National Hispanic Heritage Month & the TTU Hispanic Student Society

Submissions for the logo of 1991’s Hispanic Culture Week at TTU, which is held every April.

September 15^th through October 15^th is National Hispanic Heritage Month. This week, we’d like to tell you about Texas Tech’s Hispanic Student Society (HSS) and our University Archive’s collection of its records. The collection contains details about the association’s activities from 1978 to 2006, including financial materials, newspaper clippings, meeting minutes, membership rosters, posters, one scrapbook, and over 100 photographs.

In 1964, the Mexican-American organization of Los Tertulianos, which means “the Social Gatherers,” became Texas Tech University’s first student organization composed of minority students. Socializing was a key element of their daily routine, as was encouraging, supporting, and embracing their individual quest for a college degree. A natural progression of its their at an academic institution, students via the association promoted the importance of education, spoke out on social causes, and left a legacy for others to emulate.

This is a promotional flyer for one of the HSS’s many events. This event, Café con Leche, featured several Latino poets and authors sharing their work.

By the early 1970s, Los Tertulianos had assimilated into the University and yet maintained an independent voice. They participated in intramural sports, handcrafted Homecoming floats (their entry won the 1967 Sweepstakes Award,) sponsored a Homecoming Queen, and held an educational seminar for Mexican American high school students. Change in the status quo is never easy, and some viewed Los Tertulianos as militant. Undaunted, the organization continued maturing, and with each new class new challenges were faced and overcome.

At some point the association lost focus, so in 1980 the students refocused and became more active on the social issues front. They renamed the organization the United Mexican-American Students (UMAS.) Like the rising phoenix, this rebirth signaled resurgence in their quest for knowledge of self and heritage. UMAS maintained a foothold on the traditional collegiate experience tempered with a palatable Mexican American flair.

A submission for the HSS logo when the group underwent its most recent reorganization. Many logos were submitted, all of which can be found in this HSS Records.

The next generation of Mexican Americans students decided to remake the group in their own image and created the Hispanic Student Society (HSS). HSS continues to promote education, find avenues of academic support, and contribute to our community.

As always, our Reference Department is always happy to arrange access to the collection, as well as many of our other materials.

– Daniel Sanchez, Oral Historian at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.

Lubbock’s Jewish Community and the Congregation Shaareth Israel Records

This is the cover page of the first issue of Congregation Shaareth Israel’s monthly newsletter.

There are more than a few collections housed at the Southwest Collection that focus on religion. We hold, for example, the records of the local and greater Texas Unitarian Universalist Church as well  as those of various Lubbock Christian congregations. Perhaps some of our most interesting collections record the history of Lubbock’s Jewish community, the largest of which is the records of the Congregation Shaareth Israel.

The Congregation traces its origins to the early 1930s when the success of Lubbock’s Jewish community in business, and its overall satisfaction with the area, enticed more individuals and families to move to Lubbock. As a result, the need to establish a synagogue was soon identified. Several different buildings were adopted or built to house the growing congregation over the ensuing years, the most prominent of which was a Synagogue built at 23rd and Avenue Q in 1942. Most recently, in 1985, the Congregation built a temple in southwest Lubbock.

The records contain eclectic materials ranging from art history notes to artifacts, correspondence between members as well as between the Congregation’s administration and national organizations, membership directories, and financial and legal records. A complete set of newsletters, such as the one depicted in the image above, dating from 1960 until the mid-2000s are present, as are a number of photographs and sermons. Many materials relate to the new temple’s construction in 1985, as well as to the life and career of the Congregation’s longest serving rabbi, Alexander Kline, who presided from 1960 to 1981. An ongoing effort to gather oral histories from long-time community members has resulted in a number of recordings that are also available to SWC patrons.

Much of the collection pertains to religious and service groups associated with the Congregation, such as its ‘Sisterhood’. The Sisterhood was involved closely with the Lubbock community at large, most notably through the Food-a-Rama hosted each year from 1969 to 1986. This was an event in which the Sisterhood cooked and sold traditional Jewish foods to the larger community. Once a year, Lubbock residents lined up to buy knishes, blintzes, cabbage rolls, and matzah ball soup.  Food-o-Rama was a major fundraiser for the congregation until it was discontinued. From 1959 until the present, the Sisterhood has published their Year Book, an example of which can be seen in the image above. The Year Book chronicled the activities of Congregation members and other events of note in the Jewish community.

The Congregation strove to closely align itself with Lubbock, Texas at all levels, but also provided for its membership in tangible ways. The document above is the purchase agreement between the Congregation and the Lubbock City Cemetery to procure plots for local families. Assisting with these arrangements has been a mainstay of Lubbock’s Jews since the 1920s, years before even the Congregation was officially established.

It’s difficult to do justice to unique scope of these records. They are a treasure. When matched with related collections, such as the papers of the aforementioned Rabbi Kline or the gathering of miscellaneous West Texas Jewish history the SWC has dubbed the Jewish Archival Collection, they only become more useful. We encourage interested researchers to contact the Southwest Collection’s Reference Department to arrange for a closer look. Furthermore, Congregation Shaareth Israel’s history as told in its own words, as well as its contemporary events and activities, can be found on their website.

World War II Collections at the SWC!

Last week we shared images from the papers of Pete Williams, an Army private who served as General Douglas MacArthur’s chauffeur throughout World War II’s Pacific campaign. But the Southwest Collection houses many other collections related to World War II. The image above, for example, comes from the papers of Joe D. Unfred. Unfred served as a Captain in the U.S. Army’s Third Armored Division during World War II. The Division was the first to breach the Siegfried Line, the first to cross the German border, and to capture the first German town. The collection consists primarily of photographs and scrapbooks documenting the day-to-day life of his service in Europe. The images above come from his time in France in 1944.

Fred Eurie Young’s papers date from 1917 to 1965 and document his time as a serviceman during World Wars I and II. Born in 1891, Captain Young went on to serve as the chief attorney for the Veterans Administration in Lubbock, Texas after the war (from 1946 to 1961). Much of his papers consists of correspondence, both personal and administrative, during both wars. This document, for example, is the notice that he received when he was called up from the Army Reserves in 1942.

Unique among all of our war-related collections is the Texas National Guard Records, 1900-1964. This image comes from a ledger documenting National Guardsmen’s requests in 1901. Although this item dates from prior to WW2, the bulk of the records consist of general files, the medical records and notes of one Dr. G. Schilling, and records and notes pertaining to the 36th Division and the 36th Division Association during that conflict. A variety of related correspondence, financial records, and other items are present, including an amazing six-volume stereographic photo library on World War II.

As always, our Reference Department would be happy to arrange access to these collections as well as our many other materials, whether they pertain to World War II or any of our other diverse collecting areas.

The One-of-a-Kind Photograph

There are times in an archive when a truly special item shows up. The photo above is precisely that. In late 1945, General Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled to Japan after that nation’s surrender to Allied forces, which brought an end to World War II in the Pacific. This photograph was taken moments after his arrival when, having just disembarked from the C-47 that flew him there, he clasped hands with General Douglas MacArthur.

But what makes this photo so special? Note the several photographers in the background lowering their cameras. Their assignment was to take the official, press-released shots of this greeting. This photograph, however, was taken from the opposite side where, presumably, no other cameramen were standing. The man who took this picture, PFC Paul S. “Pete” Williams, was the driver that would later chauffeur MacArthur throughout the Pacific. You won’t find this photograph in the Library of Congress or the Eisenhower Presidential Library. It was the sole property of Private Williams, taken from the unique angle of a foot soldier witnessing history. Now it resides at the Southwest Collection among many of Private Williams’ other World War II photographs.

Pete Williams toured Japan extensively as part of MacArthur’s entourage. When the General visited the ruins of Hiroshima, Pete was there. This photograph is one among many that he took while surveying the atomic destruction from MacArthur’s vantage point.

Not all of Williams’ photos documented military matters and mass destruction. In fact, fully half of his snapshots were of his and his comrades’ antics, as well as daily life in Japan such as this image of smiling fishermen proudly displaying the best of that day’s catch.

The Paul S. “Pete” Williams Papers, 1945 are available for interested researchers to view, as are the papers of his brother, Elijah Williams. Our Reference Department is always happy to arrange access to the collection, as well as many of our other materials.

Preserving Scrapbooks at TTU’s University Archives

Las Leales scrapbook, 1927-1939, prior to conservation.

Texas Tech’s University Archives is located at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library. This archive collects, preserves, and makes accessible to researchers such materials as TTU administrative and faculty records, publications, photographs, and video and audio materials. These materials document the legal, historical, fiscal, administrative, and intellectual aspects of the university, as well as the cultural and social aspects of student life.

Many of the donations to the University Archives contain scrapbooks from various student organizations and departments.  The scrapbook featured here is from the women’s organization, Las Leales. Las Leales Club was a female fellowship society organized in the winter term of 1929, and its membership was limited to twenty. The scrapbook is part of the Dean of Women collection, which among other materials contains scrapbooks from Las Leales, the Association of Women Students, and Freshman Honor Society all dating from 1928 through 1957.

Front page, with hole reinforcement labels

As is often the case with older materials, the pages of this scrapbook are brittle manila paper. Most items are glued to the pages, which often requires special preservation techniques. Fortunately that was not necessary here, but in order to keep this scrapbook intact, we had to reinforce the holes with hole reinforcement labels. In short, we generally try to do as little as possible to the scrapbook, and what we do attempt has to be reversible.

Back cover of the scrapbook, with a shoelace for holding the pages together. The aglet was missing on one end, so tape was used to create one. The tape was later removed so it would not damage the scrapbook

If there are loose photos, they are sleeved in a photo protector and placed back inside the book at the appropriate location. Each page of the book is lightly numbered, in pencil, and a photocopy or digital scan is made of the book so it may be reconstructed if necessary. By making digital images of the scrapbooks, researchers are able to view the contents without handling the pages and materials, though the original scrapbook does remain available for research should it be required. Finally, scrapbooks are stored in an archival box.

The reconstructed scrapbook.

An example of a completely digitized University Archive scrapbook collection, the Human Sciences Scrapbooks, can be found here. The finding aids for these and many other University Archives collections can be found on Texas Archival Resources Online. And, as always, interested researchers can request a viewing or copies of any of these collections via our Reference Department.

-Amy Mire, University Archives