Isabel and Houston Harte Collection

Collection

Identifier: Coll-903

Staff Only

This collection consists of 269 books that in some way all relate to Texas history or events that influenced or effected Texas history. The majority are non-fiction and the contents have a definitive emphasis on West Texas. The oldest book is David Crockett, by David Crockett, published in 1836. The newest book is 37 Years of Public Service; the Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson by Joe Frantz, published in 1974. Most of the books were published between the 1930’s and 1970’s. Their content ranges from early pioneer life, to politics, journalism, land, ranch life, railroads, wildcatters, and of course, the Alamo.

Dates

Majority of material found within 1836 - 1974

Creator

Houston Harte (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from Special Collections and Archives, Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

Extent

269 Volumes

Overview

The Isabel and Houston Harte Collection reflects a lifetime of journalistic interest in Texas by Houston Harte, who was both a journalist and newspaper executive. This collection of 269 books largely spans areas of interest in Texas history, though it touches on some issues of national relevance as well.

Biographical / Historical

Houston Harte was born on January 12, 1893 in Knob Noster, Missouri. He graduated from Missouri School of Journalism in 1915, and later went to Angelo State University. He was a captain in the U.S. Army and co-founded a regional chain of newspapers that would go on to become the media company Harte-Hanks. Harte was also on the board of directors for Texas Technological College, which is now known as Texas Tech University.

Harte also became a confidant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, and that friendship caused him to sever ties with historian J. Evetts Haley after Haley wrote an unfavorable book (A Texan Looks at Lyndon; not included in this collection, though 13 of his other books are present) that went so far as to accuse Johnson of being involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. His journalistic interests led him to amass a collection of books relating to early Texas history, and his son Edward donated this collection to Corpus Christi State University in 1987. Houston Harte passed away in San Angelo, Texas in 1972.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in alphabetical order, by authors last name. in a few cases where no author name is evident, the books are arranged in alphabetical order by the first word of the title and mixed in with the rest of the collection ordered by author. It is laid out across seven shelves with identifying numbers (1-269) inserted upright in the page block with a bookmark.