Born in Temple, Texas, in 1905, Louis Reynolds Andricks moved to San Antonio as a boy and made the city his home for the remainder of his life. He attended the University of Texas, where he obtained a degree in civil engineering. In addition to his private sector work as an engineer, he served at various times in city government in the public works department, on the planning commission, and as acting city manager.
Andricks began one of his most significant associations in 1947 when he was named to the board of directors of the Fiesta San Jacinto Association, the organization that then organized the annual spring event. Soon after his election, he came up with the idea for an illuminated night parade to be called “Fiesta Flambeau.” The event was first staged in 1948 and was an immediate success; Andricks continued as its director into the 1980s. During that period he instituted a number of other popular innovations, including the selection of a “Miss Fiesta” and increased military involvement in Fiesta. He expanded Fiesta’s reach by initiating exchanges with like civic celebrations in other cities, sending San Antonio representatives to the Tournament of Roses in California, the Minneapolis Aquatennial, and other events around the country.
In addition to his unbroken stint as Flambeau director, Andricks also served at various times as Fiesta San Jacinto Association president and executive director. Following the creation of the Fiesta San Antonio Commission in 1959 as the new policy body for Fiesta, Andricks continued to represent the renamed Festival San Jacinto, the sponsors of the Flambeau, until his death.
Andricks and his first wife, Thelma Cordelia Trafton Andricks, were the parents of a daughter. After his wife’s death in 1977, Andricks married Ann Edge. He died at his home in San Antonio in 1982.
Reynolds Andricks biographical file. Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Representing thirty years of his close involvement in Fiesta San Antonio, the Reynolds Andricks collection consists of scrapbooks and photographs detailing the annual event.
Scrapbooks make up the bulk of the collection, beginning with a few volumes dating from years prior to Andricks’ official involvement with the organization of Fiesta. With his election to the board of the Fiesta San Jacinto Association in 1947, the scrapbooks become more systematic, gathering clippings of local and out-of-town newspaper coverage of Fiesta planning and events, Fiesta-related advertisements, and other printed items. There are also items related to other events sponsored by the organization and to the appearance of San Antonio representatives at other festivals. While there are no chronological gaps in the annual series of scrapbooks from 1947-1976, there appear to be some missing items for years in which more than one volume was compiled. Several of the later volumes included envelopes containing loose clippings; these have been place in folders and housed with the scrapbook from that year. A smaller sequence of scrapbooks gathers letters and some printed items received by Andricks in the course of organizing and promoting Fiesta events.
Several albums of photographs, dating from 1953-1968, consist primarily of professionally produced publicity photos of Fiesta participants and events and photos of San Antonio participants in parades in other cities. The numerical sequence used on a number of these volumes indicates that several albums are missing and that there are gaps in the chronological sequence. Photographs have been removed from the albums and rehoused in folders in their original order.
No restrictions. The collection is open for research.
Please be advised that the library does not hold the copyright to most of the material in its archival collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure those rights when needed. Permission to reproduce does not constitute permission to publish. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright, literary property rights, and libel.
Several collections at the DRT Library and other repositories document the history of Fiesta and various events held in conjunction with it, including:
Battle of Flowers Association (San Antonio, Tex.) Records, 1895-, Col 6848, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Ralph H. Durkee Fiesta San Jacinto Papers, 1925-1952, Doc 7830, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Order of the Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) Records, 1909-1990, Col 6096, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
[Identification of item], Reynolds Andricks Fiesta Scrapbooks and Photographs, 1935-1977, Col 7674, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Gift of Dee Ann Reynolds Andricks Brock, 1994 August.
Processed by Warren Stricker, 2004 October.
Finding aid edited and encoded by Caitlin Donnelly, 2010 October.