Annual Report FY07
Victoria Regional History Center
| Staff |
|---|
| Sheron Barnes, Special Collections Librarian |
| Marie Adcock, Library Assistant |
| Bob Allen, Photographer |
| 1 student assistant position filled through the year by: Katy Williamson, Candace Bossier, Mary Dennis Janell McAfee-Hamor |
| Volunteers: Doris Obsta, Leona Booth, Delores Nesloney |
Highlights
Marie Adcock joined our staff on October 3, 2006 as the VRHC Library Associate. Former Associate, Greg Garcia, accepted the supervisory position in the Library Circulation Department.
In December 2006, VRHC staff began a project to inventory the maps in our Regional Historical Resource Depository collection. Using a template from the Texas State Library as a guide, Marie Adcock produced an inventory of the 258 maps in the RHRD collection and entered this data into a database. Each map was assigned a folder and location in the VRHC map cases.
In February 2007, Dr. Dennis Riedesel, UHV professor and member of the Victoria County Historical Commission, refurbished a number of Civil War swords and guns that are part of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), Victoria Chapter Collection in the VRHC. Marie Adcock sewed muslin bags to store these items which were then placed into archives containers
In March 2007, in anticipation of a large influx of donated books from the Miller family, VRHC staff began inventorying the Regional History and Special Collections book sections and updating their values. Some books were relocated, mostly from Special Collections to Regional History or storage. In addition, most of the journals that were in Regional History were moved to the Periodicals Department’s, Texas Periodicals section, except for the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and the Frontier Times.
Volunteers in the VRHC this year included Doris Obsta, who worked in the Photo Collection and Dolores Nesloney and Leona Booth who worked with local history collections. Together they logged over 200 hours of invaluable work.
VRHC Collections
ARCHIVES AND LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS
In September 2006, Joyce Hodde Maxwell and Jean Hodde Klager—daughters of Arthur and Myrtle Hodde—donated records relating to the history of Bloomington, Texas and the families of William Marshall Smith and Arthur Henry Hodde. William M. Smith was one of the founders of Bloomington who built the first general store there in 1907. Arthur H. Hodde operated the Bloomington Co-op Gin. Myrtle Parker Hodde was active in the Bloomington Red Cross for 40 years and operated the Hodde Dairy and Hodde Catering Service. Annie Baldwin, related to Myrtle Parker Hodde, owned the Bloomington Hotel. This local history collection includes correspondence, journals, business papers, ephemera and an array of photographs of Bloomington in its early days as well as family photos. The collection fills 6 standard archives boxes (7.5 linear feet).
In October 2006, we received records of the American Citizens Social Club, Victoria Chapter, founded in 1947. This augments the History Center’s information on the history of the Hispanic population of Victoria as well as that of clubs and organizations in Victoria.
PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
Works published this year that used photos from the Photo Collection, include Murder and Malice: Crimes of Passion from Victoria County, Texas 1891-1913, written by Victoria College professor Gary Hall.
An exciting milestone was reached this year when, under the guidance of our in-house photographer, Bob Allen, the Photo Collection department purchased digital camera equipment with funds donated by the Victoria County Genealogical Society.
Meanwhile, another 1,345 new images were added to the collection this year, bringing the total 35mm negatives in the Photo Collection to 21,321.
Outreach
GENERAL
The following articles by Sheron Barnes were published in Victoria: Crossroads of South Texas, a quarterly publication of the Victoria County Genealogical Society:
In October 2006, Sheron Barnes and Tom Krenick (Archivist from TAMU-Corpus Christi) were invited to consult with the Board of Trustees of the Goliad Public Library regarding expansion of their archives facility. Ultimately, Sheron introduced the Board to Sarah Jackson, Archivist for the Harris County Archives, who was hired as a consultant. Sheron worked with Sarah Jackson to provide information about archival records and photos held in the Victoria Regional History Center and to answer the Board’s questions about archives policies and procedures followed by the VRHC.
- “Sally M. Gaithright’s Memories of Nursery Texas: Excerpts from an Oral History Interview by Sidney R. Weisiger June 29, 1973.” (Winter 2006 edition)
- “A History of Newspapers in Victoria.” (Spring 2007 edition)
PRESENTATIONS
History Center staff and volunteers participated again this year in the 3rd annual “Silk Purse…Sow’s Ear?” Antique Appraisal Fair sponsored by the Museum of the Coastal Bend on September 23, 2006.
On September 28, Bob Allen was the speaker at a meeting of the Victoria Lions Club. Photos, including Aloe Field and Foster Field military bases, were shown and information about the VRHC was presented. Sheron Barnes and volunteer Doris Obsta assisted in the presentation.
On October 21, Sheron gave a presentation at the annual Alfred E. Allen Historical Conference sponsored by the Lavaca County Historical Society on the topic of Lavaca County rural schools. She described the Lavaca County rural school records in the VRHC and showed photos of these schools from the Photo Collection.
On November 13, twenty-two students from Dudley School visited the VRHC to learn about primary records in the VRHC and how historians use these records in their research. The students were given handouts, including signed copies of the book Navigation of the Lower Guadalupe by Charles Spurlin.
On February 12, 2007, Bob Allen gave a presentation at the monthly meeting of the Victoria County Genealogical Society. Bob talked about the history of photography and showed photographs of local historical sites from the Photo Collection.
On April 11, 2007, fifteen members of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Victoria Chapter toured the VRHC and heard a presentation on the various research collections in the VRHC. Handouts were provided.
On June 6, about twenty members of the Victoria County Genealogical Society toured the library, including the VRHC, to learn about genealogical resources available in the library.
DISPLAYS
The following displays were created by VHRC staff and presented in the Center:
- January 2007: “African American Influences in Victoria”
- April 2007: “Indianola”
- August 2007: “Outlaws: Bonnie and Clyde and John Wesley Hardin”