Texas A&M University-San Antonio Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio Finding Aids: Guides to the Collection Archives & Special Collections 2020 Glassford (Cora Carleton) Papers, 1862-1958 DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/findingaids Cora Carleton Glassford Papers, 1862-1958 Descriptive Summary Creator: Glassford, Cora Carleton (1886-1958) Title: Cora Carleton Glassford Papers Dates: 1862-1958 Creator Cora Carleton Glassford was active in a number of organizations, Abstract: including the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and devoted her time to writing fiction, historical articles, and biographical works, much of it based on personal experience. Content Consisting of manuscripts, research material, and some personal Abstract: material, the Cora Carleton Glassford papers reflect a lifelong interest in history and family. Identification: Col 892 Extent: 17 document boxes, 2 oversize boxes Language: Materials are in English Repository: DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Biographical Note Born on the campus of Texas A&M College in 1886, Cora Arthur Carleton was the first child of career Army officer Guy Carleton and his wife Cora. Accompanying her family to most of the postings of her father's military career, she spent her childhood in Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, Kansas, Texas, the Philippines and China. Her military association would continue in adulthood, when she met and married another Army officer, Pelham Davis Glassford (1883-1959) while at Fort Riley, Kansas. Her travels also continued as she accompanied her husband to assignments at the U.S. Military Academy, Hawaii, Texas, Kansas and Washington, D.C. The couple had four children, including two sons who would continue the family's military tradition. Upon Pelham Glassford's retirement from the Army, he served as Chief of Police in Washington, his appointment coinciding with the Bonus Army disturbances of 1932. The Glassfords divorced in the mid- 1930s, and Cora Carleton Glassford returned to San Antonio, Texas, where her parents had retired. She was active in a number of organizations, and devoted her time to writing fiction, historical articles, and biographical works, much of it based on personal experience. She was particularly active in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, serving in a number of official capacities, including the editorship of the organization's 50th anniversary history in 1942. When the DRT established a research library on the grounds of the Alamo in 1945, Mrs. Glassford was hired to head the facility, a job she held until her retirement in 1955. She continued her writing, publishing short pieces and feature articles in newspapers and periodicals, primarily anecdotes on life in the old army and works on Texas history. Cora Carleton Glassford died in San Antonio in June 1958. Scope and Content Note Consisting of manuscripts, research material, and some personal material, the Cora Carleton Glassford papers reflect a lifelong interest in history and family. The papers have been organized into eight series: I. Writings: Typescripts and manuscripts of Glassford's writings in various forms make up the bulk of the papers. Organized into subseries according to the genre employed. These include short stories and brief anecdotal works, most based on her experiences as a child in a military family and as the wife of a career army officer. Folklore and Texas history are also incorporated into a number of stories. Some of these brief works were gathered into collections, perhaps intended for publication, and sometimes employing a loose narrative thread. Some of the fictionalized events may also be found as part of biographical works. Novels and novellas are generally historically based, and include works on Sarah Dodson, credited with designing the Texas flag, and on eighteenth-century French explorer Louis St. Denis. Two full-length biographies, of her father, Guy Carleton, and her husband, Pelham D. Glassford, exist as final drafts. Her historical writing includes a lengthy work on the early history of San Antonio, collections of short biographical sketches of prominent early Texans, and a number of articles on Texas history and general subjects. Screenplays and screen scenarios, some poetry, and one song are here, along with published works, primarily in the form of newspaper clippings. II. Collected source material: Consists of a miscellany of items collected in the course of her research on history, the military, and some specific topics. Items include photocopies and transcripts of documents, letters, and some printed material. III. General printed material: Includes printed ephemera and newspaper clippings, the latter being particularly extensive and sorted by subject. Many of the clippings date from the 1936 centennial of Texas independence, and are on historical topics. IV. Daughters of the Republic of Texas: Reflecting Mrs. Glassford's work for the organization, material found in the series includes correspondence and the manuscript of Fifty Years of Achievement, a history of the organization, along with a miscellany of other items. V. Texas Centennial: Correspondence, printed material, and publicity associated with the official state celebration. It appears that a part, or most, of this material was originally acquired by another San Antonio resident, Simona Wofford, who was active in the planning of Centennial activities, and that Mrs. Glassford may have acquired it as part of her acquaintanceship with Mrs. Wofford or through her work at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Libra1y. VI. Personal papers: Correspondence among various family members is gathered here, including some Civil War letters of Fred Carleton, the older brother of Guy Carleton, and some letters from Guy Carleton to his wife. Most of the letters, though, are to and from Mrs. Glassford from her children, particularly Guy C. Glassford, dating from his service in the Pacific during and after World War II. General correspondence includes letters written in response to Mrs. Glassford's research inquiries and in connection with her writing. Some of her father's military records are also found here, as is a scrapbook containing letters and other items associated with her writing. VII. Photographs: Primarily gathered to illustrate her writings, most of the photographs are prints copied from her own sources or obtained from individuals and institutions. A large number document Guy Carleton and his military career; also included are snapshots of the Philippines and Okinawa taken by her son, and several views of Texas historic sites. VIII. Artifacts: A Texas flag and a handful of U.S. Anny military insignia. Restrictions Access Restrictions No restrictions. The collection is open for research. Usage Restrictions Please be advised that the library does not hold the copyright to most of the material in its archival collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure those rights when needed. Permission to reproduce does not constitute permission to publish. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright, literary property rights, and libel. Administrative Information Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Cora Carleton Glassford Papers, 1862-1958, Col 892, DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. Acquisition Information Gift of Cora Carleton Glassford Processing Information Processed December 1982 Revision by Warren Stricker, 2004 August Edited by Rebeka Delgado, 2020 June Detailed Description of the Collection Cora Carleton Glassford Papers II. WRITINGS Box Folder Short Stories And Anecdotal Works: Manuscripts And Typescripts 1 1 The Absent-minded Man, ts 1 2 Accent on Meta, ts, 2 items 1 3 ... And the Colonel's Lady, ts 1 4 And they Bit, ts, 2 items 1 5 The Apache Shield, ts, 2 items 1 6 An Army Christmas Tree, ts, 2 items 1 7 Assisting Cupid, ms, ts, 4 items 1 8 At West Point, ms 1 9 Aunt Lucinda, ts 1 10 Bacon into Flour! An Old Army Game/ A Satisfactory Explanation, ms, ts, 2 items 1 11 The Bedding-roll, or, The Saving Grace, ts, 2 items 1 12 Before Pearl Harbor, ts 1 13 Beyond the Call, ts 1 14 The Birthday Cake, ts, 2 items 1 15 The Boy Scout Manual, ts, 2 items 1 16 Bride-groom Nerves, ts 1 17 Cannibal and the Hard-Shell Possum, ts, 2 items 1 18 Chickens Into Battle, ts, 2 items 1 19 The Christmas Berries: A Legend of Old San Antonio, ts Box Folder 1 20 Class Mates, ms 1 21 Classmates, ms 1 22 The Class Ring, ts 1 23 The Cook and the Captain's Lady, ts, 2 items 1 24 A Day in Old Manila/One of the Days of the Empire, ts, 2 items 1 25 Dicon of Devil River, ts, 3 items 1 26 Dogs - and dogs!, ts 1 27 Don Largo of Mexatpl, ts 1 28 The Duel, Courteous, or, The Fight that Failed, ms., ts, 2 items 1 29 Easily Explained, ts 1 30 Efficacy of Prayer, ts, 2 items 1 31 Efficiency, ms, ts, 4 items 1 32 The Endurance Ride, ts, 3 items 1 33 Fiddlers' Green, ts, 2 items 1 34 Fifteen Letters, ts 1 35 For ways that are Dark, and Tricks that are Vain, ts 1 36 Force of Suggestion/Troublous Times, ms, ts, 2 items 1 37 Fort Defiance and the Indian Question, ts 1 38 French - In a Manner of Speaking, ts, 2 items 1 39 Gentility versus Duty, ms, ts, 2 items 1 40 George, ts, 3 items 1 41 A Hearty Appetite, ms, ts, 2 items 1 42 The Indian Bridle, ms, ts, 3 items 1 43 Indifference to Convention, ms 1 44 Influence, ts, 2 items 1 45 Ink, ts, 2 items 1 46 Innocence, ms, ts, 2 items 1 47 Joss, ts 1 48 Kahuna: A Story of Hawaii, ts, 2 items, additional pages 1 49 King for a Day, ts Box Folder 1 50 The Lady and the Turtles, ts, 2 items [ see Turtles] 1 51 The Last Battle of the Civil War, ms, ts, 3 items 1 52 Laurels, ts 1 53 The Leavenworth Ghost, ts 1 54 A Legend of Our Lady, ts, 2 items 1 55 Letters Brought Love, ts 1 56 The Likeness, ts, 2 items 1 57 The Love-Gift, ts, 2 items 2 58 Many Laughs, ts 2 59 The Mascot Mule, ms, ts, 3 items 2 60 Mistook for a Cow, ms 2 61 The Mole Hill that Stopped an Army, ts, 2 items 2 62 Mount versus Moustache, ts, 3 items 2 63 Music Hath Charms ..