Descriptive Summary
Rainey, Homer P. (Homer Price), 1896-1985
Rainey, Homer Price, papers
1861, 1938-1946,
1961-1974, 1985, 1991
Materials are written in English.
1939; 1948; 1949; 93-055; 2010-228
4 ft.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at Austin
The Homer Price Rainey Papers, 1861,
1938-1946, 1961-1974, 1985, 1991, include correspondence, speeches, minutes,
certificates, political posters, literary productions, questionnaires, programs,
photographs, news clippings, and printed material about Rainey.
Biographical Sketch
Homer Price Rainey (1896-1985) was born in Clarksville, Texas, where he grew up in a
poor farming family. He was valedictorian of his class at Lovelady High School in
1913. At the age of 19, he became a Baptist minister, and he served in the United
States army during World War I. In 1919, Rainey earned his B.A. degree from Austin
College and taught education there for three years before attending the University
of Chicago, where he earned a master’s degree in 1923 and a doctorate in 1924.
Rainey taught at the University of Oregon until 1927, when he became president of
Franklin College in Indiana, 1927-1931. He then became president of Bucknell
University in Pennsylvania, 1931-1935, and served for four years as director of the
American Youth Commission of the American Council on Education.
The board of regents of the University of Texas appointed Rainey president in 1939.
Rainey often battled with the board, protesting against the regents’ firings of
professors, weakening of tenure, and terminating social science research funds. He
further angered the regents by attempting to bring the UT Medical Branch at
Galveston into the university proper. However, the greatest conflict between Rainey
and the board involved their attempts to fire a professor who placed the third
volume of John Dos Passos’ USA trilogy on the English
department’s sophomore reading list. Eventually the board of regents fired Rainey in
November 1944, citing no reasons, and 8,000 students went on strike in response,
marching from the campus to the Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion. Governor
Stevenson appointed new regents and made other changes, but Rainey was never
reinstated as president.
In 1946, Rainey ran for governor, and though he lost to Railroad Commissioner
Beauford H. Jester, he made waves as being the first candidate to run for state
office supported by minorities, labor unions, and independent progressives. One year
later Rainey became president of Stephens College in Missouri, and joined the
education faculty at the University of Colorado in 1956. In 1971 he wrote an account
of his experiences at UT entitled The Tower and the
Dome. He married Mildred Collins in 1920 and they had two daughters. He
died in 1985.
Source: Green, George N. Rainey, Homer Price.
Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed July 27, 2010.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra54.
Scope and Contents
The Homer Price Rainey Papers, 1861, 1938-1946, 1961-1974, 1985, 1991, include
correspondence, speeches, minutes, certificates, political posters, literary
productions, questionnaires, programs, photographs, news clippings, and printed
material about Rainey. The papers relate to conferences on public education,
Rainey’s inauguration as President of the University of Texas, his gubernatorial
campaign, and the Rainey-University of Texas board of regents dispute over academic
freedom. The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks, created by Rainey,
documenting his career at and controversies with the University of Texas.
Use Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Rainey, Homer P. (Homer Price),
1896-1985--Archives.
Brandon, Arthur L. (Arthur Leon)
Burdine, J. Alton (John Alton), 1905-
Castro, Américo, 1885-1972
Edwards, Newton, 1889-
Gordon, Wendell Chaffee, 1916-
Gulick, Luther Halsey, 1828-1891
Hackett, Charles W. (Charles Wilson),
1888-1951
Himstead, Ralph E. (Ralph Ebner),
1893-1955
Hoblitzelle, Karl, 1879-
Jester, Beauford Halbert, 1893-1949
Leake, Chauncey Depew, 1896-1978
O'Daniel, W. Lee (Wilbert Lee), 1890-1969
Painter, Theophilus S. (Theophilus Shickel),
1889-1969
Pattee, Richard, 1906-
Pittenger, Benjamin Floyd, 1883-
Reeves, Floyd W. (Floyd Wesley), 1890-1979
Sellards, E. H. (Elias Howard), 1875-1961
Jacob, Henry
Stevenson, Coke R. (Coke Robert),
1888-1975
Subjects (Organizations)
University of Texas
University of Texas. Board of Regents
Subjects
College presidents--Texas
Places
Austin (Tex.)
Preferred Citation
Homer Price Rainey Papers, 1861, 1938-1946, 1961-1974, 1985, 1991, Dolph Briscoe
Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Separated Material
Some material has been separated to the Library Unit.
Related Material
See also the Eugene Campbell
Barker Papers, 1785 (1812-1959), William James
Battle Papers, 1870-1959, and Walter Prescott
Webb Papers, 1857-1966.
Processing Information
Processed by Winnie Allen, September 1948. Revised by Deborah Bloys, January 1993;
Steve Stappenbeck, September 1998; Mark Firmin, February 2012; and Laurel Rozema,
June 2012.
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.
Detailed Description of the Papers
Inventory
2R156
Addresses delivered at pre-inaugural conferences
4N16f
Inauguration of Rainey as University of Texas President,
scrapbook, 1939
4L288
Political scrapbooks
4L288
Broadsides and clippings
4L294
Scrapbook
May - December 1945
4L297
Scrapbook
4L298
Scrapbook
4L298
Political newspaper
4L298
Clippings
3L381
Committee of Correspondence,
1944-1946
3L381
Collier's article, January
6, 1945
3L381
Photographs
3L381
Pamphlets, etc.:
3L381
Rainey for Governor postcard
3L381
Rainey for Governor pamphlet,
1946
3L381
"Religion in Life" radio address,
1946
3L381
Rainey controversy poem
3L381
Pamphlet: "Are Tenure and Freedom Secure at the University of
Texas?"
1945
3L381
Newspaper clippings
3L382
Rainey Controversy scrapbook:
4R126
1944-1945
4M368
Austin American:
November-December, 1944
4M369
October-December, 1944
4L290
Number I, July-September,
1944
4L291
Number II, October, 1944
4L292
Number III, November 1-15,
1944
4L293
Number IV, November 15 - December 1,
1944
2.325/N42b
Number V, December 1944
2.325/N42b
Number VI, January 1945
2.325/N42b
Honorary Degree, Bolivia,
1961
2.325/N42b
First Baptist Church certificate, Boulder, Colorado,
1970
2.325/N42b
University of Colorado Alumni Association award,
1970
2.325/N42b
University of Texas Ex-Students’ Association Life Membership for
Mildred Rainey,
1967
2.325/N42b
Austin College Distinguished Alumnus award,
1973
2.325/N42b
New York University Hall of Fame,
1965
2.325/N42b
Commission on Standards and Accreditation of Services for the
Blind award,
1966
2.325/N42b
Dedication of Homer Rainey Hall,
1996
2.325/N42b
Homer Rainey’s funeral guest book,
1985
2.325/N42b
Facsimile of Abraham Lincoln’s fire insurance policy,
1861
2.325/N42b
Oversize photo portraits of Rainey
2.325/N42b
Awards
2.325/A89c
Correspondence, speeches, statements, press releases, petitions,
newspaper clippings,
1939, 1946, 1971
2.325/A89c
"The Rainey Crisis: A Political Struggle," by Dan Thornberry,
1975
2.325/A89c
Photocopies of telegrams, letters, re: Homer P. Rainey from the
Frank P. Graham Papers at the Southern Historical Collection, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
1943-1945
2.325/A89c
Newspaper clippings,
1941, 1944-1946, 1964, 1971, 1974
2.325/A89c
Campaign materials,
1946
2.325/A89c
Printed material, re: Homer Rainey controversy and gubernatorial
campaign,
1939, 1944-1945
2.325/U507
"Reprint of President Homer P. Rainey's Speech," 1944
2.325/K81
Laminated newspaper clippings, re: Homer Rainey controversy,
1944