Collection Highlights

A.J. Moore High School prom, Waco, Texas, 1948

The Texas Collection offers a variety of materials for research documenting the African American experience in Waco and across Texas. These resources cover religion, civil rights, personal lives, professional careers, education, community organizations, and Baylor University history. Some of the people featured in these collections include:

• Marvin C. Griffin papers, Pastor and civil rights leader
• Oscar “Doc” Norbert papers, First African American mayor of Waco
• Jules Bledsoe papers, Internationally acclaimed professional opera singer
• Farmers Improvement Society records, Organization to assist African American farmers
• Vivienne Malone-Mayes papers, Mathematics professor at Baylor University

There are also resources available on Paul Quinn College, A.J. Moore High School, and more. Some materials have been digitized and are available via The Texas Collection Flickr page.

Descriptions of these collections are available online through BARD (Baylor Archival Repositories Database) or Baylor’s Onesearch catalog.

The Frances C. Poage Map Room contains more than 14,000 maps with an emphasis on Waco, topographic, and historic Texas maps. A lifelong lover and collector of all kinds of maps, former Congressman W. R. 'Bob' Poage established the collection and the accompanying endowment in the 1980s in honor of his wife, Frances C. Poage. The endowment enables the continued growth and preservation of the map collection by providing funding for additional cartographic holdings and supplies.

The map collection can be searched via Baylor's OneSearch catalog. In addition, more than 300 historic Texas maps are available via Baylor University Libraries Digital Collections.

Elite Cafe, Waco, Texas, undated. From the Joe Griffin Photographic Collection

The Texas Collection’s photographic holdings span both the history of photography and that of Baylor University. The contents of this collection range from early photographic processes such as the Daguerreotype of the 1840’s to recent digital photography with many genres included.

Photographs relating to Baylor University number in the millions. These date from the 1860’s to the 2010’s and document campus life, events, buildings, faculty, staff, students, and many more areas of interest related to the institution. One-hundred years of Baylor Sports are represented, too, and begin with early action photography from the 1910’s up to the 2010’s. Baylor University’s first home at Independence, Texas, is also documented. 

Local history is well-represented in the photographic holdings. Waco images number in the thousands and date to the 1860’s. Some examples include: military, city streets, rivers, bridges, parks, and businesses. Also included are the works of important local photographers such as Fred Gildersleeve, Fred Marlar, Jimmie Willis, and Windy Drum. Photographs produced by these photographers help document the growth of Waco from the 1910’s through the 1950’s. Other images of significance include those produced by the Urban Renewal Agency of Waco in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Many other Texas cities, the U.S., and foreign countries are also represented in The Texas Collection’s photographic holdings. 

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Bewley's Flour ad, undated

With more than 8,500 cookbooks spanning the nineteenth century to present, the Texas Cookbook Collection is filled with volumes primarily published by women for women, usually to raise funds for churches, schools, clubs, or organizations. In addition to recipes, cookbooks often offer advice to homemakers and new brides about running a household. They also document Texas foodways and culinary traditions and show how world and local events, such as the Great Depression, World War II, and the rise of women in the workforce, affect diets. These often-overlooked resources can provide a glimpse into the lives of those typically excluded from the historical narrative.

As part of the Texas Cookbook Collection, the Elizabeth Borst White Texas Culinary Collection contains more than 2,000 cookbooks donated by retired librarian and cookbook collector Elizabeth Borst White.

In addition to cookbooks, the collection contains hundreds of Texas restaurant menus.

The collection is open for research and is available for group and class meetings. For questions about cookbooks or menus or to see selections from the collection, please contact us at txcoll@baylor.edu.

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Infirmary ledger from Camp MacArthur, Waco, TX

The history of any people or place involves conflict in some form to facilitate growth, and no more so than in the birth and growth of a state. At The Texas Collection, this growth is represented by one of the largest collections of Texana in the world. From pre-Republic Texas to the present, the manuscript collection engages researchers and scholars in understanding conflicts and the roles Texans played in them.

The Civil War, World Wars I & II, the Cold War, and the Branch Davidian Siege of 1993 are among collection strengths. A search through BARD (Baylor Archival Repositories Database) provides many possibilities for research in these areas. Throughout Texas history, conflicts have pushed and shaped Texas and our manuscript collections reflect these developments.

Conflict is not only represented through wars, however. Conflict is evident in the lives of Texans as they struggled to build homes and communities, fought for rights and social change, and engaged in the establishment and expansion of businesses, education, and religious ideology. These areas of Texas life, and the conflicts that bore them, are also evident in the breadth and scope of the manuscript holdings.

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