Abstract This collection contains correspondence to and from Walter Joshua Crawford during the 27 years he practiced law in Beaumont, Texas, as well as title abstracts and corporate stocks for land and businesses located in Jefferson, Hardin, Galveston, and Liberty Counties. Mr. Crawford was born in Mount Vernon, Franklin County, Texas, in 1873. He attended the University of Texas and after obtaining a law degree, he began practicing law in Beaumont. Mr. Crawford was active in politics throughout the...

Abstract This is a collection of photographs and slides which show before and after conditions of the Beaumont Historical Library located at 695 Pearl Street in Beaumont, Texas, while the building was being restored and renovated in the years 1989 – 1990. Also included are photographs of the building when it was the First Baptist Church of Beaumont and when it was the main building of the Beaumont Public Library. There are a few photographs of buildings in Sabine Pass. David Hoffman, FAIA was the...

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The Desk and Derrick Club was established in March 1949 as the first professional organization for women working in the oil and gas industry. The Desk and Derrick Club’s original mission was to educate and support women who were working in the energy industry. The Desk and Derrick Club produced this scrapbook in its first year of existence. The collection includes newspaper clippings of the Club's organizational meetings, and original activities

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This collection contains the records, photographs, and objects of Edmond A. Goolsbee, both through his military service as a fighter pilot in WWII as well as his personal and professional life.

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Eleanor Woods Lavelle was the daughter of Tom and Lottye Woods. Tom fought in World War I, and Eleanor collected and transcribed the approximately 76 letters he sent to Lottye during the war. The collection also contains family photograph albums and memorial books.

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Elmo Willard, III, was a leader of Beaumont's civil rights movement. He and his law partner, Theodore Johns, won cases for the desegregation of Beaumont's public parks and Lamar University. These papers include correspondence, legal documents, news clippings, and photographs.

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Emmett A. Fletcher was a Beaumont businessman and elected official. He was elected as mayor of Beaumont in 1906 and served two terms over 12 years. He was involved in the creation of Beaumont's infrastructure, business, and city development. This is a small collection consisting of photographs, newspaper clippings, funeral remarks, and licenses for steamboat inspection and operation belonging to Emmett A. Fletcher.

Abstract The Delta Kappa Gamma Society is a professional society for women educators, founded on May 11, 1929 at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. The mission of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society is "to promote professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education." Materials consist of organizational records, administrative records, newsletters, yearbooks, rosters, programs, meetings, correspondence, photographs, by-laws, financial records, history, and programs related...

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Father Patrick Turner was a local Catholic pastor who served at several churches in Jefferson County, Texas. Churches he served at include: St. Anthony, St. Charles, St. Mary, St. Helen, and St. Louis Catholic Church. The collection itself contains ancestry records, census records, and photographs.

Abstract This collection consists of approximately 994 photographs from the Fire Museum of Texas, which opened in 1984 in Beaumont, documenting firefighting in Southeast Texas from 1856 to 1993, with heavy emphasis on the first half of the twentieth century. The Fire Department of Beaumont was established in 1881 and images in this collection cover many aspects of the department including firefighters, firehouses, and fire engines; fires and local buildings damaged by fire; fire prevention...

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Founded in 1872, the First Baptist Church of Beaumont, Texas, and its members, have contributed immensely to the religious, social, economic, and political life of the city. The records of the church include photographs, publications, administrative records, records of the Sunday School, and membership records.

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Founded in 1894, the First Christian Church is a congregation for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination. The records of the church include directories, committee minutes, papers on church doctrine, photographs, facility records, worship bulletins, records of Camp Wildurr, records of its Sunday School classes, treasurer's reports, and special anniversary and dedication programs.

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This collection consists of administrative records, correspondence, photographs, film, and scrapbooks related to the corporate history of First City Bank, whose origins can be traced through First National Bank of Beaumont, Gulf National Bank, Texas National Bank, Security State Bank, and First Security National Bank.

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Francis Norman Wagner, born in 1910, lived in Nederland and Port Arthur most of his life. He wrote two books about life in Southeast Texas, and so amassed a large collection of newspaper clippings on topics related to the area. These clippings, and some other personal files related to his involvement in the Rotary Club, are collected here.

Abstract Frank Cleveland Weber (1882-1965) was born in Beaumont, Texas, where he lived for the majority of his life. As a teen, young Frank Weber took a job at J.J. Nathan's dry goods store. He worked with J.J. Nathan for twenty-seven years, becoming manager and growing the business into the largest store in Beaumont. The store's successs brought Frank Weber into the "entrepenuerial class" of Beaumont, which prospered even more after the Spindeltop oil discovery of 1901. This collection consists of...

Abstract This collection consists primarily of memorabilia related to the Pennsylvania and Bethlehem Shipyards located in Beaumont from the 1930's to the 1980's. Contained within this collection are two boxes of photographs, which number approximately 137 items. The theme of the photographs capture many aspects of the ship building trade including the following: shipyard officials and employees, commemorative and ceremonial events, offshore drilling platforms, vessels being built at the shipyard,...

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The Beaumont Iron Works Company was founded in 1910. During World War II it manufactured military equipment for the U.S. Army and Navy. Gene Bird Gilliom worked as James Baldwin's private secretery during his time as manager of Beaumont Iron Works, where she collected photographs of the company's plant, newspaper clippings, telegrams from Washington, D.C., and a copy of Baldwin's resignation speech.

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This collection consists of photographs acquired from multiple donors over an extended period of time. The donations began around 1950 and continued through to 2000. The photographs include such topics as agriculture, businesses, well-known residences and landmarks, street scenes, aerial views, and people in Beaumont and nearby locations as far back as 1835 and as recent as 2000.

Abstract The Gilbert family, long-time business and civic leaders of Southeast Texas, played a prominent role in the development of Beaumont from the city's modern economic beginnings in the middle of the nineteenth century through to the middle of the twentieth century. Their many business interests, based primarily on oil, cattle, rice, and lumber involved every major economic venture in the region for more than a century. They were also leaders in the banking community and in the development of...

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Glynn W. Rogers was a photographer, who owned a photography studio in Beaumont at 594 Washington Boulevard. This collection consists primarily of photographic negatives taken during the 1920's.

Abstract The Golden Triangle Writers Guild had its origins in the mid-1980s. Kay S. and Darwin J. Resnick were co-founders of the organization. The Guild quickly evolved into a professional organization with an annual conference held every year in Beaumont. Speakers came to the conference to help unpublished authors get published, provide workshops to better enable authors to write well, or to sell either their books or Guild authored books. Awards were also given to unpublished authors for best...

Abstract Gordon F. Baxter was born on December 25, 1923, in Port Arthur, Texas. He resided in Beaumont from 1959 until his death on June 11, 2005. During his professional career he was a writer, radio broadcaster, and a airplane pilot. He was well-known for his independent spirit and proved to be a colorful figure in his profession. These papers include personal papers and correspondence, artifacts, scrapbooks, publications, slides, and photographic negatives related to his personal life and...

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Gwendolyn Wingate wrote extensively on the history of Beaumont and the history of immigrants who settled in Southeast Texas. This collection holds her research papers, personal and historical photographs, and correspondence. The topics of agriculture and genealogy are especially well covered.

Abstract Halvor Ingebret Ostebee was a pioneer Beaumont, Texas, photographer who, during the Spindletop oil boom, was best known for the first action-picture of the Lucas gusher, the city's landmark oil well that was discovered in 1901. He opened his first portable photography gallery, called Beach Studio, in Beaumont, in 1897. The city's elite flocked to have pictures taken on birthdays and other anniversaries, and particularly weddings. His photographs of the history-making event at Spindletop were...

Abstract This collection is comprised of records, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks related to Gladys Harned Quilliam and Jewell Harned. Gladys Quilliam and Jewel Harned were both prominent members of the musical community in Beaumont, Texas. Sisters and Tennessee natives, they moved to Beaumont, Texas as children and grew to become proficient musicians and teachers. Gladys and Jewell were both teachers at the local Harned Studios. They were also both heavily involved in local music...

Abstract This collection contains many photographs taken by Harry P. Jirou, who was a Beaumont area amateur photographer. The photographs document many early scenes of Beaumont, his personal interest in the Boy Scouts as a scout master, views of well-known landmarks in and around Beaumont, and early technological feats that took place in Beaumont. The photographs span a time period from 1888 through to the 1930's. The collection also includes memorabilia and correspondence, as well as newspaper...

Abstract This collection contains photographs and correspondence related to the family of Harvey Gilbert. The Gilbert family was a prominent family in Beaumont, Texas. They were financially invested in lumber, petroleum, rice production, and cattle ranching, among other business investments. The photographs in this collection are primarily of Harvey Gilbert's wife and children. There are also a significant number of photographs and correspondence related to Marshall Muse II, who would marry Eleanor...

Abstract Herbert Herman Fiedler was the personal chauffeur of Mrs. Frances Ann Lutcher of Orange, Texas. The Lutcher family owned vast tracts of timber in and around the Orange area and ran the Lutcher Moore Lumber Company. As prominent citizens of Orange, the Lutcher family owned two Pierce-Arrow touring automobiles and traveled extensively on sight-seeing trips throughout the United States, Canada, and western Europe. Many of these early road trips were documented in photographs by Mr....

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Herbert Roedenbeck (1881-1975) in the given course of time will suffice as one of the last legendary pioneers of this century; his achievements in agriculture and land development proved to be an integral part of the present demographic status of Southeast Texas. The greater portion of this collection consists of correspondence during the conclusive years from 1932 to 1970 while he was active in the oil leasing business.

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Houston Public Library photostatic copies of the Houston Tri-weekly Telegraph, September, 1863, describing the Battle of Sabine Pass of 1863.