Baylor Historical Society.

The Baylor Historical Society, formed to "stimulate interest in the history of Baylor University," began in February 1941. Membership was open to anyone interested, and it only cost $1 to join the society.

Though the society was interested in Baylor history in general, members were especially interested in the Texas Collection and Independence, Texas. Since the Texas Collection was the designated repository for Texas history-related items, members directed donations there of original trustee minutes from Baylor's early history, four dresses from Baylor presidents' wives, and the collection of William Carey Crane, a former Baylor president. Baylor University started originally in Independence, Texas, and the society was very interested in preserving Baylor's history there. Members raised money to stabilize the iconic Baylor columns, drew up plans to reconstruct a dorm and operate it as an inn, and lobbied the Texas Legislature to adopt part of Independence as a state park.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the group raised money to do what they could. Members also helped the Texas State Garden Club landscape around Independence. The society also held regular meetings and luncheons on the Baylor campus, and usually heard a historical paper given at each meeting. The collection contains all known papers read at the yearly meetings.

Though technically not attached to the university in any way, so many employees from Baylor were members of the society that the group enjoyed semi-official status on campus. State luminaries such as Price Daniel and Pat Neff read historical papers to the group, longtime staff members P.D. Browne, Robert L. Reid, Lilly Russell, and E. Bruce Thompson served as officers, and many ancestors of early Baylor-associated families were members.

The Society's contributions to Baylor and Texas history are many. The time that they operated in Independence is especially significant, since it had been thought Baylor was not active in Independence in the 1940s-1960s. Instead, this society was very active at raising money for the columns at Independence and bringing donations to the Texas Collection.

It is not known when or why the society disbanded. In 1957 the society spent most of their annual meeting taking suggestions from members on how they could improve their organization, indicating that they were not as focused as they had been in the past. Though the society had been formed as a research institution, many members were in favor of reforming the society around other goals. By 1964, the society only had 21 members at their annual meeting, and many of the people who had taken the lead in forming and running the organization had passed away. Longtime member P.D. Browne donated the society's records to the Texas Collection in 1975, even though some financial papers in the collection have a 1982 date.

From the description of B.U. records : Baylor Historical Society records, 1883-1982 1941-1969. (Baylor University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 746930176