William Deming Hornaday:

An Inventory of Transcripts of World War I Letters and Personal Accounts at the Texas State Archives, [ca. 1916]-[ca. 1922]

Biographical Sketch

William Deming Hornaday was born near Plainfield, Indiana, February 4, 1868. He commenced his career in journalism at age 17 and worked for newspapers in Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; and Memphis, Tennessee. To supplement his salary, Hornaday worked as a special correspondent for a network of newspapers across the country. In 1898, he moved to San Antonio, Texas to work for the San Antonio Times and later the San Antonio Express. During this period, Hornaday gained national renown for an investigative report on poor rations provided to U. S. soldiers.

From San Antonio, Hornaday went to Mexico where he served as publicity director for the Mexican National Railway. During this period he interviewed several Mexican presidents and revolutionaries, including Porfirio Díaz, Victoriano Huerta, Álvaro Obregón, Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Madero, Doroteo Arango (Francisco "Pancho" Villa), and Emiliano Zapata.

In 1913 Hornaday embarked on a world cruise as a special correspondent for a newspaper syndicate. During the next several years, he made several trips to Europe, the Far East, and the Pacific islands. Hornaday came to Austin in 1917 as Director of Publicity for the University of Texas, a position he held until his death in 1942. In 1921, he established a student-owned and operated clipping service, which extracted narrative accounts and letters from World War I Texas servicemen from local newspapers. Hornaday prepared typescripts of these clippings, which forms the substance of this collection.

Scope and Contents of the Records

The twelve volumes of transcripts include approximately 2,400 individual letters and personal accounts of Texas soldiers, sailors, and Marines in the "Great War" [World War I]. Letters and personal accounts printed in local newspapers, circa 1916 to circa 1922, were gathered by a student clipping service at the University of Texas beginning in 1921 and then were transcribed by William D. Hornaday. The letters and personal accounts include descriptions of military life, battles, and injuries; persons, places, and events in France and Germany, at sea, and on U.S. military bases; and the influenza epidemic and activities at home. The index to each entry contains the name of the writer, the military unit or other designation (such as Red Cross or YMCA), if known, and the beginning volume-page number of the letter. Of note is a transcript of a letter by Captain Beauford Jester, who later served as governor of Texas.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

To preserve the transcripts, the original typescripts will not be accessed for researchers.

Restrictions on Use

Researchers must use the carbon copies of the transcripts.

Researchers are responsible for complying with the Copyright Law.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), William Deming Hornaday Transcripts of World War I letters and personal accounts. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 1975/070

This collection was donated to the Archives Division of the Texas State Library by William D. Hornaday's son, Joe Hornaday, on February 19, 1975.

Processing Information

Michael R. Green, November 1991

Detailed Description of the Records