urn:taro:utexas.cah.00156 A Guide to the Ross Shaw Sterling Papers, 1930-1939 Center for American History Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, March 2001. Finding aid written in English. October 15, 2002 Edited with XMetaL 2 by Bill Hardesty and Evan Hocker according to instructions in Editing TARO EAD XML Finding Aids with XMetaL. Tue Jul 22 15:28:13 CDT 2003 urn:taro:utexas.cah.00156 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505). November 2008 Edited by Shelley Rowland according to TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions. Descriptive Summary Sterling, R. S. (Ross S.), 1875-1949 Ross Shaw Sterling Papers 1930-1939 22966173 12 ft., 10 in. The University of Texas at Austin, Center for American History Papers of Sterling during his term as governor of Texas (1931-1933) concern his gubernatorial campaign, his proclamation of martial law in East Texas, and voting irregularities and a subsequent law suit during his unsuccessful race for a second term as governor in 1932. English Organization

Organized into eight series: 1. General correspondence. 2. Classified correspondence. 3. Campaign material. 4. Voting irregularities. 5. Scrapbooks. 6. Financial records and miscellany. 7. Literary productions. 8. Photographs.

 Biographical Note

Governor of Texas, 1931-1933. Ross Shaw Sterling was born near Anahuac, Texas in 1875. He spent his early career in farming and business, then entered the banking industry. In 1898, he married Maud Abbie Gage; they had five children. In 1910, Sterling purchased two oil wells and developed the Humble Oil and Refining Company. He sold his interests in the company in 1925 and entered real estate development in the Houston area. In 1925-1926, he purchased the Houston Dispatch and Post, merging them to create the Houston Dispatch-Post. He served as chairman of the Texas Highway Commission in 1930. On January 20, 1931, he was inaugurated governor of Texas. During his term of office, he confronted agricultural and oil emergencies due to the Great Depression. He declared martial law in four counties in East Texas to shut down oil production. The courts later ruled this declaration unconstitutional. Sterling was not re-elected in 1933. He returned to Houston, where he directed the Sterling Oil and Refining Company until 1946. He was also president of the American Maid Flour Mills and the R. S. Sterling Investment Company, as well as chairman of the Houston National Bank. Sterling died in Fort Worth in 1949 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

Biographical note prepared from information contained in The Handbook of Texas.

 Scope and Contents

Papers of Sterling during his term as governor of Texas (1931-1933) concern his gubernatorial campaign, his proclamation of martial law in East Texas, and voting irregularities and subsequent law suit during his unsuccessful race for a second term as governor in 1932.

 Access Restrictions

Unrestricted access.

 Index Terms Subjects (Persons) Sterling, Ross Shaw, 1875-1949--Archives. Subjects (Organizations) Democratic Party (Tex.)--Photographs. Subjects Elections--Texas. Martial law--Texas. Politicians--Texas. Aeronautics--Photographs. Elections--Photographs. Politicians--Photographs. Places Texas--Governors. Texas--Governors--Election. Preferred Citation

Ross Shaw Sterling Papers, 1930-1939, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

 General correspondence 3F45 1/1/1930-12/18/1930 3F46 12/19/1930-1/14/1931 3F47 1/15/1931-2/28/1931 3F48 3/1/1931-4/15/1931 3F49 4/16/1931-6/14/1931 3F50 6/15/1931-8/17/1931 3F51 8/18/1931-10/31/1931 3F52 11/1/1931-1/31/1932 3F53 5/1/1932-4/30/1932 3F54 5/1/1932-6/22/1932 3F55 6/23/1932-7/31/1932 3F56 8/1/1932-8/31/1932 3F57 9/1/1932-10/20/1932 3F58 10/21/1932-1/31/1933 Classified correspondence 3F59 1931-1932 Campaign material 3F60 Mailing lists by counties, 1932 3F60 Anderson - Eastland 3F61 Edwards - Hunt 3F62 Jackson - McLennan 3F63 Nacogdoches - Young Voting irregularities 3F64 Sterling vs. Ferguson, 1932: 3F64 Lists and correspondence 3F65 Lists and correspondence 3F66 County lists: 3F66 Anderson - Gillespie 3F67 Grayson - Presidio 3F68 Rusk - Wise; County reports of unqualified voters. 3F69 Transcripts of hearings, pp. 413-1562 4M579 Sterling vs. Ferguson, transcript Scrapbooks 3F70 November 29, 1930-June, 1931 3F71 July, 1931-October, 1932; April 29, 1939, and undated 4M580 Miscellaneous articles Financial Records and Miscellany 3F72 1931-1932 and undated Literary productions 3H162 "Sterling-Texan: A Biography of Ross S. Sterling," by Ed Kilman, undated. Photographs 3S3 Photographs