L.C. Anderson High School (originally called E.H. Anderson High School) opened in East Austin in 1907 as a high school for African American students. Anderson High School would educate Austin's African American students for sixty-four years until its forced closure in the early 1970s. Anderson High had four locations in East Austin before a federal judge ordered the Thompson Street iteration of Anderson High School to close in 1971 because it was still racially segregated years after
Lucile Edna Frazier was born in Travis County, Texas to Daniel and Treater Frazier. She received her B.A. degree in English from Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson College) in 1938 and a M.A. in English from Prairie View A& M College in 1956. She continued with post-graduate study at Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin. Frazier started teaching English at Anderson High School in 1947 after transferring from Blackshear Elementary School. She also served as the Faculty Advisor for the Anderson High School Yellow Jacket Yearbook. Frazier retired in 1969 after thirty years as a teacher in Austin Schools. She died on September 19, 1983.
The collection consists of photographs of students and faculty taken at Anderson High School in the 1950s and 1960s and are most likely photographs taken for inclusion in the school yearbook. Very few of the photographs were identified so they have been loosely arranged into the following categories: classroom & school clubs; dances & other events; parades; sports & band; students; teachers, faculty & other AISD employees. The classroom & school clubs category includes photos of students in classes such as architectural and mechanical drawing, typing and other office skills, sewing, cooking, cosmetology, retail laboratory, surveying, driver's education, biology, social sciences, science laboratory, literature, physical education and wood shop. Clubs include the New Homemakers of America, Choral Club, Girls Ensemble, Boys Ensemble, Student Council, Science Club, Guides and National Honor Society. The dances & other events file contains photographs of students at what appears to be homecoming dances, as well as theater and other cultural events, choir groups and band, student government campaigning, graduation, tree planting and parades. The majority of the photographs in the sports & band folders are of the football team and the Anderson High School band, however, volleyball, basketball, cheerleading, baton twirling, baseball, track and field teams are also present. The students file includes headshots (some identified) as well as group photographs. Many of the photographs in the teachers, faculty & other AISD employees folder are headshots that are identified with the name of the person. Lastly there is a photograph of an artistic rendering of a Kuehne, Brooks & architectural drawing of Anderson High School circa 1950s.
In addition to the photographs there is a single folder of textual materials that includes the names and images of the 1948 candidates for graduation; several 1950s and 1960s commencement programs; minutes from the 1964 Anderson High P.T.A; a 1953 letter to the Austin Public School Board and Superintendent thanking them for the new buildings and facility; and a 1974 letter from the Austin Chief of Police congratulating Anderson High School principal William Pigford on his retirement.
Photographs are loosely arranged topically.
General Collection
Periodicals Collection
Archives and Manuscripts
Austin Files
Several issues (scattered 1940s and 1950s) of
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Open to all users.
None.
Purchased from a family member of Lucile Edna Frazier in 2011.
Lucile Edna Frazier L.C. Anderson High School Photograph Collection (AR.2011.043). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Finding aid created and encoded by Molly Hults in 2011.