Sonat

This collection contains audio/visual materials, images, publications, scrapbooks, and oversize material from the years 1920s-2011 related to El Paso Corporation. The collection does not include business records, apart from a run of annual reports in the Audiovisual, Image, and the Publication series. Particularly in the Slides Subseries A. The company’s employees are significantly present in these materials, and the company’s emphasis on safety training, the logistics of mergers, human resources, projects and pipeline locations, and community outreach are well documented. The El Paso Corporation Collection highlights the companies of Coastal Corporation, El Paso Natural Gas, Southern Natural Gas (SONAT), and Tennessee Gas Pipeline (Tenneco, TGP).

Series I: Audio Visual. The audiovisual series provides a well rounded view of the company, having a date range of 1929- 2011. The formats included are audio cassette tapes, VHS, DVD, reel to reel, and computer disks, with the primary format being VHS tape. The highlights of the collection include features on Elba Island, the Baytown Rupture, the Carlsbad explosion, and coverage of the mergers between El Paso Natural Gas and the companies: Tenneco, SONAT, and Coastal Corporation. There is also extensive video coverage on influential employee members, including interviews and speeches. Employees that are represented are: Doug Foshee, Paul Kayser, Jefferson Davis, John Somerhalder, Mark Leland, Jim Yardley, S.D.Chesbro, Sue Ortenstone, and William A. Wise. The coverage of people speaking tends to show more of the later CEO's than the earlier ones. Doug Foshee is heavily featured. Other events that are highlighted are the Mojave Project and on community outreach efforts including United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Sports Battle, and the Houston Marathon. There are also audio visual materials that highlight meetings, accounting principles (annual reports, quarterly reports,and earnings), and corporate events. William Wise is an important person included in this picture of the corporate environment. Another influential person is Mark Leland, who made contributions to the materials that are representative of the accounting practices of the company. There is a subseries of only partially identified materials. This section is mostly labeled; however the labels do not clearly identify the contents.

Series II: Images The image series is divided into Slides, Photographic Prints, and Negatives. The community within the El Paso Corporation is heavily emphasized here. There are employee photographs (headshots) throughout this series. The companies represented are: Coastal Corporation, SONAT (Southern Natural Gas), Tenneco (Tennessee Gas Company, TGP), and El Paso Natural Gas. The highlights are employee pictures, community outreach events, projects and pipeline locations associated with the company, Tenneco employee pictures, SONAT related images documenting community outreach as well as Coastal Corporation employees and events. This series also includes photo albums.

Series III: Publications The publication series includes: Magazines, Other related magazines , Annual Reports, Books, Newsclippings, History related print material, Seminars and Brochures, other related print materials to the oil and gas company, Interviews and correspodence, and other print materials, and research. This collection does not contain business records relating to the individual mergers or to the overall running of the company. It highlights the magazines and published work from the companies of El Paso, Tenneco (Tennessee Gas Company), Coastal Corporation, and SONAT (The Southern Natural Gas Company). Magazines included are El Paso's Natural Gas publication of the Pipeliner, Tenneco's publication of The Line, and Coastal Corporation's publication of The Coastal World. Also included are El Paso annual reports from 1948-1998, SONAT annual reports from 1944-1991, and Tenneco annual reports including 1958, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, and 1975. Other reports in this section highlight SONAT's annual report from 1953, 1954, 1962, 1969, 1974, 1980,1986,1988, and 1998. The SONAT-SPS Turbo Generator and SPM Common Wealth Edison Annual report from 1997-1998 is also included. A key resource in this series is the published book, The Pipeliners, The Story of El Paso Natural Gas by Frank Mangan.

Series VI: Scrapbooks The scrapbooks series primarily features Tenneco (Tennessee Gas Company, TGP). There are three scrapbooks dedicated to that company.

Series V: Oversize The oversize series encompasses the formats of photographs, negatives, text, and photo albums. This series highlights both Coastal Corporation and SONAT.