urn:taro:utexas.cah.01299 A Guide to the William Fletcher Cummins Papers, 1892-1933 Original EAD encoding by Lauren Algee according to TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions. November 2009 Finding aid written in English. Descriptive Summary Cummins, William Fletcher William Fletcher Cummins Papers 1892-1933 Materials are written in English. 61-70; 63-28 9 ft., 4 in. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,The University of Texas at Austin Professor William Fletcher Cummins (1840-1931) was a Texas Methodist clergyman and geologist. Biographical Note

Professor William Fletcher Cummins (1840-1931) was a Texas Methodist clergyman and geologist. Cummins was born in Webster County, Missouri on June 13,1830. He attended St. Charles College and moved to Texas in 1860 serving nine years with the Methodist Episcopal Church South across Texas. During that time Cummins also served in Arkansas with the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He wrote about being a member of the Ku Klux Klan in 1866-67. In 1869 Cummins failing health forced him to resign from the clergy and pursue other work in real estate and as a railroad agent. In 1881 he began work for the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia, gathering Texas fossils. He was then hired by the State of Texas as Assistant Sate Geologist. His exploratory geological work resulted in the discovery of the Tampico oil field. Cummins married Mrs. Minnie C. Bullion Darnell in Weatherford, Texas, on March 17, 1871. They had three children. He spent his last years at his home in El Paso, where he died on January 8, 1931.

Bibliography: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. " Cummins, William Fletcher" (accessed September 15, 2009). Memorial and biographical history of Dallas County, Texas: containing a history of this important section of the great state of Texas, from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time ... and biographical mention of many of its pioneers, and also of prominent citizens of to-day. 1976. [S.l.]: Walsworth Pub. Co. Scope and Contents

Papers produced by Cummins relate to the El Paso-Amarillo Oil & Gas Company and Rio Bravo Oil Company; reports of geological surveys in Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas; daily progress report of East Coast Oil Company; and Cummins’ life and religious and philosophical interests. Papers include correspondence, minutes, pamphlets, magazine and newspaper clippings, maps, broadsides, photographs, receipts, diaries, notebooks, religious papers, blueprints, account papers, and Bible courses.

The collection is minimally processed. However, indexes in 2D19 provide an item-level guide to boxes 2D19-2D39.

 Access Restrictions

Unrestricted access.

 Index Terms Subjects (Persons) Baker, Charles Laurence Cummins, William Fletcher Dumble, Edwin T. Keyes, Charles Rollin Stiles, Elizabeth Swallow, S. C. Udden, Johan August Waterhouse Family Subjects (Organizations) East Coast Oil Company El Paso Amarillo Oil and Gas Company Methodist Church Rio Bravo Oil Company Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Subjects Camp meetings Clergy. Creationism. Diaries. Evolution. Fossils. Geologists. Geology. Gypsum. Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920. Nitrate minerals Oil fields. Petroleum industry. Potash Religion Religious education Salt domes Secession. Sulphur Places Brewster County (Tex.) El Paso (Tex.) Harris County (Tex.) Mexico. New Mexico. Pánuco, Mexico Presidio County (Tex.) San Augustine (Tex.) San Luis Potosí (Mexico) Tampico (Tamaulipas, Mexico) Preferred Citation

William Fletcher Cummins Papers, 1892-1933, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

 Separated Material

The donation of the Cummins Papers also included a large number of books, which were separated from the papers and sent to the library unit. Most of these were concerning geology, though several religious books were also included.

 Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.

 Description of the Papers Inventory: 2D19 Papers: 2D19 Index [2] 2D19 Packets 1-4 2D20 Packets 5-8 2D21 Packets 9-12 2D22 Packets 13-16 2D23 Packets16-18 2D24 Packets 18-21 2D25 Packets 22-26 2D25 Various reports: 1-30 2D26 Various reports: 31-51 2D26 Miscellaneous papers: packets 1-3 2D27 Miscellaneous papers: packets 4-7 2D28 Miscellaneous papers: packets 8-11 2D29 Miscellaneous papers: packets 12, 15-17 2D30 Miscellaneous papers: packets 17-20 2D31 Miscellaneous papers: packets 20, 22-24 2D32 Correspondence, 1906-1907, 1909: packet 25 2D32 Miscellaneous papers: packet 26 2D32 Notebooks: packets 27-28 2D33 Notebooks: packet 28 2D33 Miscellaneous papers: packet 29 2D33 Bible course: packet 30 2D33 Correspondence, 1907-1916 2D34 Correspondence, 1917-1930 and undated 2D25 Notebooks 1-5 and index to notebooks 2D25 Notebooks 6-20 2D36 Notebooks 21-49 2D37 Notebooks 50-74 2D38 Notebooks 75-100 2D39 Clippings 2D39 Miscellaneous 2D39 “Live and Reminiscences of W. F. Cummins,” by E. F. Stiles TXC 128 Printed Material: TXC 128 Items related to religion, non-Texan, 1907, 1928-1929 TXC 128 Items related to Mexico, some geology, some oil, 1910-1922 [in Spanish and English] TXC 128 Issues of “Brewster’s Booster” newsletter, Alpine, Brewster County, Colorado, 1920-1921 TXC 128 Pamphlets related to prohibition in Texas, undated TXC 128 Items related to miscellaneous Texas places and topics TXC 128 Items related to geology, paleontology, and oil in Texas, 1889, 1904, 1914-1929 TXC 128 Items related to Texas, 1917-1928 TXC 128 Items related to geology, oil, mining and evolution, 1909-1926 TXC 128 Items on miscellaneous subjects, non-Texan TXC E Oversize printed material 2.325/OD15 Maps and charts: 2.325/OD15 Charts, logs, etc. related to oil in Texas and Mexico 2.325/OD15 Maps, primarily of Texas and Mexico, related to oil and geology 2.116/OD1275 Maps and charts, primarily related to oil and geology in Texas and Mexico 2.325/V3 Map of “El Ingenio,” property of William B. Willis, Mexico, undated [photocopy] 2.325/V3 “Map of Texas from most recent authorities,” 1845 [photocopy] 2.325/V3 Map of country near Marathon and geological section near Marathon, Brewster County, Texas, undated [photocopy] 2.325/V2 Maps relating to Texas and oil 2.325/V2 Charts, logs and correspondence with enclosures related to oil in Texas and Mexico 2.325/V2 Clippings: 2.325/V2 Oil, geology and mining, primarily in Texas and Mexico, 1914-1925 2.325/V3 Religious subjects, 1921-1924 2.325/V3 Historical subjects, 1922-1928 2.325/V3 Prehistoric subjects, evolution, etc., 1922-1929 2.325/V3 Miscellaneous subjects, 1922-1930 2.325/V3 Broadsides, 1913 and 1921 2.325/V3 Personal items, 1918-1928 3Y24 Photographs:

[Click for selected images]

 3Y24 Bailing oil from Wilson well, May 27th, 1920, Marfa, Texas [panoramic in 2 fragments] 3Y24 Between Paisano Pass and Stroble [18] 3Y24 Capote Canyon, Presidio County [20] 3Y24 Christmas card, Florence A. Hughes, “a corner of my garden” 3Y24 Geologic formations and scenes in Texas [9] 3Y24 Identified persons [8] 3Y24 Identified places, Texas and Mexico [53] 3Y24 Mexican Subjects [21] 3Y24 Negatives [37] 3Y24 Oil well, Easter Sunday, April 20-30, near El Paso? 3Y24 Panoramic prints of oilfields and vicinity, Mexico, 1909 [34, small] 3Y24 Postcards of U. S. scenes, non-Texan [3] 3Y24 Religious “lesson picture card,” 1922 [2] 3Y24 San Augustin(?); numbered series 1-11 [11] 3Y24 Scenes in Houston and Del Rio, Texas [5] 3Y24 Scenes near Mission, Texas: 3Y24 C. S. Butterfield Construction project [irrigation?] flume [2] 3Y24 C. S. Butterfield dredge [for irrigation canal] [7] 3Y24 Home-seekers at Mission, Texas 3Y24 Stone heads and carved object [3] 3Y24 Unidentified persons [56] 3Y24 William Fletcher Cummins [16]