Publication Rights:   Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jacinto Museum of History. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Jacinto Museum of History as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Citation:  [Identification of Item], Mrs. R. W. Heflin Collection, MC115, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.

Creator Sketch:

Little is specifically known of Mrs. R. W. Heflin, donor of the materials.  An assumption can be made that she was Josie Frankenberger, daughter of W. L. Frankenberger and Daisy D. Frankenberger of Pearland, Texas. Mrs. Heflin’s maternal grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. William Steel Smith of Garnett, Kansas, whose family probably emigrated from Illinois after the Civil War to settle in eastern Kansas. 

Scope and Content Note:

Scrapbooks, postcards, printed materials, newspapers, stamps, photographs,  memorandum books, and a deed of trust document the interests and geographical background of one family.  Although primarily filled with cut-out prints of people, flowers, and birds, the scrapbooks also contain concrete poetry, stories, clippings from magazines, advertisements, calendars, sermons, puzzles, games, and report cards.  Of particular interest is the Bronston & Co. Catalog.  Only the first 167 pages were used for a scrapbook.  The remaining 310 pages are advertisements for products sold in Garnett, Kansas, in 1888.  The 141 postcards and a bookmark were removed from 2 albums created by Josie and Daisy Frankenberger.  Of interest in the printed materials is an advertising pamphlet which in addition to directions for using dye and patent medicine testimonials contains the story “Cousin John’s Extravagant Wife.” Newspapers include issues from Springfield, Illinois (1857, 1858), Garnett, Kansas (1897, 1919), and Pearland, Texas (1896).  Cancelled postage stamps (147) date from the Civil War period until 1937.  A daguerreotype of Mr. and Mrs. William Steel Smith and a cabinet photograph of Daisy Smith are the only identified family photographs.  Photographs documenting the vanishing West at the end of the 19^th century include 2 prints of bison on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and 2 prints of life in a Native American camp.  A large team photograph (10.5 x 13.5 inches) of an early southeastern Texas baseball team includes the names of the team members on the reverse side.  The single legal document, a deed of trust, records the assignment of land owned by W. L. Frankenberger and his wife, Daisy D. Frankenberger to J. W. Edmundson in Pearland, Texas.

MRS. R. W. HEFLIN COLLECTION, 1857 – 1937 (Bulk: 1880-1910)

Manuscript Collection:  MC115

Size:  .1 linear feet

Boxes:  n/a

Inventory

Series:  Correspondence

Series:  Legal               

Series:  Printed Materials

Series:  Photographs

Series:  Scrapbooks and Albums

Series:  Newspapers