urn:taro:ttu.ua.00179 Flora Dee Goforth: An Inventory of Her Papers, 1927-1934 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library Lynn Whitfield The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library
The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library Texas Tech University MS 41041 Lubbock, Texas 79409 Phone: (806)-742-3749 Fax: (806)-742-0496 Webpage: http://swco.ttu.edu/ Contact Person: Reference Archivist
October 15, 2001 Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, November 2001. Finding aid written in English. Tue Jul 22 14:49:10 CDT 2003 urn:taro:ttu.ua.00179 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505). Inventory for the Flora Goforth Papers, 1927-1934 and undated Lynn Whitfield The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, November 2001 Descriptive Summary Goforth, Flora Dee Flora Goforth Papers, 1927-1934 and undated Papers of the Texas Technological College graduate Flora Goforth, who went on to teach for the Indian Service at the Sioux Reservation. U 242.2 Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University 2 Boxes (2.0 linear feet) English. Biographical Sketch

Born in 1907 in Granger, Texas, Flora Goforth spent her childhood in Texas and New Mexico. Relatives on both sides of her family had been weavers, spurring her desire to make a career out of designing surface patterns. She attended Texas Technological College in the late 1920s-early 1930s. Texas Technological College was the only school west of the Mississippi to have a textile school.

A sociable person, Goforth became the first freshmen to be elected president of the Home Economics Club. Music also occupied her time as Flora played the saxophone in the Girl's Orchestra and the trombone in the Tech Band. While teaching for the Indian Service at the Sioux Reservation, Goforth sought to impart to her students the perfection in the straight edges of weaving. Under her direction, students learned to create their own designs, build looms, weave the textiles, and finely turn them into a useable product such as a scarf or jacket that was marketable. Her book, Weave It Yourself, showed the reader how to build a loom and the steps required to produce the depicted blanket. This book included photographs of her students at work.

 Scope and Contents

The collection includes various woven textiles done by Goforth and her students, photographs, and Texas Technological College memorabilia and campus directories.

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) Goforth, Flora Dee Goforth, Flora Dee--Photograph collections Subjects (Organizations) Texas Technological College Texas Technological College. Dept. of Home Economics Texas Technological College. Home Economics Club Subjects Textiles Acquisition

Collection accession #(s): 2001-0021-B

Gift, 2001

 Access Restrictions

Open for research

 Processed by

Lynn Whitfield, October 2001

 Preferred Citation

Flora Goforth Papers, 1927-1934 and undated, Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

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

Flora Goforth oral history interview [sound recording], 1999 Drama (Lubbock, Tex.) Papers, 1960-1966 Flora Goforth Photographs, undated Flora Goforth Papers, 1906-2000 Collection Inventory Manuscripts 1 1 Artistic Drawing, undated 1 2 Campus Correspondence, 1931 1 3 Campus Directories, 1927-1931 1 4 Fair Ribbons, 1928 1 5 Greeting and Holiday Cards, 1929 and undated 1 6 Home Economics Club- Installation of Officers, 1929-1930 1 7 Maisel's Indian Trading Post, Inc. Pamphlet, undated 1 8 Miscellaneous Silver letter opener with "Texas Tech" and "Engineers 34" stamped in Name engraving plate and card for Flora Goforth Purple handkerchief with gold paint drawing Mounted card of the Dept. of Engineering Drawing Yearbook picture of the Home Economics Club 1 9 News Clippings, 1928-1930 1 10 Weavings Cream weaving [scarf?] Cream weaving [scarf?] 1 11 Weavings Blue and gray weaving [scarf?] Cream weaving 1 12 Weavings Red, burgundy and cream weaving Red fringed weaving [scarf?] 1 13 Weavings Red, burgundy and cream weaving Red fringed weaving [scarf?] 2 1 Weavings Cream weaving with blue and red embroidery work Cream weaving [scarf?] Mint green weaving [scarf?] Pink and blue fringed weaving Multi-colored weaving Orange, blue and yellow fringed blanket Pink woolen blanket 1 13 Yearbooks [inscribed to Flora Goforth by friends] La Ventana, 1929 La Ventana, 1931 La Ventana, 1934 Oversized Photographs [located in UA Photographs Oversize Box B) 3 (11 x 14) b/w prints of students playing baseball 1 (11 x 14) b/w prints of Flora Goforth and students in break room 2 (miscellaneous sized) b/w photocopies of Flora Goforth Photographs 1 (6 x 7) b/w print of Flora Goforth taped to wood panel 1 (8 x 10) color print of Flora Goforth 1 (8 x 10) color print of the Engineering Drafting School building 1 (8 x 10) b/w print of a Native American doing pottery