African American History in the Archives

AR 316
32 Boxes
The Federal Writers' Project was established by Presidential Order in 1935 as part of the Professional and Service Division of the Works Progress Administration. The Texas headquarters for the project was established in San Antonio under the direction of author-playwright J. Frank Davis. In 1936 a district field office for North Central Texas was set up in Fort Worth, and work was begun on the Fort Worth City Guide (also referred to as the Fort Worth Guide and History). Field research, writing and editing continued until 1939, when the WPA became the Work Projects Administration and the Federal Writers' Project was abolished.
See Box 7 Folder 8, “Economic and Cultural Fort Worth,” Section Six Essays on racial groups in Fort Worth
See Box 31 Folder 1, African American folklore and story, “Mother Hines” and “Aphorisms of the Slave Quarters”
See slave narratives: originals in Box 4, but researchers are encouraged to use the photocopied narratives in Box 33.

Records, 1914-1993, bulk 1945-1980.
3 boxes
Scrapbooks, financial documents, yearbooks, guest books, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Harold and Etta Culmer, prominent African American couple from North Carolina who moved to Dallas in 1940’s. Culmer was a physician specializing in treatment of tuberculosis and family medicine. He helped establish the Epiphany Episcopal Church, one of the first all black Episcopal congregations in Dallas. Mrs. Culmer was active in numerous civic and social organizations including The Priscilla Art Club, the oldest African American women’s club in Dallas, founded in 1911.

AR458, OS395-OS396
1914-1949
Byron C. Utecht (1880-1959) was a journalist at the turn of the 20th century. He began his career working for the Denver Post and the Rock Island [Illinois] Register. After moving to Texas, Utecht became a free-lance writer in Austin and completed a study of Texas taxes and a Texas government textbook. He was the Austin correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from 1910 to 1946, and a newspaper correspondent for the New York World. On October 30, 1945, he married Mabel Gouldy Stevenson in Fort Worth. Mabel also worked on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram staff as a reporter. Utecht was known best for his work in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. He traveled with the U.S. Army across the Chihuahuan desert in search of Pancho Villa. He was also the only American with Villa during the march into Saltillo in 1914, and the only American to enter the city after its fall. Utecht also reported on Camp Bowie during World War I. The collection is primarily comprised of three scrapbooks containing materials collected by Byron C. Utecht over the course of his professional career as a newspaper correspondent. The bulk of the material documents the Mexican Revolution through articles and photographs. In addition, Utecht reported on Camp Bowie, World War I, and Texas politics in the 1940s, the subjects of many of his articles in the scrapbooks. Includes photograph of 10th Calvary Buffalo Soldiers.