Limited biographical information about John L. McNeil has been gleaned from the collection. McNeil was born in the early 1930s and grew up in East Austin at 2007 East 10th Street. He was a member of the Boy Scouts in the mid 1940s. His mother's name was Irene Maynard.
There is evidence that he joined the United States Armed Services in the early 1950s and was stationed in California. His name appears in the Austin City Directories briefly in the mid-1950s where he is listed that he was a student. His name reappears in the City Directories in the late 1970s through the late 1990s and his profession is listed as a mail handler for the U.S. Post Office. The Austin City Directories also tell us that he married a woman named Jewelene.
The collection contains items such at War Ration booklets and Boy Scout certificates from McNeil's childhood. There is correspondence, a life insurance policy and "Combination Scorecard for U. S. Rifles, M1903 and M1 and Browning Automatic Rifle" from his time in the military. Materials from the early 1970s include a University of New Mexico publication titled "Ravin'" from the Afro American Student Association, a flyer from The Young Democrats of the University of Texas listing segregated and integrated restaurants in Austin, periodicals
There is a single photograph of an unidentified African-American boy as well as pins from the Boy Scouts and the Army.
Materials are arranged by material type.
Removed to Periodicals
Removed to Austin Files
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Open to all users.
Materials donated by the new owners of 7310 Meador Ave, Austin, TX. This was the address for John McNeil for 20+ years.
John L. McNeil Papers (AR.2009.003). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Donor #: DO/1998/055
Donation Date: 2008 December 21
Final Processing and Finding Aid By: Molly Hults/2009 September