The Texas Tech Rodeo Association was established to promote collegiate interest in rodeo activities, continue the western heritage traditions, and to sponsor a inter-collegiate rodeo team. Membership was restricted to enrolled Texas Tech students and members had originally meet the first and third Thursday evenings monthly in the Agriculture Pavilion. Competitors were also required to be members of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA).
A seven member board of directors administers this student organization which is partially funded by the Recreational Sports Department. In a supervisory role is a designated coach/faculty member who coordinates the organization's activities according to university policy.
Primary activities include the Cowboy Christmas Ball, held annually before the end of fall semester; maintaining a scholarship endowment for members; a spring rodeo open to anyone who wishes to participate; the Texas Tech Intercollegiate Rodeo, which is held in October and serves as the main fundraiser for the organization; and helping members participate in the NIRA's ten annual rodeos for the Southwest region.
The collection contains miscellaneous historical papers on the Texas Tech Rodeo Association from 1946-2001. Included are the articles of incorporation, brochures, news clippings, newsletters, a rodeo handbook, and numerous rodeo programs. Also, there are memorabilia items such as rodeo ticket stubs, stationary, Christmas cards and a sticker.
Conservation: The scrapbooks were in poor condition, with pages and photos falling out and apart. The rubber cement used to paste the images and text down have permeated the materials and caused the items to yellow. All pages were photocopied and put into acid-free folders. The original scrapbook pages are in the oversized blue board box. The photographs were labeled, sleeved and sent to photographs, except for the one oversized photo which resides with the scrapbook pages.
The collection is organized in alphabetical order.
The subject headings used by the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library are derived from the Library of Congress and/or locally developed.
Collection accession #(s):
Gifts, 2001 and 2005
Open for research
Lynn Whitfield, December 2001
Rodeo Association Records, 1946-2001 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: