Another semester is finished at Paris Junior College, ending my teaching obligations until next fall. Summer archives hours are as follows:

Mon. - Thurs. 8-12, 1-5
Fri. 8 - 12
Closed Sat. and Sun.

As ever, vacations must be taken. The archives will be closed June 1 - 18. Normal working hours will resume on June 21.
If you fail to find me “at home” when you visit the campus and the archives, please email your requests to dharvill@parisjc.edu. Be sure to include your mailing address, in case I find information for you.…]]> 2010-05-17T13:52:17+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/recent-gifts/ Recent Gifts

The Ties That Bind: A Georgetown, Texas Memoir by Louise Walsh of Montgomery, Texas. She acknowledges our assistance in researching Morris Fleming in the lat 1940s. The book is essentially about Morris’ “arduous love affair” with Early Price of Georgetown. According to Louise, the Flemings lived in Paris from 1910-1969 when Morris died.  He was Vice President and Trust Officer of First National Bank, and she was active in DAR and First Methodist Church. They sent all three of their daughters to Paris Junior College before they went on to universities in Texas. One of them,…]]> 2009-12-22T17:30:46+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/state-aid/ Title: State Aid

How times have changed. In 1941-42, Paris Junior College received a total of $22,358.30, or $49.21 per student from “state aid,” as a result of the bill introduced by Sen. A. M. Aikin, Jr., who was an ex-student of PJC. In the 47th Legislature, this would give $50 per capita for full-time students as of Nov. 1, 1941, enrolled in junior colleges. It was anticipated that during 1942-43, enrollments would be declining.
This was the second year that PJC would receive aid under the bill passed by the 47th Legislature and signed by…]]> 2009-12-15T16:56:07+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/legion-of-honor/ There have been many “perks” in my job as the PJC archivist over the years, mainly involving people I have met, many of them veterans, but last week I had the great privilege of interviewing Terrell Boyd concerning the June 2009 trip that he, his wife, Dorothy, and their sons and daughters-in-law, Gary Boyd, Craig and Maudie Boyd, and Alan and Sherrie Boyd, made to Colllville-sur-mer at the special invitation of the French government for Terrell to accept the Legion of Honor for his service to France during World War II. In short, Terrell landed at Normandy on Utah Beach…]]> 2009-08-10T16:08:46+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/red-river-valley-veterans-memorial/ The future Red River Valley Veterans Memorial at Love Civic Center in Paris, Texas, is for veterans who lost their lives in wartime and who were from the Red River Valley area, including the Texas counties of Lamar, Delta, Red River, and Fannin and the Oklahoma counties of McCurtain and Choctaw. The memorial area will also honor veterans who were fortunate enough to come back home and those who are currently serving the United States in our Armed Forces.

Donors of $1,000 or more will be listed on the granite wall at the entrance to the memorial, and 1’…]]> 2009-07-31T16:03:52+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/friends-of-the-sam-bell-maxey-historic-site/ An interesting and beneficial organization in Paris, Texas, is the Friends of the Sam Bell Maxey Historic Site, now the property of the Texas Historical Commission, and I am currently serving the first of a two-year term as president of the Friends. The House is currently undergoing an extensive restoration process, having deteriorated to a degree during the lengthy hiatus between ownership by Texas Parks & Wildlife and the new owners, hereinafter known as the THC. The Friends have soldiered on during this difficult transition period, but are happy to see the lawns manicured once again under the able work…]]> 2009-07-30T18:54:55+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/distinguished-service-award/ Paris Junior College awards the coveted Distinguished Service Award to a worthy student at the spring graduation ceremony each year. This award has an interesting history which few of our students realize today . Our late President Emeritus, Louis B. Williams, was the first recipient of this award in 1935, but Sam Weiss, a prominent Paris business man and civic leader, instigated the award and donated it to the college.

Weiss came to Paris in 1927 and generated the enthusiasm necessary for the establishment of a Boys’ Club. He also served the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for many…]]> 2009-07-28T15:22:36+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/chamber-of-commerce-minutes/ The archives at Paris Junior College houses the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce Minutes from 1918 - 1942. Being interested in the years of World War II in Paris, I pulled the 1942 minutes to learn that the “War Committees” included Air Raid Warning, USO Fund Drive, Home Defense Guard, War Price & Rationing Board, War Recreation Council, Homes Registration Office, Rents Stabilization
Committee, Paris & Lamar Co. Health Unit, Rubber Conservation, Draft Boards
#1 & #2, V.D. Clinic, Civilian Defense Council, American Red Cross, and Malarial Control.
I know that malaria was a problem in…]]> 2009-06-03T19:37:37+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/pjc-in-1949/ I viewed the 20-minute Paris Junior College 1949 recruiting film which was found not many months past residing in a long unused closet in the library. It’s fascinating to us older alumnae and long time Paris residents. I didn’t attend PJC in 1949, but I knew some of the teachers and administrators who appear in the film. I especially remember Dean Burton Mason, a dignified and quiet-spoken man who had the best interests of students at heart. In the 1949 Galleon, he said that “something for nothing is an uncertain dream,” but “something for something is a working reality.” 2009-05-13T20:04:42+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/early-memorial-foundation/ Robert Thornburrow, nephew of the late Sen. A.M. Aikin, Jr. and retired from the Paris Junior College faculty, is volunteering in the archives and currently working on a large addendum to the Aikin Papers. He is finding some interesting items in this collection, a few of which concern the history of Paris Junior College.

1. A letter, dated May 31, 1944, from Dr. Imogene Bentley, President, Ex-Students Association, concerning plans for a PJC Memorial Foundation to honor ex-students serving in World War II, which had been presented and approved. The members and board of directors of the Association were inviting…]]> 2009-03-27T14:28:08+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/hoyle-r.-barr/ Paris Junior College lost a great friend on January 2, 2009, and Paris lost one of its shrinking number of World War II veteran heroes—Hoyle Barr, born ironically on December 7, 1917, in St. Joseph’s Infirmary, Paris, Texas. His home was Biardstown, and he was a third generation Texan. For those of you who pay attention to such facts, Miss Madge Seckles got him off to a good start in life, grades 1-3, when his mother, Faith Opal Redman Barr (father Corrie Hoyle Barr) released him into her capable hands.  He also attended 4th Ward, Paris High School 1932-1935, and…]]> 2009-01-08T17:43:22+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/a-letter-from-camp-maxey/ Such was life in Paris of the forties. Robert Thornburrow found this letter addressed to his uncle, Sen. A.M. Aikin, Jr., from Pvt. J.D. McIver, Jr., Co. C-1, ASFRTC, Camp Maxey, Texas, penned by hand at Camp Maxey, July 20, 1943:

“Dear Senator Aikin:” he says. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take you up on your kind invitation for a real home-cooked chicken dinner last Saturday, but due to the paralysis epidemic, we were restricted to the post.
I hope you were not too inconvienced by my not coming. I tried to telephone you, but since our…]]> 2008-12-09T21:04:58+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/camp-maxey-years/ An archives volunteer, Robert Thornburrow, has been going through some old papers and turning up interesting bits and pieces of Camp Maxey history, including a letter dated Feb. 10, 1944, and addressed to “Civilian Shoe Dealers.”

“1. The Dallas Regional OPA Headquarters has advised this Army Installation . . . that reports are being received indicating that OPA Forms R-1705B, “Shoe Purchase Certificates,” are being presented to shoe dealers, both by persons who are not military personnel, and by military personnel desiring to purchase shoes other than for their exclusive use.

“2. You are requested not to accept…]]> 2008-12-04T20:33:33+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/ethel-mcgill/ I had a sorrowful, yet beautiful experience Monday, December 1, attending the graveside service of Ethel Lucille Rogers McGill, who died at age 91 and was buried in Red Oak Cemetery northeast of Paris, alongside her husband, Clifton McGill, and in the company of many ancestors. I had last been there when Clifton was buried a long time past. My friend Judy Gibson and I rode many a mile horseback with Clifton McGill. Ethel was no horseback rider, though. She was a dedicated bowler.
Ethel was also my longtime archives volunteer. An accomplished historian and genealogist, she wrote…]]> 2008-12-03T17:28:42+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/thornhill-house/ As the holiday season is upon us once again, my thoughts turn back, nostalgically, (something that I do more often these days) to the Paris of my childhood. I grew up at 845 Graham Street, a huge two-storied structure with a vast attic and a verandah-style porch which runs around three sides of the house. It will be forever known as the old Thornhill residence, (not the old Harvill residence,) and an oversize photograph of it hangs in the Lamar County Historical Museum, thanks to the efforts of Paul Denney.
Thornhill was an early Paris physician, and my…]]> 2008-11-24T19:37:03+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/court-house-petition/ Thanks to Glen Gambill for a significant gift to Aikin Regional Archives. The original document is a petition dated on January 5, 1869, protesting the move of the Court House to its present location:

“We the undersigned citizens of Lamar County would most respectfully protest the removal of the Court House from the Public Square, or the Square being appropriated for any other purpose, than that for which it was originally intended, And think if the Court House and Enclosure, is repaired, which can be done at a small expense, and kept in good condition would meet the required wants…]]> 2008-11-17T17:52:36+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/names/ I’m back after an extensive bout of eye surgery—and glad it’s behind me. I apologize for a lengthy hiatus in the journal.

The 2008 PJC homecoming has come and gone. This season of the year usually brings Bat reporters to the archives to research the naming of the PJC newspaper, which is clearly stated in our fiftieth anniversary history book, page 8, copies of which are still available. Believe me, this book contains everything you ever wanted to know about Paris Junior College—and then some. Working on the “book committee” will remain one of my most enduring memories of my…]]> 2008-11-12T20:42:43+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/home-front-carmel-vila/ Thanks to Carmel Vila, of Jefferson, La., for this unique description of the wartime dinners that her mother served to servicemen far from home. Paris is now anticipating the many soldiers who will be training at Camp Maxey, but let’s hope that the men and women don’t have to suffer politely such meals from well-intentioned “cooks” (about like me).

Generally there were at least five of them, and my mother would begin dinner with a glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice, served in small jam glasses. She always put a sprig of mint on each glass, trying to make it…]]> 2008-07-16T19:58:50+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/home-front-joan-novak/ Joan Novak writes from Baxter, Minn., that she was only 10 years old when the war began. Her mother will be 100 in December. However, Joan remembers much about those years.

“I do think the economy is going to have a severe setback some time in the future. It will not be as bad as the depression, but the younger set will be devastated. They are not used to going without. Too much easy credit is out there floating around to cover their every whim. I think it will be a good thing if it does not last too long.…]]> 2008-07-14T15:59:36+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/montague-county/ Here’s an interesting website to investigate: http://www.totty-families.org/diary/jun1876.html.

The great-great-great-granddaughter of Capt. F.M. (Frank) and Rhoda Totty has transcribed numerous years of the diaries that Rhoda kept from 1876-1881, and she has put them online. I am their great-great-granddaughter. John Harvill was their son-in-law, married to Anna, one of their several daughters. My Harvill heritage is long and rather colorful, and its roots are in Montague County, Texas. I return to this scenic county once or twice a year, and each time that I do, I feel it calling to me.

I spent much of my childhood on a big…]]> 2008-07-07T18:37:00+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/home-front-letters-lottie-thompson/ I had an interesting letter from Lottie Thompson of Lewistown, Penn. Lottie remembers the ’40s quite well, but she wasn’t writing about the ’40s this time.

She was just telling her news and what she does in her routine, and something she said really caught my attention. I thought to myself: we’re on the way back to how it was in the ‘40s. Give a listen to this.

“... I’m making plans to move up around there to be closer to my girls. They tell me I will be sorry, but I still think I need to be near…]]> 2008-07-02T20:45:00+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/pjc-housing-in-1946/ How far we’ve come at Paris Junior College.

On Jan. 7, 1946, The Paris News printed this headline: “Housing Seen for PJC Vet Students.” Married veteran students were soon to be occupying three-room pre-fabricated houses on campus. Dr. J.R. McLemore, president of the college, had applied through the Federal Housing Authority at Fort Worth for 12 houses for the coming term and a total of 24 for next fall.

Married students were then occupying two trailer houses and one apartment. Unmarrieds would find plenty of room in the dormitories, he said, and the existing cafeteria could take care of “unlimited…]]> 2008-06-13T15:05:00+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/home-front-shirley-larosa/ Shirley writes, from Pahrump, Nev.:

It seems in the old days before the big grocery chains and supermarkets, a lot of food was sold individually. For example, there was a store that sold nothing but fresh fish. Outside this fish store, there was a man who, all day long, ground horseradish (on a grinder) to order. You bought the horseradish from him separately and got it fresh. I believe it was put in a paper container.

Then there was a shop that only sold chickens. The fowls were slaughtered and hung up on hooks until all of the blood drained…]]> 2008-06-11T14:57:00+00:00 http://www.aikinarchives.org/index.php/harvill/entries/world-war-two-archives-exhibit/ When you’re in the Sudent Center at Paris Junior College, check out the Archives exhibit by the north doors into the ballroom. Derald Bulls, our new director of institutional advancement and alumnae affairs, has given the archives 48 World War II photos, which soldiers who had rented rooms from his mother and father, Jo and Derald Bulls, left behind during the war.

Bulls told the story of the photos:

Mom and Dad moved to Paris from Commerce in 1943,” Bulls said. “Dad went to work with Ayres Department Store (north plaza), and Mom secured employment at Camp Maxey working for…]]> 2008-06-10T16:02:00+00:00