Ralph Adam Smith Manuscripts

Collection

Identifier: A-0110

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of drafts of Smith's M.A. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation. "The Life of Alexander Horton" (1936) is a biography of a San Augustine citizen prominent in early Texas history. The manuscript traces Horton's family background and domestic life, his opposition to the Fredonian Rebellion, and his experiences in the Texas Revolution, Cherokee War, and Regulator-Moderator War.

"A. J. Rose, Agrarian Crusader of Texas" (1938) is the biography of a leader of the Grange organization in Texas and Oklahoma in the last three decades of the 19th Century, Archibald Johnson Rose. Both manuscripts are typescripts with handwritten notes and corrections.

Dates

Creation: 1936-1938

Creator

Smith, Ralph Adam (Person)

Language of Materials

The collection is in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical or Historical Information

Ralph Adam Smith was born about 1911 in East Texas. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in History from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1934. He earned a Master of Arts in History at University of Texas at Austin in 1936 and a Ph.D. there in 1938. Before World War II he was an Associate Professor of History at Oklahoma College for Women and Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene. He took leave from the latter institution in 1945 to serve in the U.S. Medical Corps at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Sometime after World War II he joined the faculty at Abilene Christian University. He remained there until his retirement about 1981. Smith published a number of historical articles in Southwestern Historical Quarterly and West Texas Historical Association Year Book. Active in the Southwestern Social Sciences Association and West Texas Historical Association, he was made a Life Member of the latter in 1982.