A Guide to the Ernestine Glossbrenner Papers, 1948-1996

Biographical Note

Ernestine Glossbrenner served 16 years as Texas State Representative from 1977 until her retirement in 1993. She gained a reputation as a legislator who kept her sense of humor, yet remained dedicated to her fight for the improvement of education and the lives of the underprivileged in Texas. Glossbrenner was born in 1932, and raised in the small East Texas oilfield community of Carlisle. With her father on the school board, education and public service was a priority of the family. After graduating from Kilgore Junior College in 1952, Glossbrenner went on to receive her B.A. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1954. She then began her teaching career in Alice, Texas where she taught for twenty-two years.

Glossbrenner was first inspired to run for State Representative in 1974 because she was dissatisfied with the incumbent's stance on education. Amid controversy regarding the election process, she lost, but ran again in 1976 and won the State Representative's seat on the Democratic ticket. Glossbrenner decided to be a legislator full time, marking the end of her teaching career. One of her first important legislative contributions allowed Texan voters the first true secret ballot election procedure. While she contributed important legislation to other causes such as worker safety, Glossbrenner is most known for her victories in the realm of public education. In 1989 House Speaker Gib Lewis named her Head of the House Public Education Committee. In 1984, during the development of education reform bill HB 72, Glossbrenner put forward the interests of students and teachers. As part of the 71st Legislature she supported legislation that addressed the school dropout rate, and increased funding for education.

Glossbrenner was heavily involved with local and national women's organizations during her time in office. She remained affiliated with such organizations after her retirement from office, and continues to dedicate herself to women's issues and causes. Glossbrenner has served as state president for the Texas Chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus during the early 1990's, and in 1999 served on the Advisory Board of the Women's Advocacy Project. Currently, Glossbrenner is a governor-appointed member of the Texas Ethics Commission.

Scope and Contents

The Ernestine Glossbrenner Papers document the State Representative's career through correspondence, legal documentation, photographs, awards and printed materials. These papers also include materials of her time as an educator before assuming office in 1977. Finally, a small amount of her post-political activities are documented through 1996. The collection is separated into three series: Political Career, Texas Women's Political Caucus and Personal Records. The first series contains the bulk of the collection.

The Political Career series is divided into two subseries: Campaigns and Office Records. The Campaigns subseries represents Glossbrenner's campaign activities covering her first unsuccessful run for office in 1974 and elections to office from 1976 to 1991. The bulk of material on campaigns is in the form of correspondence and newspaper articles. Of particular note, is the coverage of her first political race, which ended in her loss and claims of a mishandled election process. Campaign ads from early elections provide insight into the campaign strategy utilized by Glossbrenner. Most of the materials in this series deal with Glossbrenner's position in office as state representative. A small amount of this material also deals with Glossbrenner's support of other Democratic candidates on a state and national level. The Office Records subseries documents Glossbrenner's actual political career as State Representative from 1977 to 1993. These materials offer the researcher a glimpse of Glossbrenner's interests and causes while in office, and the resulting legislation that followed. The included correspondence is comprised mainly of appreciation letters from Glossbrenner's constituents and colleagues, and from affiliated organizations for the work she did on their behalf while in office. The substantial amount of photographs present offer the researcher a rare visual representation of Glossbrenner's activities inside the capitol during her term.

The Texas Women's Political Caucus series offers insight into Glossbrenner's involvement with the organization during and after her term as State Representative. These materials illustrate the manner in which the organization came to rely on Glossbrenner for advice, support and leadership. The correspondence in this series offers the most insight into Glossbrenner's relationship with the TWPC. This correspondence contains incoming and outgoing letters, most of which date from the early 1990's. These letters reveal Glossbrenner's increased involvement with the TWPC, first as chairperson, then as president.

The Personal Records is the smallest of the three series, but does offer some detail of Glossbrenner's teaching career and her continued relationship with acquaintances from Alice, Texas and surrounding towns. Through materials such as correspondence and newspaper articles, Glossbrenner kept abreast of local happenings, particularly those related to education. The bulk of this series is represented by correspondence with acquaintances from Glossbrenner's pre-political career. This correspondence consists of incoming and outgoing letters, most of which were sent during the 1990's. Contracts with the Alice Independent School District offer some specifics of her career as an educator. Also present are several college yearbooks from schools where Glossbrenner attended and taught, as well as a scrapbook containing family photos.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

This collection is housed at UTSA's Main Campus and must be accessed via the John Peace Library Special Collections reading room. To request access, please use the Collections Request Form.

Permission to Pubish

Permission to publish material from the Glossbrenner collection must be obtained from University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Ernestine Glossbrenner Papers, 1948-1996, MS 63, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.

Acquisition Information

All the materials in this collection were donated by Ernestine Glossbrenner in September 1997.

Processing Information

Prepared by Dale Sauter, February 2001. Materials were added to the Papers by Jose Javier Garza, Library Assistant, Summer 2005.

 Notes to Researchers 

In summer 2005, new materials were added to the collection. The new additions consist mainly of photographs and correspondence. In the Political Career series, new photographs were added to the Inside Capital subseries. In the Personal Records series, photographs and correspondence were added. The photographs are of events and portraits of Glossbrenner, her friends and her constituents. The added correspondence consists of greeting cards, letters, and postcards. Though the correspondence is mostly of a personal nature, much of it can also be considered part of her political correspondence because many of the correspondents were also her constituents.

Detailed Description of the Papers