Philanthropist and business owner James M. Rockwell, 1863-1931, born in Cloverdale, Indiana, was a manager, and eventually owner, of M. T. Jones Lumber Yards. He married Sarah Wade Richardson in 1893 and had three children. In 1898, he moved to Houston, where he lived the remainder of his life. After his death in 1931, a portion of his estate was put in a charitable trust, establishing the Rockwell Foundation.
Source:
Rockwell Fund, Inc. “A Brief History of Rockwell Fund, Inc.” Accessed August 16,
2011.
Newspapers, clippings, minutes, a soldier's manual, correspondence, notes, pamphlets, flyers, and a corpse transit permit comprise the James M. Rockwell Papers, 1900-1945, documenting local and world news, the business affairs, and personal interests of the Rockwell family. Newspapers include The Saturday Evening Post dated 1944-1945, and the San Antonio Express dated March-May 1936. Clippings, dated 1921-1945, are primarily from The Austin Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times, and pertain to broad topics, such as art, athletics, politics, and war, while also concerning issues such as the atomic bomb, airport development in Texas, and numerous clippings on Texas A&M University, specifically dealing with the 1944 dismissal of Dr. T. O. Walton as the University’s president. Two bound volumes and loose papers document the minutes of the Woman’s Home Mission Society of the Tabernacle Methodist Church for meetings held from 1900 to 1907, and the Texas Woman’s Christian Temperance Union from 1916-1917. A book written in both English and French, Manual for Soldier's in France (1918), belonging to James Rockwell, discusses living accommodations, grammar, and daily activities. Correspondence contains a Christmas postcard to Mrs. Rockwell, a Western Union telegram (1917) to Mrs. Rockwell from Mrs. C. A. Westbrook of the State Sabbath Observance Department in regards to fighting an amendment bill, and a letter from the Office of Harris County Submission Club to Mrs. Rockwell on behalf of her work with the Texas Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Notes, pamphlets, and flyers primarily concern religious organizations and women’s groups. This collection also includes a corpse transit permit from the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway System (1904) for the transport of A. A. Rockwell.
This collection is open for research use.
James M. Rockwell Papers, 1900-1945, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.