Texas Tech University Archives - Alumni Collections
I. Oral History Interviews and II. Manuscript Collections

• Robert Abbott Oral History interview (2000)- Covers the dedication and groundbreaking ceremony of Texas Technological College in the 1920s.
• Tom Abraham oral history interview (2006)- Talks about the history of the Toreador (now the Daily Toreador) newspaper
• Bidal Aguero oral history interview (1998) - Discusses education, Texas Tech and discrimination
• Helen Mack Hume Akers oral history interview (1982) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech during World War II
• Ruth Horn Andrews and Mabel Irwin oral history interview (1968) - Recalls early years of Texas Tech with emphasis on faculty matters
• Mr. and Mrs. Nolan Barrick oral history interview (1973) - Comments on William Ward Watkin's contributions to Texas Tech's architecture
• Mrs. Shirley S. Bates oral history interview (1975) - Talks the development of food services at Texas Tech
• B. A. Brady oral history interview (1980) - Talks about being an engineering student in 1920s, football and designing the Double T Bench
• Mary Louise Brewer oral history interview (1976) - Discusses teach at Tech, Black students and early discrimination against female instructors
• Claude H. Brown oral history interview (1985) - Talks about early Tech Dairy operations (late 1920s or 1930s?)
• Otilo J. Castellano Jr. oral history interview (1999) - Includes comment about few Hispanic students and organizations at Tech in 1972
• Alice Chavez oral history interview (1999) - Comments on Texas Tech student views on Hispanics
• Tony Chavez oral history interview (1976) - Talks about Chicano organizations at Texas Tech and discrimination in Lubbock
• Fern Cone oral history interview (1979) - Talks about Texas Tech boarders, buildings, and celebration
• J. E. Couch oral history interview (1984) - talks about hazing, classes and campus life in 1926
• Stella Crockett Courtney oral history interview (2010)- Covers her time as the first non-transfer African-American student to graduate from Texas Tech.
• Fidela "Fifi" Perez De Lira oral history interview (2009) - talks about being one of the first members of Los Tertulianos, the first minority group at Texas Tech.
• James B. Franks oral history interview (1985) - Discusses Texas Tech laundry facilities
• James R. Gammill oral history interview-faculty (1972) - discusses student life in early 1930s, including hazing, and mentions Dr. John Granberry's use of "I" when teaching which would confuse students and it lead to his dismissal
• Mrs. Lucille Graves oral history interview (1974)- Covers her admittance into Tech as the first African-American student
• W. A. Greer oral history interview (1998) - numerous comments about Texas Tech in the 1920s
• Walter D. Henson oral history interview (1978) - Talks about Texas Tech in 1928
• Mrs. Bill Poage Hickerson oral history interview (2000) - Discusses student life at Texas Tech from 1925-1928
• J. Culver Hill oral history interview (1975) - Comments on early Tech Band from 1927-1932 and the name change
• Jean A. (Mrs. J. Harmon) Jenkins oral history interview (1975) - Covers many early Tech topics from 1930s-1950s, including introduction of women's sorority systems to campus and initiation of athletes into the Double T Association
• Eugene E. Jordan oral history interview (1975) - Various early Tech recollections from 1924-1930, including hazing, Cheri Casa, and conflict between the town and students
• Noé Lara oral history interview (2009) - talks about being a member of Los Tertulianos
• Virginia Landwer oral history interview (1982) - Topics include Women's Athletic Association, Women's Recognition Service, and Doak Hall in 1934
• Grey Lewis oral history interview (2003) - Talks about hazing and student life at Tech
• Julio Llanas oral history interview (1998) - Discusses Texas Tech and minority issues
• R. C. Marshall Jr. oral history interview (1980)- Recalls writing the lyrics to "The Matador Song"
• Bob Messersmith and Lloyd Lanotte oral history interview (undated) - "Spectrum Texas Tech"
• Elton T. Mims oral history interview (1978) - Topics include attending Texas Tech in the 1920s and the first gymnasium
• Elmer Moore oral history interview (1981) - Talks about the early history of Texas Tech and being one of the first cheerleaders
• Lomer Nelson oral history interview (1979) - Talks about the early history of Texas Tech and the Toreador newspaper
• Luciano Perez oral history interview (1976) - Discusses discrimination in education
• Maria Rivas oral history interview (2010) - talks about being a member of Los Tertulianos
• Edith Lucille Robinson oral history interview (undated) - Talks about the early history of Texas Tech and its people
• Willie M. Hawthorne Rogers oral history interview (1998) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech in the 1920s
• Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Rush oral history interview (1971) - Family land sold to help establish Texas Tech
• Dorothy Rylander oral history interview (1981) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech in the 1920-30s
• Dorothy Rylander oral history interview (1985) - Talks more about Texas Tech over the years
• Rodrick Shaw oral history interview (1998) - Attended Texas Tech in the 1940s and owned dairy cow
• Mrs. Wilmer Smith oral history interview (1976) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech in the 1930s, women's liberation and her distinguished career
• Virginia Snelling oral history interview (1973) - Talks about her 46-year career at Tech as the Payroll and Employee Benefits departments
• Joe F. Taylor oral history interview (1975) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech in the 1930s
• David Thompson oral history interview (1975) - Talks about being a student at Texas Tech in the 1950s
• S ? William Tubbs Papers, 1923: This collection consists of two bank receipts from 1923 concerning the payment for securing land for the creation of the West Texas Technological College, which then became Texas Technological College.  William Tubbs paid a sum of $500 on a pledge to secure land that lead to the creation of Texas Tech.

Manuscript Collections

Blanchard, Garland Lester
Garland Lester Blanchard attended Texas Technological College in 1933-1934 and majored in agriculture, possibly as a pre-vet student.

• U 345.1 Garland Lester Blanchard Collection, 1933-1935: This 1 wallet collection consists of a small leather covered diary that Garland L. Blanchard wrote in between the years 1933 and 1935. A few loose news clippings were tucked inside the diary. A blue "First Place" ribbon from the Panhandle South Plains Fair accompanies the diary's donation.

• U 221.1 Class Reunion Records, 1972: This 1 wallet collection contains 2 copies of the class directory for the class of 1932-1933, a 1972 issue of the Texas Techsan, and various donor/alumni pamphlets. The class reunion was held on May 13, 1972.

Cantwell, Nancy
Nancy McKissack, whose married name is Cantwell, was born in 1933 and attended Texas Technological College in the early 1950s.  During her years at Texas Tech, McKissack was involved with Zeta Tau Alpha and the drama fraternity Alpha Psi Omega.

• U 304.1 Nancy Cantwell Collection, 1938-1956: This 1 box collection consists of two scrapbooks donated by Nancy Cantwell.

Cole Collection
C. Curtis Reese attended Texas Tech for three years in the mid-1920s and left Tech before finishing his degree.

• U 273.1 Cole Collection, 1920s and undated: This 1 wallet collections contains a scrapbook of Mrs. Cole's father, C. Curtis Reese,  which includes scenes of the campus, students, ships and miscellaneous people. There are also images of Mr. Reese traveling around the world to places like Paris and surveying.  Additionally, there are party invitations and handbills, many of which were for the Cheri Casa Home for Boys, one of the first boarding houses for students attending the newly established Texas Technological College. Some items from the scrapbook have been digitized here.

Disney Collection
Mrs. Disney’s father, Rex Keys, attended Tech in 1926 and was business manager of La Ventana and a football player. He passed away in 1951.

• Jay C. and Doris K. Disney Photographs
• U 60.1 Jay C. and Doris K. Disney Collection, 1926-1927: This 1 wallet collection contains a Prairie Fire publication by Texas Tech students, Jan.-Feb. 1927, and a 1926 Texas Tech songbook. Transferred to Photographs division were two black & white photos of Texas Tech's first football game, dated 1925, and transferred to the Athletics collection was a 1926 Texas Tech vs. TCU game program.

Duncan Collection

• U 318.1 Hazel Duncan Collection, 1928-1932: This 1 wallet collection consists of various items found among Hazel Duncan's belongings. The items are a City of Lubbock "How to Read the Electric Meter and Other Useful Information" pamphlet; a Young Women's Christian Association membership card; an unfolded "Texas Tech Pasteurized Dairy Products Sweet Cream Butter" wrapper; a Christmas card from Texas Tech President Horn, 1928; 2 news clippings on the Tech football team; a January 1931 Texas Tech Pictoral and Information Bulletin; a 1930 4th Annual Commencement program; a The Forum invitation; and an oversized 1932 April Fool Supplement to the Toreador entitled "Scarlet Scavenger."

Charles R. and Jane Eatherly Collection
Charles R. Eatherly was a Park Administration student and worked in the Texas Tech Greenhouse in the summer of 1960. He received his BS degree in 1961 and his MS in 1963, with both degrees coming from Texas Tech. His wife, Jane, was also a 1961 graduate of Texas Tech. Her father, James Lawrence Hicks, attended Texas Tech in the late 1930s and was president of the Aggie Club at Texas Tech in 1938 and was also involved in the Block and Bridle Club.

• U 322.1 Charles R. and Jane Eatherly Collection, 1930-1938: This 1 wallet collection contains pages out of the scrapbook of Mr. James Lawrence Hicks. Included are programs from the Block and Bridle Club, the Aggie Club Banquets, graduation invitations from Texas Tech in 1938 and from Lubbock High School in 1930, 3 photographs, and an invitation and program for the "Laying of the Cornerstone of the New Library" (1938).  Mr. Eatherly's previous donation of 52 color slides of the 1960 Homecoming Parade were added to the Heritage Club Photograph Collection (P7106).
• U 322.2 Charles R. Eatherly Collection, 1959-1975: This 1 box collection contains reports, news clipping, and printed materials on park services in Texas and Arizona and Texas Technological College's E. J. Urbanovsky's student projects.

Floyd, Bobbie Camp
Bobbie Camp Floyd's mother, Murl L. Colwell, attended Texas Technological College and graduated in 1937.

• U 350.1 Bobbie Camp Floyd Collection, 1937: This collection consists of a special edition of the 1937 La Ventana called "The Candid Camera Edition of the La Ventana."

Goforth, Flora
Born in 1907 in Granger, Texas, Flora Goforth spent her childhood in Texas and New Mexico. Relatives on both sides of her family had been weavers, spurring her desire to make a career out of designing surface patterns.  She attended Texas Technological College in the late 1920s-early 1930s.  Texas Technological College was the only school west of the Mississippi to have a textile school.

• Flora Goforth Photographs
• Flora Goforth oral history interview (1999)
• Flora Goforth oral history interview (2000)
• U 242.2 Flora Goforth Papers, 1927-1934 and undated: The collection includes various woven textiles done by Goforth and her students, photographs, and Texas Technological College memorabilia and campus directories.
• U 242.3 Flora Goforth Papers, 1906-2000: The collection includes correspondence, financial records, printed materials, hand notes, diaries, and appointment calendars by Flora Goforth, some Texas Technological College memorabilia, a stick loom project, and class notes.

Grossman, Jean
The donor, Jean Grossman [formerly Jeannie Rook], is an graduate of the Texas Tech University Theatre program. Her father, Charles Galloway Rook Sr., worked as a professor at Texas Tech during the 1940s-1950s doing cotton research under the Cotton Research Committee. Rook and his son, Charles Galloway Rook Jr., owned the Tru-Fab Metal Products Company which provided building materials to construct cotton gins.

• U 256.1 Jean Grossman Papers, 1944-1966: The collection contains two scrapbooks of theatre productions from the Texas Tech University Theatre. The first is of the 1966 production of Tartuffe, for which the donor was the costuming assistant. The second scrapbook is of various theatre productions from 1964-1966. Also included is a scale model of the theatre's stage and miniature set pieces [made to scale as well] for the play "Not Enough Rope" which was done in the spring of 1966.  The remainder of the material concerns cotton gins, irrigation, cotton burr waste research, and Tru-Fab Metal Products Company. This includes correspondence, photographs and committee information.

Hall, J. P., Family
Cecil Hall, a freshman mechanical engineer student, attended Tech in 1937-1938 and passed away in early 1938.

• U 360.1 J. P. Hall Family Collection, 1924-1938: This 1 wallet collection contains miscellaneous items related to student Cecil Leroy Hall. Included are three photographs, a obituary, a letter of condolence from the Dean of Men, Hall's high school diploma, a bible, and an odd assortment of handwritten student notes. One photograph of the Administration Building from 1924 was transferred to the Heritage Club Photograph Collection (# P8000).

Kingsbery, Tom
Tom Kingsbery attended Texas Tech in the late 1940s and was a member of the first Tech Rodeo Team as well as the Block and Bridle Club.  His daughter, Sue Kingsbery Porter was a member of the early Lady Raiders Basketball team.

• U 335.1 Tom Kingsbery Collection, 1947-1948: This 1 wallet collection contains 12 photocopied pages from a scrapbook covering Kingsbery's involvement in the first Texas Tech Rodeo Team, which was established in 1947. The Block and Bridle Club began in 1930 and sponsored the All-College Rodeo.

Lively, Robert Morgan
Robert Morgan Lively was born in August 1923 in Bonham, Texas. His father, L. Y. Lively, lived in Lubbock while Robert attended Texas Technological College and studied engineering. Robert graduated in May 1940 with a B.A. degree.

• U 351.1 Robert Morgan Lively Collection, 1918-1940: This 1 box collection contains 70 photographs found at an estate sale. The majority of the images are the Morgan and Whiteright families from 1918-1923. There are also images from Lively's time in the military. Identified are Lively, Clarence Sharp, and Mrs. Jim Morgan. Of particular interest are the three "Texas Tech Industrial Engineering" images of a bus trip with that logo on the bus and a parade float.

Lyon Family
Mrs. Grace Flechtner Lyon and her twin sister, Kathryn Flechtner Gressett both graduated from Texas Technological College.

• U 315.1 Grace Lyon Collection, 1968: This 1 wallet collections a letter from James G. Allen, Dean of Student Life, to R. J. Flechtner, along with a certificate stating that Mr. Flechtner was member #8 of "Dads Association Life Member." Mr. Flechtner had joined the newly founded Dad's Club, which later became the Dads Association, in the Fall of 1956 when his daughters came to Texas Tech. He did not receive his membership certificate until 12 years later.

McKinsey, Marion
Marion McKinsey is the great niece of Julia Wight Hatcher, who ran a men's boarding house at 1611 Avenue Y in Lubbock, Texas for students attending Texas Technological College.  Mrs. Hatcher was fondly referred to as "Ma Hatcher" by her boarders.

• U 348.1 Marion McKinsey Collection, 1943-1976: This 1 box collection contains photographs of male students who attended Texas Technological College and lived at Mrs. Hatcher's boarding house. The bulk of the images were taken during the 1940s and many of the men are in military uniform.  The men identified are Henderson Wilson, Foy Elrod, Truman L. Allen, Jeff A. Pirtle, William Saver, and Elroy Schoppa.

Reese, Martin

• U 379.1 Martin Reese Collection, 1936-1941: This 1 wallet collections four photographs, a publication concerning the firing of the Toreador editor, and a 1936-1937 student handbook which has been digitized and is available for viewing here.

Shanklin, Melinda
James Marcus Gordon worked at Texas Technological College for its first twenty years, during which time he taught Latin and education classes and served as head of the philosophy and sociology department.  He was dean of Arts and Sciences from 1925-1945, dean of men from 1925-1937, as well as and dean emeritus.  

• U 281.1 Melinda Shanklin Papers, 1903-1989: This 1 box and 1 oversized folder collection was donated by Melinda Shanklin, granddaughter of James Marcus Gordon, and consists of news clippings, photographs, certificates and diplomas on the Gordon family.  Also included is J. M. Gordon's correspondence and literary writings.

Sims, John C.

• U 326.1 John C. Sims Collection, 1926-1927: This 1 wallet collection consists of a 1926 La Ventana and many loose pages torn from various Texas Tech publications, most of which depict campus buildings. The news clippings concern the first graduating class of 1927 and a brief bio of Anna Belle Collins. There is also a handwritten play called "Ouida" and a program for the First Annual Commencement, May 26-30, 1927. Pasted inside the La Ventana, towards the back, are numerous small black and white photographs. The photographs include the First Christian Church in Lubbock, people with a Lubbock Transportation Co. bus, the M. E. Church of Lubbock, and several unidentified people, as well as a postcard of the Lubbock County Court House. The pasted programs are for "The Spirit of West Texas" pageant, "A Light in the Lone Star" pageant, and first commencement at Texas Tech.

Taylor, John G., Sr.
John G. Taylor, Sr., worked for 31 years as a contracting and purchasing officer at Texas Tech University. He began working at Tech in 1949 and retired on January 31, 1981. His son, Dr. John G. Taylor, Jr., works at Texas Tech now.

• U 349.1 John G. Taylor Sr. Collection, 2009: This collection consists of a printed copy of Mr. Taylor's remembrances on Texas Tech University history, its campus and people.

Wilson, Eloise Smith
Wilson was a student at Texas Technological College from 1933-1936 and a member of the DFD social club. She married John H. Wilson.

• S ? Eloise Smith Wilson Papers, 1933-1939: These 2 scrapbooks deal with the social life of Eloise Smith and John H. Wilson at Texas Technological College in the 1930s. The scrapbooks are primarily filled with news clippings, photographs, wedding invitations, and other memorabilia of social activities.

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