Donated by the collection creator, Sue Brandt McBee, local author and Honorary Chair of the Austin History Center Association, on August 9, 2001. During the renovation of the George Washington Carver Branch, Austin Public Library from 2004 to 2005, the collection was temporarily housed at the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Sue Brandt McBee continues to add to the collection.
Sue Brandt McBee Collection of African American Culture, George Washington Carver Branch, Austin Public Library, Austin, Texas.
Donor #: DO/1966/030 Donation Date: 2001-08-09.
Initial Inventory and Preliminary Processing By Sue Soy and Karen Riles. Date: 2004-07-01.
Final Processing and Finding Aid By Karen Riles. 2005-06-01.
Contact members of the George Washington Carver Branch staff to gain access to this collection.
Items in this collection are non-circulating. Researchers may only use copies of newspaper clippings.
Sue Brandt McBee was born in Hamburg, Germany on September 23, 1923 and moved to Austin with her parents in the late 1920s. She learned to speak English while attending Pease Elementary School in Austin, Texas. When Sue entered Allan Junior High she became interested in journalism. Her first attempts at writing poetry were published in the school newspaper marking the beginning of her journalistic career.
In high school, she became the editor for the school newspaper, the Austin High Maroon. When she entered college at The University of Texas at Austin in the early 1940s, she continued to pursue her love of journalism. She wrote a weekly column titled “Life, Where is Thy Sting?” for the Daily Texan. While in college Sue married engineering student Frank McBee, the eldest son of South Austin Justice of the Peace Frank McBee Sr. After three years of accelerated course work Sue graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1943.
Sue Brandt McBee is celebrated as a gifted communicator and tireless civic worker, and has been a vital part of the Austin community for much of her adult life. Her efforts to promote education and historic preservation have changed the face of the Austin community for the better. She has worked for the Austin American-Statesman and established the first corporate public relations office for Tracor, Inc. She was the founding president and instrumental fundraiser for the Austin History Center Association, and now serves as Honorary Chairman. In addition, she serves on the Advisory Council of The University of Texas Press—a publishing house for the University.
Contains an eclectic mix of artifacts pertaining to the African American culture in the United States and abroad, including newspaper clippings, antiquarian books, dolls, autographed celebrity photographs, audio cassettes, black memorabilia, and African art objects. The collection is 9 linear feet and reflects the collecting interests of Sue Brandt McBee. The clippings collection, that date from the 1980s to 2003, reflects her efforts to document the African American culture in Austin and the United States, including individuals, places and current events.
There is no original order for this collection. The collection is organized using several headings descriptive of the document and material types, including Newspaper Clippings, Books, Collectibles, African Artifacts, Audio Tapes, and Autographed Celebrity Photographs. The dolls, photographs, newspaper clippings and black memorabilia were placed in archival boxes and stored in a file cabinet in the Carver Branch Library staff work area. The rare and fragile books were also stored in this area. A listing of article titles was created for the magazine and newspaper clippings. Preservation copies were made of each newspaper article and the originals placed in mylar sleeves for protection. The periodical articles were left in their original order and placed in acid-free file folders. Copies of the news clippings were placed in separate archival boxes for customer access. Many of the dolls and art objects from the African art collection are on permanent display in locked display cabinets at the entrance of the branch library. Others are hung on the walls of the George Washington Carver Branch.
Austin Files AF -- Biography-McBee, Frank Wilkins, Jr.
A 811.54 Ma AA. McBee, Sue Brandt. “Lines for a Texas Town,” Austin: Starbird Press, 1998.
McBee Family Papers AR.1991.051
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.