Ronald Wade East Texas History Collection

Collection

Identifier: A-0235

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Family History material from Upshur County, Texas

Dates

Creation: 1819-2000

Language of Materials

The collection is in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical or Historical Information

Ronald Ellis Wade was born in Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas, the son of Ellis Whitfield Wade and Rosedyne Langford Wade. As a child Ron would sit at the feet of his grandparents and great-grandparents and listen to family lore. His grandfathers, James Clifton Langford and Harvey Surestus Wade, remembered hundreds of stories told to them by their own grandparents about the Civil War and life in the 1800's in the Southern United States.

At the age of 17 Ron wrote his first book, A Pioneer Southern Family Life published by the Texian Press of Waco, Texas recording all of the family lore he had meticulously recorded. He published a second book The Langford Legacy in 1983 also by the Texian Press. As the "family historian" members of the family gave Ron fascinating family correspondence, photographs, records and artifacts which he carefully preserved and are included in this archive.

Ron Wade has been active in politics since age 10--during the 1960 Nixon/Kennedy race. Wade was appointed by President Richard Nixon to his advisory council on ending the draft and Wade met with Nixon in the Oval Office as a college student and continued a friendship which would last a lifetime. Wade has been friends as well with Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and is a close friend of President George W. Bush. Wade was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to his Presidential Inaugural Committee, was a Bush floor leader at the 1988 GOP Conventions and regional director for Bush's races in 1980, 1988 and 1992. Wade was a delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention and all state conventions since 1972. His interest in the Presidency led to his 2005 building of an exact replica of the White House Oval Office in his home in Longview, Texas.

Extent

12.0 Cubic Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

Boxes 1-8 (12 linear feet) do not have a defined intellectual hierarchy beyond the physical box/folder division of the collection. Box 9 (0.5 linear feet) is a 2012 addendum and arranged into 3 series: 1. Presidents (9 folders) 2. Politicians and Political Events (3 folders) 3. Miscellaneous (1 folder)