G.W. McClanahan Sr. Paine Female Institute Collection
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of three folders that contain G.W. McClanahan Sr.’s correspondence dating from 1854 to 1857 concerning the Paine Institute, including three versions of an article he wrote about his journey from Virginia to Texas, a small bound notebook containing a curriculum and an attendance log from the 1855 Spring semester at the Paine Institute, a Bible questions and Answers booklet written by McClanahan’s son, G.W. McClanahan Jr., an article in the Lutheran newspaper The Messenger written in remembrance of G.W. McClanahan Jr. and a several newspaper clippings relating to the McClanahan family’s history. Of particular interest to both researchers and genealogists are the Institute’s attendance logs in the second folder. McClanahan’s account of his arrival in Texas includes descriptions of frontier life and agricultural practices. His correspondence also details his travel times and expenses.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1854 - 1857
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Southwestern University Distinctive Collections and Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the collections and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from SU Distinctive Collections and Archives before any publication use. Distinctive Collections does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.
Biographical / Historical
George Walker McClanahan Sr.
George Walker McClanahan Sr. (1824-1874) was the first principal of the Paine Female Institute in Goliad, Texas, from 1855 to 1860. He graduated in 1853 from Emory and Hill College, a Methodist seminary in Virginia, and set off for Goliad with his family to take the position at the Paine Female Institute, which had been founded there in 1852. In 1865 McClanahan moved to Oakville, Texas and then to Beeville before moving south to Corpus Christi. The move to Corpus Christi coincided with an outbreak of Yellow Fever and McClanahan’s wife Mary Dorthea (Harris) McClanahan fell ill and died there in 1865. McClanahan then moved back to Beeville where he went into merchandising. He and his partners built the first business building in Beeville. McClanahan was Beeville’s first postmaster, the district and county clerk, and a Sunday school teacher. He died in Beeville in 1874.
The Paine Female Institute
The Paine Female Institute was established in 1852, when members of the Methodist Church in Goliad held a public meeting to establish a college for women, to take the place of the late Hillyer Female College. The Rev. Jesse Hord, a Methodist minister and then president of the newly elected board of trustees, held classes in his home until a building could erected to house the institution. When a permanent two-story structure was constructed in 1856, the Institute’s charter placed the school under the direction of the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. According to the 1874 minutes the school enrolled 130 pupils and maintained a staff of seven teachers. For a more detailed account of the Paine Female Institute’s history see The Handbook of Texas Online.
Extent
not stated Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the SU Special Collections & Archives Repository