Guide to the Andrew Forest Muir papers

Biographical Sketch

Andrew Forest Muir was born January 8, 1916 in Houston Heights, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (1938) and a Master of Arts (1942) from Rice Institute, as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Texas (1949). While in Austin he taught at St. Luke’s school and tutored English at the University of Texas (1942-44), also serving as acting director of the San Jacinto Museum of History (1943-44). Muir next traveled to Hawaii where, from 1945 to 1949, he worked as a civilian employee for the U.S. Engineers in Honolulu, Hawaii, taught history at the Iolany School, and later was Educational Advisor to the Commanding General at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He served as an Assistant Professor of History at Daniel Baker College in Brownwood, Texas, from 1951-53, before moving on to teach at the Polytechnic Institute, in San German, Puerto Rico for the 1953-54 academic year. Honored as a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial fellow for 1957-58, he then joined the history department at Rice Institute in 1958.

As a historian, Muir published numerous studies on religion and church leaders in Hawaii during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as several studies on free blacks in the Houston area. He also authored Early Missionaries in Texas (1941), Railroad Enterprise in Texas, 1936-1841 (1944), The Thirty-Second Parallel Pacific Railroad in Texas 1872 (1949), and Thomas Jefferson Ewing, Texas Ward: Politician (1952) as well as Texas in 1837, which he edited in 1958.

Known as an authority on William Marsh Rice, his work William Marsh Rice and His Institute: A Biographical Study was edited by Sylvia Stallings Morris and posthumously published in 1972. In addition, Muir contributed to The Handbook of Texas, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, and served as associate editor of the Journal of Southern History.

Andrew Forest Muir died on February 3, 1969.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, research and genealogical notes compiled by former Rice professor Andrew Forest Muir. Subjects include early Texas history, early Texans, particularly Houston and Harris county, and the Episcopal Church in Texas, as well as the Anglican Church in Hawaii. Muir made the notes as a student at Rice Institute and at the University of Texas. The largest group of materials is Muir’s alphabetical subject research files which relate to 19th century Texas and Houston history; the life and death of William Marsh Rice; the growth of the Catholic, Anglican, and Episcopal Churches in the 19th century via missionary work in Texas and Hawaii; and Hawaiian history, specifically clergymen in Hawaii. These research files were created and maintained by Andrew Forest Muir circa 1935-1969, with subjects covering a wide range dates, circa 1750-1969, bulk 1800s.

Correspondents include fellow Texas historians, librarians and publishers such as Frank Wardlaw, Alfred A. Knopf, A.C. Greene, Angus Cameron (Editor, Alfred A. Knopf), attorney Cooper Ragan, William H. Masterson (regarding Journal of Southern History), Diana and Bill Hobby, J.W. Petty Jr. (Book Mart, Victoria, TX)

Also of interest is Muir's collection of original treasury notes and manuscripts (Series VI) which dates mainly from the Republic of Texas Era and the U.S. Civil War era, reflecting everyday life through local (county, city, state, Confederate) currency from Texas and Southern states, as well as correspondence, receipts, military orders, and more.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

This materials is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish from the Andrew Forest Muir papers, MS 17, must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Andrew Forest Muir papers, MS 17, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University

Acquisition Information

Gift of the estate of Andrew Forest Muir and through Ellis Rudy, 1973 and 2004.

Detailed Description of the Collection