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Guide to Research Collections University of Texas at El PasoC.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department, University Library El Paso, TX Papers: ca. 1863-1978, approximately 19 linear feet. The bulk of this collection documents Robert Ewing Thomason’s years in Congress and his activities as a member of the House Committee on Military Affairs. The papers consist of personal and professional correspondence, awards, scrapbooks, photographs and newspaper clippings gathered during his long legal and political career. Campaign material from his political campaigns for Governor of Texas, Mayor of El Paso and the U.S. Congress is included. Judge Thomason’s correspondence of the early 1930s reflects the dire situation of El Paso and other west Texas cities and towns during the Depression years. Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings kept throughout his years in political office show his many activities representing the people of El Paso, Texas, and the nation. The collection contains approximately 440 photographs of prominent government and military officials, especially from World War II, along with photographs of Robert Thomason’s inspection trips to military posts and installations as a member of the House Committee on Military Affairs. His trip to Europe with other government officials at the end of the war to view the conditions of the concentration camps in Germany is documented in photographs, official reports, and newspaper clippings. In his unpublished book, “Noted Cases I Have Tried,” Robert Thomason relates some of the most famous cases he tried while serving as a federal judge. The papers of Roy Lassetter, Court Reporter in Federal Courts in West Texas from 1922-1925, are also part of this collection. A finding aid is available in the repository and online. University of North Carolina Library Manuscripts Department, Southern Historical Collection Chapel Hill, NC Papers: ca. 1931-1947, 117 items. The collection contains chiefly letters received by Robert Ewing Thomason as a U.S. Representative from El Paso,Texas. The letters are from citizens and government officials regarding the interests of his constituents and the business of the House Military Affairs Committee, including a 1945 letter from Harry Emerson Fosdick objecting to proposals for peacetime conscription. Lyndon B. Johnson Library Austin, TX Oral History: 1968, 6 pages. A finding aid for the interview with Robert Ewing Thomason is available in the library. |