Lucy Vernor “Vernie” Alston was born in Gonzales County, Texas, in 1875 and spent most of her youth on a Wilson County farm. She married Gratz Brown Gouger (1871-1933) in 1893 and lived in the town of Stockdale, Texas, assisting her husband in his business ventures and raising their three children.
The Gougers moved to San Antonio in 1910 and Mrs. Gouger remained there after her husband’s death. Active in civic affairs, she was one of two women to serve on the first city planning commission. She was also a member of many organizations, including the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT). In 1947 she was asked to chair the Library Wing Committee, which successfully oversaw the construction of the DRT Library on the grounds of the Alamo. Mrs. Gouger continued to work on behalf of the library until her death in 1951 December.
The Vernie Alston Gouger papers consist primarily of records accumulated during her chairmanship of the Library Wing Committee of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The committee was formed in 1947 and worked to obtain state funding for the construction of a library on the grounds of the Alamo, raise private funds for the library, and supervise the planning and construction of the new building.
The papers include correspondence with committee members, other DRT officials, legislators, and others involved in the project. Minutes of some of the committees meetings, reports to the DRT and others, and some financial records are also part of the papers. Mrs. Gouger’s brief speech for the dedication of the library, the invitation and program for the dedication, some clippings, and a single architectural drawing are also related to the project.
In addition, there is a small amount of general DRT material in the papers.
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.
[Identification of item], Vernie Alston Gouger Papers, 1946-1952, Col 938, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Gift of Clyde Chalk Sierk, 1960.
The Gouger papers were given to another DRT member, Clyde Chalk Sierk, shortly before Mrs. Gouger’s death. Mrs. Sierk sorted and listed the material and presented it to the library in 1960; some items may have been added to the papers at that time.
Processed by Warren Stricker, 2002 August.
Finding aid edited and encoded by Caitlin Donnelly, 2010 December.