Texas Archival Resources Online

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Descriptive Summary

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Contents

Restrictions

Index Terms

Related Material

Administrative Information

Additional Sources

Description of Series

Biographical Material, undated

Books, 1901-1915

Cards and postcards, 1912-1914 and undated

Cartoons: Political, undated

Correspondence

Debs, Eugene V., undated

Financial Materials

Legal Material, 1911-1952 and undated

Literary Productions

National Workers Drilling and Production Company, 1919-1920

News Clippings

Newsletters and Circulars

Pamphlets

Periodicals

paper, undated

Receipts, 1913-1917 and undated

Recipe, undated

Scrapbook Material

Subscriptions and Contributions, 1919 and undated

2 volume Book Set- early 1900s?

Oversized Scrapbooks

Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

Thomas A. Hickey:

An Inventory of His Papers, 1896-1996 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library



Descriptive Summary

CreatorHickey, Thomas A., 1869-1925
Title:Thomas A. Hickey Papers,
Dates:1896-1996 and undated
Abstract:The papers of Thomas Aloysius Hickey, a Socialist who became an ardent speaker, organizer, and writer of the socialist movement.
Collection #S 431.1
Quantity:3.5 boxes and 2 scrapbooks (4.5 linear feet)
LanguageEnglish.
Repository:Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

Biographical Sketch

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1869, Thomas Aloysius Hickey arrived in America in 1892. Hickey joined the Socialist Labor party and the Knights of Labor in 1893 and became an ardent speaker, organizer, and writer, as well as private secretary to Eugene V. Debs. In 1900, he left the Socialist Labor Party and went on to cocreate the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance and helped arrange several machinist strikes in New Jersey, which led to his blacklisting by employers. Moving to Butte, Montana, Hickey joined the Western Federation of Miners and helped recruit for the Socialist party.

In 1911, he moved to Hallettsville, Texas, and started a weekly newspaper called The Rebel. Over time, Hickey became a prominent figure in the socialist movement and the slogan of his paper became the official slogan of the Socialist party in Texas. He served as the socialist candidate for lieutenant governor in 1912 and was married to Clara E. Boeer that same year. The government suppressed The Rebel in 1917 under the Espionage Act and in 1918, the Nonpartisan League fired Hickey as an organizer.

In October 1919, he and other socialists organized the National Workers Drilling and Production Company. Hickey continued writing, serving as an advertising manager of the Desdemona Oil News and a correspondent for fourteen more newspapers such as the Texas Oil World and the Independent Oil and Financial Reporter. Withdrawing from the company in 1920, he moved to a farm near Stamford, Texas, and was publishing Tom Hickey's Magazine until his death on May 7, 1925, of throat cancer.

The Handbook of Texas has published a more in-depth online biography of Thomas Aloysius Hickey at http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/search.html

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Scope and Contents

The collection contains correspondence, printed material, news clippings, financial and legal material, literary productions, and scrapbook material. The bulk of the collection is correspondence, including letters from Hickey's readers and from Socialist leaders such as Theodore Debs. The printed materials include newsletters, pamphlets, periodicals, and circulars. Principal subjects of this collection are the Socialist Party, World War I, and pacifism.

Conservation Note: In 1985 and 1986, a large number of the papers in this collection were encapsulated within Mellinex polyester film and/or deacidified using Wei I'o aerosol solution. Those pages that were not treated remain fragile and brittle. Also, some of the double-sided tape used for the encapsulation is either coming loose or sticking to other pages. Additionally, the two volume German medical book set is in very fragile condition, with the binding falling apart and pages loose. The covers are also fading and deteriorating.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research

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Index Terms

The subject headings used by the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library are derived from the Library of Congress and/or locally developed.
Subjects (Persons)
Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor), 1855-1926--Correspondence
Hickey, Thomas A., 1869-1925
Hickey, Thomas A., 1869-1925--Archives
Hickey, Thomas A., 1869-1925--Correspondence
Subjects (Organizations)
Socialist Party (Tex.)
Socialist Party (U.S.)
Places
United States--Politics and government--1901-1909
United States--Politics and government--1909-1913
United States--Politics and government--1913-1921
United States--Politics and government--1921-1923
Subjects
Journalists--Texas
Labor movement--United States--Archival resources
Labor movement--United States--History
Labor unions--United States
Pacifism
Socialism--Texas--History
Socialism--United States--Archival resources
Socialists--United States--Biography
World War, 1914-1918

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Related Material

For related materials located in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, see the following collections:

  • Boeer/Wolf Families Papers, 1837-1972 and undated
  • Carl Brannin oral history interview [sound recording], 1983
  • Thomas Hickey Family Photographs, 1920
  • Mina W. Lamb and Ilse Wolf oral history interview [sound recording], 1979

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Thomas A. Hickey Papers, 1896-1996 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Acquisition

Gifts, 1979-1994

Processed by

Lynn Whitfield, August 2000

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Additional Sources

Clark, Robert William. "Thomas A. Hickey and Socialist Reform in Texas, 1904-1925. "Thesis (M.A.)--Texas Tech University, 1989.

James R. Green. "Grass-Roots Socialism: Radical Movements in the Southwest, 1895-1943. "Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978.

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Collection Inventory

 
boxfolder
11Biographical Material, undated

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boxfolder
12Books, 1901-1915

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boxfolder
13Cards and postcards, 1912-1914 and undated

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boxfolder
14Cartoons: Political, undated

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Correspondence

boxfolder
15Correspondence, 1902-1922
6Correspondence, 1909-1922 and undated
7Correspondence, 1909-1923
8Correspondence, 1910-1911
9Correspondence, 1910-1912
10Correspondence, 1910-1913
11Correspondence, 1910-1920
12Correspondence, 1910-1921
13Correspondence, 1910-1921
14Correspondence, 1910-1923
15Correspondence, 1911-1920
16Correspondence, 1911-1922
17Correspondence, 1911-1924
18Correspondence, 1912-1914
19Correspondence, 1913-1924 and undated
20Correspondence, 1914-1924
21Correspondence, 1915-1922
22Correspondence, 1915-1922
23Correspondence, 1916-1923
24Correspondence, 1916-1924
25Correspondence, 1918-1920
26Correspondence, 1918-1924
27Correspondence, 1919-1923
28Correspondence, 1921-1924
29Correspondence, 1922-1967
30Correspondence, undated
31Correspondence, undated
32Correspondence, June 18, 1916 - April 30, 1917
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21Correspondence, May 1, 1917 - May 31, 1917
2Correspondence, June 1, 1917 - June 30, 1917
3Correspondence, July 1, 1917 - July 30, 1917
4Correspondence, July 1, 1917 - July 31, 1917
5Correspondence, August 1, 1917 - September 15, 1917
6Correspondence, September 15, 1917 - December 27, 1917
7Correspondence, January 5, 1918 - November 26, 1918
8Correspondence, December 3, 1918 - December 30, 1918
9Correspondence, January 1, 1919 - June 1, 1918

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boxfolder
210Debs, Eugene V., undated

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Financial Materials

boxfolder
211Financial Materials, 1906-1916
12Financial Materials, 1908-1920 and undated
13Financial Materials, 1911-1917 and undated
14Financial Materials: Stock Certificates, 1906-1916

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boxfolder
215Legal Material, 1911-1952 and undated

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Literary Productions

boxfolder
216Literary Productions, 1905-1919 and undated
17Literary Productions, 1911 and undated
18Literary Productions, 1912-1923 and undated
19Literary Productions, 1914 and undated
20Literary Productions, 1933 and undated

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boxfolder
221National Workers Drilling and Production Company, 1919-1920

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News Clippings

boxfolder
222News Clippings, 1909-1925 and undated
23News Clippings, 1916-1925 and undated

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Newsletters and Circulars

boxfolder
224Newsletters and Circulars, 1904-1923 and undated
25Newsletters and Circulars, 1909-1912 and undated
26Newsletters and Circulars, 1917-1923 and undated

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Pamphlets

boxfolder
227Pamphlets, undated
boxfolder
31Pamphlets, 1898-1922 and undated
2Pamphlets, 1904-1912 and undated
3Pamphlets, 1906-1917 and undated
4Pamphlets, 1912-1949 and undated

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Periodicals

boxfolder
35Periodicals, 1896-1910 and undated
6Periodicals, 1912-1915
7Periodicals: (Tom) Watson's Magazine, 1905-1910
boxfolder
41Periodicals: Wyland's Monthly, 1905-1908

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boxfolder
42the Rebel paper, undated

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boxfolder
43Receipts, 1913-1917 and undated

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boxfolder
44Recipe, undated

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Scrapbook Material

boxfolder
45Scrapbook Material, 1907-1933 and undated
6Scrapbook Material, 1908-1952 and undated

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boxfolder
47Subscriptions and Contributions, 1919 and undated

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boxfolder
482 volume Book Set- "Bilz Das Neue Naturheilverfahren" [very fragile, damaged with loose pages and binding], early 1900s?

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Oversized Scrapbooks

box
1Scrapbook material: Periodicals and Posters, 1910-1917
box
2Scrapbook material: Stanley Clark Posters, undated

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