Correspondence

This collection consists of twenty-one letters from various U.S. Civil War military departments to other U.S. military departments, regarding various aspects relating to national cemeteries. These aspects include: the location, construction and inspection of national cemeteries, requests for materials and proposed costs, and reports of appointments and comments of national cemetery superintendents.

Letter written February 12, 1865, by General Horatio Wright (major general of volunteers in the Union Army), probably while at the siege of Richmond, Virginia, and addressed to “My dear Col[onel?]” (addressee's name is Col. Edward H. Wright, Newark, N.J., appearing below General Wright's signature), in which he tells of family news while on a recent leave, mentions troop activity following an unspecified ‘late movement’ of troops in the Army of the Potomac.

The central item in this collection is a remarkable contemporary manuscript report of Robert Schumann's conducting at Dusseldorf, written by W. Wortmann, deputy mayor of Düsseldorf and a leading member of the administration of the Allgemeiner Musikverein (of whose orchestra and chorus Schumann had been appointed director in 1850).

This collection consists of a biography written by Houston Wade about Michel B. Menard, founder of Galveston. Included are newsclippings about Menard, other Texas personalities, and correspondence to Mr. Wade regarding the Menard family history.

The Camille Waggaman/Waggaman Family Collection consists largely of photographs and newspaper articles but also includes some personal correspondence and memorabilia. The bulk of the material regards Camille Waggaman and focuses upon her radio career (1932-1963) and upon the years after her retirement. Regional or local historians may find these of interest since the Waggamans were among the most prominent plantation families of Louisiana.

This collection is comprised of materials which Waldo Greene, a student of Thornton Wilder's, gathered about Wilder during Wilder's lifetime and up until Greene's death. Included among these materials are correspondence, bibliographies, newspaper and journal clippings, photographs, playbills, and copies of Wilder's typewritten journals.

Correspondence, scrapbooks, business papers, ledgers, tributes and memorials, audiotapes of oral history interviews, clippings, photos, and other papers of Sharp and his wife, Estelle (Boughton) Sharp, active in Houston, Tex., civic and philanthropic affairs. Topics include oil industry, lives of the Sharp family, Howard Hughes family, growth of Houston, Spindletop Oil Field, founding of the Texas Company and Sharp-Hughes Tool Company, and establishment of United Charities.

The Fondren Papers provide a record of the Fondren family's acquisition and dispersal of money in Houston and across Texas during the first three-quarters of this century and offers additional information on the financial workings of several well-known institutions and corporations. Formats include correspondence and financial documents.

The Weinstein Family papers showcase Irving and Lily Weinstein, and their ties to the broader Houston Jewish community. Irving’s service in World War II and Lily’s civic engagement with both San Jacinto High School and Congregation Beth Israel are preserved in the letters they exchanged while Irving was overseas. Featuring photographs, news clippings, and a plethora of military correspondence and documentation, the Weinstein Family papers offer insight into a century of Jewish History.

This collection documents Stevens' UFO investigations, business history, and communications. There are correspondence files, reference material, cassette tapes, audiovisual materials, and photographs.