New Oral Histories, Digital Resources, Finding Guides, and History Pin Photographs

The History Center added new content to the website over November and December 2011. Three oral history interviews of Reverend Bettie Kennedy and one of Sellestine Hunt, conducted by R. L. Kuykendall, document Lufkin's African American community. Topics covered include their life experiences from segregated neighborhoods, schools, and communities, through the civil rights changes and into the early 2000s. They also speak about their families, genealogy, education, and church life. The History Center has also been participating with History Pin, a historical photograph website aimed at connecting different generations through pictures and memory. Pictures of places and events are pinned on a map in the location they occurred, which helps recreate how a place formerly appeared. Anyone can view the pictures by exploring the map, and anyone with a Gmail account can add their "story" or memory of the subjects depicted to enhance the information and bring further life to the pictures. Staff has pinned roughly 118 historic photographs covering Diboll, Lufkin, Pineland, Houston, Texarkana (AR), Fastrill, Manning, White City, Kyle's Quarry, Rayville, and Evadale. Additional pictures will be pinned over time. New finding guides for the Edgar Tobin Aerial Surveys of East Texas and Jesse Bradford Future Farmers of America collection are newly posted. Several new digital resources have also been added, particularly for the Temple Lumber Company and Texas South-Eastern Railroad categories. The records include the sale of Texas Lumber Company to Temple Lumber Company, Baldwin builder specifications for various locomotives, and the sale of the Knox Lumber Company to Temple Lumber Company.