Abstract Marylyn Duhon Munsterman (1923-2016) was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1923 and remained a lifelong resident. Marylyn was passionate about music, theatre, and the arts, teaching drama at Forest Park High School and active as both a performer and a director in numerous local theatrical productions. The bulk of this collection consists of programs for various theatrical productions in southeast Texas and beyond. Organizations represented include Beaumont Community Players, Beaumont Opera, Actors...

Abstract Mayor Becky (Benoit) Ames served as Mayor of Beaumont from 2007 to 2021. She was the longest-running mayor of the city, serving for 14 years across 7 terms. In total, she spent 27 years on City Council. Mayor Ames recieved many awards and recognition from organizations both locally and nationally. This collection consists of memorabilia, correspondence, artifacts, photographs, plaques, awards, and framed items from Mayor Becky Ames' office. The materials represent the many organizations and...

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The Melody Maids were a girls' choir which traveled the United States and the world to perform for military bases from 1942 to 1972. Led by Eloise Rush Milam, the Melody Maids learned not just music, but also decorum and manners. This collection holds almost 200 scrapbooks made by Ms. Milam and the Maids during the group's thirty years of existence and the decades of celebrations and reunions that followed..

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This collection is comprised of scrapbooks and newspaper clippings compiled by Mildred Campbell Yates. Mildred Yates was a Beaumont native, and an active member of the community. She taught at local schools, and recieved her Master's at Lamar University. She was active in many local organizations and the community until her death in 2010. This collection contains newspapers related to subjects that interested her relating to society, culture, and current events.

Abstract The Mildred Building was built in 1929 and 1930 by Miles Frank Yount, local oilman, and The Austin Company of Texas as a luxury apartment building (complete with electric lighting and a garage) and commercial retail space. It was named after Yount's daughter, Mildred, and it is still in use today. This collection consists of a leather-bound scrapbook of large black-and-white photographs of the building's exterior and interior, as well as a photocopy of the specifications for the garage and...

Abstract The Montalbano-Latino-Fowler Papers consist of love letters written by Joseph F. Montalbano of Beaumont, Texas, to Antoinette Montalbano (his wife) and other Latino family members who resided in New Rochelle, New York. Contained in the papers are postcards sent and received by extended family members and documents pertaining to religious worship practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Also included are photographs of members of the Montalbano and Latino families and that of Gloria Grace...

Abstract Morris Cloninger graduated from the University of Texas in Austin and taught English at both Conroe and South Park High Schools. Concetta (nee Mazzagatti) Cloninger became interested in theatre while a student at South Park High School and then attended Lamar Junior College, where she studied under Irene Arnett. She later won a scholarship and did post graduate work at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theater Arts in Pasadena, California. Upon leaving California, Concetta took the stage...

Abstract Naaman Johnson Woodland, Jr. (1926-2015) was a lecturer for many decades in the Lamar University History Department. He was Vice President as well as Chairman of the Artists Selection Committee for the Beaumont Music Commission, corresponding with performers and agencies to arrange performances in Beaumont. This collection primarily consists of correspondence between Naaman Johnson Woodland, Jr. and a wide variety of performers and talent. Files contain correspondence, programs, headshots,...

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The National Weather Service provides weather and climate information with the purpose of protecting lives, as well as mitigating natural disasters across the nation. This collection details the activities of the Port Arthur, Texas weather station. The collection includes climate statistics, reference books, and film.

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The Neches River Festival was conceived on May 3, 1947, when Mr. Caldwell McFaddin, President of Beaumont's Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Clarence DeBush, Executive Vice President and Secretary, discussed plans for the betterment of Beaumont and the Chamber of Commerce. This collection contains five boxes of Neches River Festival Programs and related materials in chronological order in the conclusive years 1949 to the present.

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The O'Brien Family Papers document the remarkably parallel lives of three generations of the O'Brien men. George, Chenault, and Chilton O'Brien were leaders who improved Southeast Texas with their service in the military, political, business, religious, and organizational life in Beaumont, Texas.

Abstract Oscar A. Seward Jr. was born in Independence, TX, the son of Oscar A Seward, Sr., who served in the Texas Legislature for Washington County from 1919 to 1920. Seward, Jr. moved to Beaumont around 1910 and worked as an engineer at Gulf Pipe Line Company. In 1914, he began working for the City of Beaumont as a civil engineer. In 1912, Seward married Pearl Carroll, daughter of Monroe Walter Carroll and a niece of George Washington Carroll, both active in the local lumber and oil industries. ...

Abstract Pure Oil Company originated in 1895 as a group of independent oil producers in Butler, Pennsylvania who were attempting to compete with Standard Oil Company. By the 1920s, the company had been purchased by Ohio Cities Gas Company and was operating a refinery in Texas in the Beaumont and Port Neches region. This collection consists of a variety of materials related to the history and personnel of Pure Oil Company in Beaumont, Texas. Materials include administrative records, rosters,...

Abstract The Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) formed on October 27, 1949. at the home of Mrs. Charles Hugh Todd, Jr. Women who had been members of the organization in other cities formed the nucleus for the Beaumont chapter. The collection consists of ten scrapbooks. They contain newspaper clippings recounting club activities, as well as photographs, correspondence, and other memorabilia. Many of the scrapbooks contain materials related to general community activities outside of the...

Abstract Pierre Ferdinand Patureau (1800-1860) was born in LaRoche, France. He married Anne Rose Machet (1801-1843) in 1820. The couple immigrated to Louisiana with their four children in 1840. One of their grandchildren, Marie Victorine Patureau (1873-1937), married William Cropper (1870-1918) in 1892 and began to collect traces of her family's history. Marie and William moved at some point in the early 1900s from Louisana to Beaumont, Texas. This collection consists of genealogy, correspondence,...

Abstract Betty Rienstra was a community leader in Beaumont, Texas. She was active in various civic organizations including library associations, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Eta Nu Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma and the American Association of University Women. She was elected to a trustee position for South Park Independent School District where she served for 15 years. Her papers include business and historic records of historic and civic groups as well as newspaper clippings and...

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This collection consists of materials related to the shared interest of Ruth and Rex Goode in music and the arts and their involvement in the Beaumont community. Student piano recital programs, musical performances, and publications of music and arts organizations in the Beaumont region make up the bulk of the collection.

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Rosedale was a small community north of Beaumont, Texas. By 1893, the town was shown on Texas railroad maps as a stop on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. In 1949, the population was estimated at 2,000 and in the same year the Rosedale schools were consolidated with the Beaumont Independent School District. The community was absorbed in 1957 by Beaumont.

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Roy H. Towell, Jr. (1915-1996) was a local businessman in Beaumont, Texas. As an avid photographer, he took numerous photographs of parades, social events, and other topics of interest to him that occurred both in Beaumont and Houston. This collection consists of slides, photographs, and textual material that relate to his business and photography interest in the community in which he was a long-time resident.

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The Royce E. Whitman Papers contain photographs and papers primarily related to Mr. Whitman’s military service during World War II.

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R.C. Miller was an important businessman in Beaumont, Texas, and an active community member. He was a founding partner of the Kirk-Miller-Josey Feed Company, president of the Tyrrell Rice Milling Company, president of the Beaumont Realty Company, president of the Beaumont Hotel Company, which built the Hotel Beaumont, and vice president of the Fannin Street Realty Company.

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This collection consists of postcards depicting historical places and events in Texas. These primarily include local areas such as Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, Texas. However, there are also post cards from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Galveston, and Waco, as well. There is also an album of postcard reproductions, depicting cards that would have been sent from 1900 to 1925.

Abstract Ruth Garnett McGinley (1919-2014) was born in Johnson County, Kansas in 1919 and lived in Kansas City and Columbia, Missouri until she moved to Beaumont with her husband Robert J. McGinley in 1957. Ruth was active in many Beaumont community organizations including the Trinity United Methodist Church and Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also involved with the Junior League of Beaumont, American Association of University Women, Tyrrell Public Library Commission, and the Beaumont...

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The Homemaker's Association is a national organization devoted to families and homemaking through educational programs and community service. This collection is related to the Texas Extension of the assoication. It consists of administrative records, as well as yearbooks from 1930 to the early 2000s.

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The Sabine Oaks Home began as The Beaumont Home for the Aged founded by the United Church Women of Beaumont and chartered in 1944. The home was managed by a Board of Directors. In 1965 the Sabine Oaks Auxiliary was organized to address the needs of residents and help finance special projects. The collection consists of eight scrapbooks.

Abstract St. Anthony's Cathedral Basilica School was founded in 1895 as Our Lady of Perpetual Help Convent School by nuns of the Dominican Order at St. Louis Church. In 1907, St. Anthony's Cathedral Basilica, which still stands today on Jefferson Street in Downtown Beaumont, was built to replace St. Louis Church. The St. Anthony's School Records contain financial and administrative papers related to St. Anthony's School and its affiliated Foundation, including ethics handbooks, materials on academic...

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This collection contains Sunday service worship bulletins from 2009 to 2017 for Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Beaumont, Texas. The collection also consists of the weekly published newsletter, annual parish meeting reports, church membership directories, and other miscellaneous materials related to church activities.

Abstract The Keith family were long-established residents of Beaumont and had been engaged in the lumber industry for several generations. These papers consist of business and legal records, correspondence, newspaper clippings, oil leases, deeds, scrapbooks and other assorted memorabilia related to the Keith and Doucette families as well as Sallye's personal involvement with the YWCA. A few documents of interest in this collection include a relatively large collection of historical photographs...

Abstract The Scottish Society of Southeast Texas is a community organization honoring Scottish heritage and culture in the southeast Texas region. The Society holds regular meetings, develops programs, and hosts an annual "Burns Dinner" featuring aspects of Scottish culture including traditional poems and songs. In the 1990s, a "tartan committee" was established to create a colleciton of clan tartans. Ms. Dorothy Callaway designed and constructed two tartan books featuring samples of tartan patterns,...

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This collection consists of correspondence and administrative records related to the Serra Club of Beaumont. Materials include newsletters, membership lists, financial documents, newspaper clippings, minutes, and by-laws.