Robbie Morin Camp Logan Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS 0729

Staff Only

Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center.

Camp Logan postcards, newspapers, memorabilia

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Scope and Contents

Collection contains soldier correspondence, two newspapers printed for Camp Logan, a souvenir pennant and handkerchief.

Dates

Creation: 1917 - 1921

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center and requires 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the Robbie Morin Camp Logan Collection must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. These materials include, but are not limited to, student grades, transcripts, and any job applications or recommendations.

Biographical Note

Robbie Morin became interested in Camp Logan in 2007, after a short metal detecting search in the camp area with some detecting friends. Wanting to find out what the camp had looked like in the past, he searched for photos, post cards and images from the camp.

His extensive collection of images, ephemera, and memorabilia from Camp Logan has been shared online in videos, contributed to a book on the history of Camp Logan, and used in exhibits at Fondren Library.

Historical Note

Camp Logan was an emergency training center in World War I, located on the earlier site of a National Guard Camp just beyond the western city limits of Houston. It was named for Major General John A. Logan, a prominent Civil War Union officer. The land was leased by the United States from the Hogg family who, by World War I had assembled the block of land that includes Memorial Park in their vast real estate holdings. Construction of the center began on July 24, 1917 in the area that is now Memorial Park. The developed area of Camp Logan was 3,002 acres within a tract of 9,560 acres. Camp Logan operated as a military establishment for 20 months, from 1917 - 1919.

During construction, members of the 3rd Batallion, 24th Infantry (Black troops commanded by white officers) were assigned to the Camp as guards and were stationed about a mile to the east. The Black soldiers' August 23, 1917 armed revolt in response to Houston's Jim Crow laws and police harassment resulted in the camp's most publicized incident, the "Houston Mutiny and Riot of 1917."

On March 20, 1919 the camp was turned over to the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1919 a building at Camp Logan, used by the American Red Cross during the war, was converted into a hospital for charity purposes. Shortly after World War I, Mike and Will Hogg regained possession of the tract on which Camp Logan was built. The City of Houston acquired the property from them for the development of Memorial Park in 1925.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online, Claudia Hazlewood, "Camp Logan," accessed May 10, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qcc26.