Charlsie Elizabeth Berly (1903-2004), from Beaumont, Texas, graduated from Beaumont High School in 1919 and received a B.A. from Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1923. In 1941, she earned an M.A. degree in English from Southern Methodist University. After teaching at Beaumont High School, Berly became an assistant professor at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1945. Two years later, she joined the English Department at Lamar University in San Antonio, Texas, ultimately becoming a full professor of English. From 1981 to 1983, Berly served as Lamar University’s first curator of Special Collections at the Mary and John Gray Library. She was also a member of the Beaumont Heritage Society, Tyrrell Historical Library Association, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Beaumont Music Commission, the Beaumont Club, and the Tower Club. In 1987, Berly edited a history of the Methodist church, With a Dome More Vast (1968 - 1985), which won the United Methodist Historical Society’s Kate Warnick Award for excellence.
Source: Broussard’s Mortuary. “Obituary: Charlsie Elizabeth Berly.” Accessed on March
17, 2011.
Comprising correspondence and research materials, the Charlsie E. Berly Papers, 1975, undated, document Berly’s research for her bicentennial article, “French-American Patriot of the Revolution: Jean Baptiste Chiasson.” Research notes, bibliographies, and photocopies of articles and legal records concern the life of Jean Baptiste Chiasson, a soldier during the American Revolution.
This collection is open for research use.
Charlsie E. Berly Papers, 1975, undated, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
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.