughout World War II in North Africa, Italy, and the European operations. Awarded the Bronze Star in 1945, Ben Jr. returned home to Kingsville. He bought and operated Wilson's True Value Hardware. Ben and Florence had two sons; Ben F. Wilson III in 1947 and Allen Collins Wilson in 1950.
Emily Rutland Art Collection
The Emily Rutland Art Collection depicts rural scenes from farm life in the early and middle 20th century. Animals and landscapes of South Texas are illustrated in a variety of media including charcoal, watercolor, pen and ink, and lithographs.
Frank & June Dotterweich Collection
Professional papers, files, and publications from the career of Dr. Frank Dotterweich, who established the Natural Gas Engineering Program at the Texas College of Arts & Industries in 1936. As part of the first of-a-kind program, Dr. Dotterweich published many articles that even today continue to offer foundation research. Included in this collection are copies of most of his publications, some of which are the only copies available, as well as scrapbooks, news clippings, and papers left by his wife, June Dotterweich, who was active in local civic organizations.
Garcia-Smith Family Collection
The Donor, Dr. Julia Smith is a retired professor of Language and Literature at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Julia Garcia and George Smith were married in 1929 and joined two long time Texas families. Mr. Smith was the descendant of Canary Islanders.
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.
South Texas Archives All-American Javelina Collection
The collection of 143 photographs of All-American Javelina athletes from Texas A&I University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville, spanning years 1925-2010 was created for a John C. Conner Museum exhibit, "Javelina Pride: Eight Decades of Athletic Tradition," in the fall of 2011. Included are athletes from football, baseball, basketball, tennis, track & field, and golf.
University Archives El Rancho Annual Yearbook Collection
Dismantled copies of annuals that where digitized.
University Archives Collection
The collection includes records from TAMUK since its beginning as South Texas State Normal School.
Luis Munoz’s Bilingual Theater Collection
With the hiring in 1972 of Texas A&I University at Kingsville's first bilingual teacher in theater, Joseph Rosenberg (formerly with Goddard College in Vermont), the theater department got its first taste of bilingual dramatic art. Rosenberg, whose family was bicultural and bilingual, decided he wanted to combine his Mexican and American cultures and initiated the Bilingual Theater Program. La Fiaca was the first production that opened in Kingsville in 1973 and was acted in both Spanish and English. Later that summer, La Fiaca, was toured in Mexico.Other productions followed and the bicultural theater exchange program of Texas A&I University-Kingsville was begun and flourished through the year 1977 under the leadership of Dr. Rosenberg.
Mary Margaret Gussett Ewert Collection
The collection tells the story of Mary Margaret Gussett Ewert's life in South Texas. Her family was involved in building the communities of Live Oak and Corpus Christi and her letters describe their activities. Mary Margaret worked as the secretary for the President of Texas A&I University. She later married Dr. William Arthur Ewert and raised a family. She was active in garden and women's clubs, her church and the Red Cross. She met and developed a good friendship with Lyndon Baines Johnson and his family.
Mike V. Ybarra Papers
Personal and public documents of Melquiades (Mike) V. Ybarra who served as a Kingsville City Commissioner, Kleberg County Commissioner, and a Marine Corps veteran of World War II. Ybarra was a longtime civic and political leader in Kingsville who advocated for the rights of Hispanics and was most active as the president of LULAC. Materials from Mike Ybarra include correspondence, service awards, certificate awards, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, Department of the Navy, death announcement, notes of speeches, election materials, LULAC, campaign letters, photographs, and election posters.
Playhouse of Design Art Society Records
Correspondence, minutes, year books, printed annuals, calendars, scrapbooks and financial records for shows, calendars and yearbooks of the activities of the "Playhouse of Design" an art club originally begun by Mrs. Jake Trussell of Ricardo in January of 1960. Personal letters and speeches by past presidents and large scrapbooks for each year highlighthighlight the society’s activities.
Stevens G. Herbst Collection
Stevens G. Herbst, an alumni of Texas A&I University now Texas A&M University donated a collection of documents and photographs that details the name change of the university in the 1990s, the funding and creation of the Frank H. Dotterweich statue by Armando Hinojosa and the change of the name of the College of Engineering to the Frank Dotterweich College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Senator Carlos F. Truan Papers
Carlos F. Truan played an instrumental role in shaping the destiny of the Lone Star State, serving the citizens of South Texas with dedication and vision over the course of an impressive, and indeed unprecedented, career as a member of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senator Truan came from a humble, single parent home and worked hard to earn his college degree from a small South Texas college. He entered the work world in the early 1960s, before the Civil Rights movement had even hinted at including Mexican Americans in the quest for equality and justice. Through the legislation he authored and/or sponsored he worked to make government more responsive to the people it served.
Thien Wah Papers
Dr. Thein Wah, a Professor of Engineering from 1971 to 1984 at Texas A&M University-Kingsville donated his profession papers to South Texas Archives. He authored over fifty original papers and two books in the field of civil engineering. This collection consists of 34 of his published papers.
Buckner Papers
D.U. "Buck" Buckner donated his memoirs and personal papers to South Texas Archives to document his family history. He spent his childhood years in Pharr, Texas. Buckner was an alumnus of Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville.) He worked as a Real Estate Appraiser and Consultant. His papers and writings tell the story of his family in the Rio Grande Valley in the middle and late years of the twentieth century.
C.A. Davis, Jr. Papers
C.A. Davis, Jr attended Texas A&I College from 1939 - 1943. During his tenure as a student he wrote articles for South Texas paper as an Engineering Student from 1940-1942.
Tau Beta Pi Records
Materials pertaining to the operation of Tau Beta Pi, engineering honors society, on campus.
J. R. Manning Collection
Dr. J. R. Manning was elected Head of the Department of Business Administration at the South Texas Teachers College in 1925. Throughout his forty-four year career, from 1925 to 1969, Dr. Manning directed the growth and direction of the Business Administration Department and was actively involved with several business-related student fraternities and clubs. Upon his retirement in 1969, the University named the building that housed the Business Administration Department since 1925 in his honor, Manning Hall. He went on to become Kingsville's mayor for three terms. Dr. J. R. Manning was given the status of Professor Emeritus in 1982 and he was the last surviving member of the original faculty of the South Texas State Teachers College, now Texas A&M University-Kingsville. His papers show his academic achievements and his dedication to the Business Administration Department and the University.
Agnes G. Grimm Collection
Agnes Grimm was an author and collector of area history. An area school teacher of Texas history, she kept extensive notes, photographs and maps about the history of South Texas and her personal effort to document it. Her book, Llanos Mestenas, was published in 1968.
Anse E. and Mary Windham Photo Collection
The Anse E. and Mary Windham Family collection chronicles the career of Anse as a Chief Air Traffic Controller in the Navy and the life of both Mary and Anse in Kingsville, Texas. During his enlistment, Anse served aboard the USS Hornet. In 1969 he was a witness to the recovery of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 space capsules. After his retirement from the Navy in 1978 Anse continued to work as a civilian Air Traffic Controller for an additional twenty years. Both Anse and Mary were active in Kingsville’s local organizations. Anse continued to fly his plane, flying students who were tracking animals for the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute and taking aerial photographs of South Texas.
Alberto M. Olivares Collection
Dr. Alberto M. Olivares Collection depicts his years at Texas A&I University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville as a Professor of Chemistry and in 1981 also Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. His accomplishments in his professional life as chairman and member of many academic boards and his service as Dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. Olivares' lifelong service to the university and to the community of Kingsville illustrate his dedication and commitment to both.
Ansel Family Collection
Both David and Peggy Ansel worked for Texas A&M University-Kingsville. They cave South Texas Archives a collection of photographs of events at the university, publications from the university, football memorabilia, and maps of the area.
Kingsville Black Community Collection
Thirty-six separate oral history interviews, video tapes, slides, photographs and written histories documenting the history of the Black community of Kingsville are included in this collection. Complementing this collection are a three volume manuscript by Dan Eggleston on the Quarters and documents left by Hosea Bush about the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a Black union of railroad workers.
Cynthia Woehl Fulton: Fox-Calhoun Collection
In October of 2017 Cynthia Woehl Fulton donated documents, photographs and memorabilia of her mother's, Jean Calhoun Woehl, time at Texas College of Arts and Industries (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) and of her family who were descendants of Adolf Fuchs, a Lutheran minister, musician, and teacher who emigrated from Hamburg, Germany and settled in Texas around 1835.
Dr. James C. Jernigan Collection
The Dr. James C. Jernigan Collection consists of over 280 photographs from 1914 to his retirement from Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) in 1975. The photos, originally in four scrapbooks, illustrate his life growing up in North Texas, his quest for a higher education and his accomplishments as President of a Texas A&I University. Professional documents and correspondence during his service in World War II are included along with newspaper clippings of major events during his professional life.
Candace Jefferson Collection
Candace Jefferson was born and raised in Kingsville, Texas in the last half of the 20th century. Her father was a union representative for the Colored Trainmen of American in Kingsville when the railroad was young in South Texas. Candace Jefferson first worked in Houston in the Health Care field, later she worked for Condaleeza Rice and met Colin Powell at the State Department of the United States. Jefferson traveled and worked in Egypt and Israel. This collection of papers, documents, and photographs tell the rich story of her experiences.
Dr. Joseph O. Kuti Collection
Dr. Joseph O. Kuti was a professor in the agronomy and resource science department since the fall of 1988 when he accepted a position at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville.) His teaching, publishing and interests ranged from genetic improvement of plants with nutritional and health benefits to environmental uses of native and exotic landscape plants.
Kaye Presley Collection
The Kaye Presley Collection contains Texas A&I memorabilia, King Ranch sale brochures, records from a variety of organizations and hundreds of negatives and photographs of students, faculty, and staff from the Kingsville and Riviera Independent School Districts taken when Presley was the Public Relations Specialist for the school districts.
Dr. Columbus Vandiver Mooney Collection
Dr. Columbus Vandiver Mooney Collection consists of his professional and scholarly papers, correspondence and reports during his time as a Professor of Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering and chair of the Frank H. Dotterweich Committee at Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville).
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.
Pat & Alfred Gross Collection
The collection consists of mostly photographs of Alfred and Patricia Gross' professional and personal lives. They are materials from their estate donated by a great nephew of Alfred Gross, Brian T. Grisham. Dr. Gross was the head of Industrial Technology and a long time Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) faculty member. Pat Gross was the Curriculum director for the Kingsville Independent School District.
Dr. Edwin R. Bogusch Collection
Dr. Edwin Robert Bogusch was born at Mason, Texas in 1905. He received his BA, MA and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Texas. Dr. Bogusch began his teaching career at the age of eighteen in a one-room schoolhouse in Helotes, Texas. Dr. Bogusch was a professor at Texas A&I College from 1941 to 1974 when he retired. He was named Chairman of the Biology Department in 1948 and served in that capacity for twenty years. While he was at Texas A&I College, he wrote many articles and a few books, produced many films and audio tapes all on the subjects of the flora and fauna of South Texas. Dr. Edwin R. Bogusch died at the age of 80 years old in 1986.
George Otis Coalson Collection
The George O. Coalson Collection consists of 1.5 linear feet of research materials, maps, written articles, newspapers, and books. Most of the materials are copies and notes from sources first printed as early as the mid-1800s up through 1995. Dr. Coalson complies the materials from 1955 up to his death in 1995.
George O. Coalson Annotated Bibliography of South Texas Historical Resources
Dr. George O. Coalson dedicated his entire life to the study of South Texas History. Over a span of 45 years, he created an annotated bibliography that consists of 10 major eras of Texas history from pre-Columbian era to 1995; an additional 4 series of subject matter focuses on transportation, crime, Baffin Bay and miscellaneous. The 14 series are divided into approximately 6,000 different sub-series, and organized alphabetically by subject and year where applicable. This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and Texas State Library and Archives Commission. (2019, 2020) (Grant Numbers TXT-19006 and TXT-20009).
South Texas Association of Biologists Records
Materials cover the South Texas Association of Biologists including meeting, agendas, minutes, correspondence and includes programs for the Conference on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences, Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences (C.U.E.B.S.)
Peggy Westbrook Collection
Peggy (Wright) Westbrook was born in 1931 in Luling, Texas. She was born and married into oil families allowing her to live in places like Australia and Alaska. Peggy is best known for her Santas that she paints from blocks of wood. Over the years, starting in 1971 with her first, she has painted thousands for her customers all over the world.
Bill and Marjorie Walraven Collection
The Bill and Marjorie Walraven Collection is the library of former Corpus Christi Caller-Times columnist Bill Walraven and his wife, Marjorie K. Walraven. The collection contains more than 700 books Mr. Walraven gathered over his lifetime, his columns for the Caller-Times , speeches he made throughout his career as a journalist and author, and other research notes. The Walravens have had an abiding love for Texas and respect for telling its story and wanted to honor Bill’s memory by making his collection available for use.