Menton J. Murray Collection
Scope and Contents
The papers of Menton Murray (1907-1989) consist of correspondence, photos, books, periodicals, speeches, awards, newsletters, and news clippings. The papers document Murray’s careers as a journalist, lawyer, and 26 years as a Texas State Legislator. Also depicted are Murray’s other public activities in and around his Harlingen, Texas home. These activities include: Lion’s Club, Knights of Columbus, Harlingen Cardinal’s Quarterback Club, the Cameron County Historical Society and many more. Finally there is documentation of Murray’s World War II service and his personal life.
The bulk of the collection dates 1948-1979). Also included are legal and real estate publications, framed pictures, plaques, framed award certificates and other oversized items are also included.
Boxes 46-49 include Abstracts of Title for Cameron County, including the Harlingen Townsite and land grants of La Feria, Espiritu Santo, Concepcion de Carricitos, etc.
Dates
- 1919 - 1989
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research excluding some collection collection materials which are restricted. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley assumes no responsibility.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in our collections may be protected by copyright. Publication, transmission, or reproduction of items protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Whenever possible, accurate information about the copyright status of material is provided in the item record and/or documentation for material in the collection. The Library does not own the copyright in much of the material in its collection and is therefore unable to grant copyright permission to publish those items. It is the researcher's responsibility to determine copyright or other use restrictions and obtain proper permission when publishing or distributing materials found in these collections. Researchers must make their own assessments of rights in light of their intended use. Additional information about copyright and fair use is available via the Library's Copyright Guide at http://utrgv.libguides.com/friendly.php?s=copyright.
Extent
84 Document cases
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into five series: Political Career, ca. 1946-1981 (41 boxes), Civic and Religious Organizations, ca. 1932-1989 (4 boxes), Legal Career 1932-1988 (8 boxes), Personal activities ca. 1919-1989 (9 boxes) and Oversized Items ca. 1924-1989 (51 boxes). Additionally there are 7 boxes of legal size items dating from 1928-1989. They are arranged according to series with some material from each of the first four series’. The books of the collection are entered in the UTRGV Library’s catalog and organized according to the Library of Congress system.
There was some prior order present in these materials. Murray’s wife Betty Murray had arranged his political materials in binders in chronological order. Although we had to transfer these materials to acid-free folders for preservation reasons this order was retained. Other political materials were then added to this basic framework.
- Harlingen (Tex.) Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Politics and culture--Texas--Cameron County Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Texas--Politics and government Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Author
- John Hawthorne; Jessica Guzman
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Brownsville Campus Repository
One West University Boulevard
UTRGV University Library (BLIBR 2.202)
Brownsville Texas 78520 United States
(956) 882-7281
archives@utrgv.edu
