San Marcos Daily Record (SMDR) Photographic Negatives Collection

Collection

Identifier: 100-SMDR

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This negative collection spans approximately eight decades, from the 1930s to 2002. The negatives come in many sized formats. The bulk of what have been processed are 6x6 and 3x4. There was also some 3x4, 35mm, and larger negatives. The negatives depict a variety of subjects with a focus on the local San Marcos area and the University. The earlier years also include personal photography and portraits presumably shot by Addison Buckner. Materials also contain a small amount of contact sheets and prints, mostly from the later years. Arranged chronologically according to original order.

Dates

circa 1930-2002

Creator

San Marcos Daily Record (Publisher, Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers with some restriction. Only processed negatives are available to patrons. Images from circa 1930s to 1961 are avaiable to view on our Flickr site.

Because of the vast quantity of materials, minimal descriptions about the negatives, and the workload already managed by a small staff, we regret that we are unable to search for specific images in the collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Includes non-exclusive license agreement to allow digitization and use of images. All images must include credit line acknowledging images as courtesy of the San Marcos Daily Record: Copyright protected. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required.

Historical note - Buckner Family

Thomas Addison (T.A.) Buckner Sr. (1872-1950) was born in Bandera County, Texas. Instead of working on the Buckner family farm from a young age, young T.A. became a schoolteacher at the age of 17, teaching at several schools around Bandera County. It was during this time that Buckner met Harriet Caroline Mayfield, who was a former pupil of his, and they married in 1892 and moved to Bandera, Texas. The couple would have four children (Walter, Addison Jr., Leah Buckner Staudt and Emma Buckner Graham). T.A. worked as a teacher and was a justice of the peace in Bandera, along with serving as deputy district and county clerk of Bandera County.

In 1896, T.A. began his newspaper career when he started working at the Bandera Enterprise, which he later owned after his mentor George Fee died in 1904. T.A. continued to operate the Bandera Enterprise along with publishing newspapers for cities throughout the Texas Hill Country. In 1921, T.A. sold the Bandera Enterprise and moved to San Marcos, Texas, where he bought the San Marcos Record. T.A. was known as a prominent civic leader, serving in organizations such as the Texas Press Association, the Texas Editorial Association, and the local Kiwanis Club. T.A. managed and operated the San Marcos Record until his death in 1950.

Addison Buckner Jr. (1906-1985) moved to San Marcos, Texas with the Buckner family in 1921 and was a graduate of San Marcos High School. Addison married Inda Virginia Anderson in 1929 and was a World War II veteran. Walter Emmet Buckner (1896-1979), the eldest son of T.A. Sr., was a World War I veteran before he moved to San Marcos in 1921, when T.A. requested that he come to the city to help his father produce the San Marcos Record. Walter married Edith Beasley in 1923.

Addison and Walter co-produced and owned the San Marcos Record, along with a third generation of the Buckner family, for over twenty-five years after their father’s death. Addison took many photographs for the San Marcos Record and supervised the back shop operations of the newspaper while Walter oversaw the editorial department. The Buckners sold the San Marcos Record in 1975, ending the family’s ownership of the newspaper.

Historical note - San Marcos Record

The San Marcos Record was founded in 1912 by George C. Staples and was bought by T.A. Buckner Sr. in 1921. Addison Buckner Jr. and his brother Walter joined their father, buying stakes in the newspaper during the 1920s and into the early 1930s. The Buckner family owned and operated the San Marcos Record with their publishing firm T.A. Buckner and Sons. When T.A. Buckner Sr. died in 1950, Addison and Walter became full partners in the day-to-day operation of the Record until 1960, when their children (Louise, Walter Jr., Tom and Kay Buckner) bought stakes in the newspaper. For 54 years, the Buckner family owned and operated the San Marcos Record (which later became the San Marcos Daily Record in the 1970s). In September 1975, the Daily Record was sold to the company Worrell Newspaper, Inc. from Charlottesville, Virginia. Currently, the San Marcos Daily Record is owned and operated by Moser Community Media.

Extent

120 Linear Feet (The unprocessed/undigitized negatives are still in original wooden boxes.) : Unprocessed linear feet approximately 106.125 linear feet Processed linear feet = 8.71

800,000 items : Total approximately 800,000 images.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Photonegatives from the San Marcos Daily Record newspaper in San Marcos, Texas, spanning from the 1930s to 2002. The negatives depict a variety of subjects with a focus on the local San Marcos area and Texas State University.

Physical Location

Materials may be stored off-site. Advance notice may be required for use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

In January 2016, the San Marcos Daily Record donated approximately 800,000 photographic negatives to the University Archives at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Grant information

In 2017, the library received a Texas State Library and Archives TexTreasures Grant, funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, to begin digitizing this window into San Marcos history. The grant ended in 2018.

Processing Information

Many of the earlier date negatives were made of nitrate which is extremely unstable. The images of nitrate were scanned and then deaccessioned. Some negatives were experiencing vinegar syndrome and were also deaccessioned. Digital copies of the nitrate and damaged negatives have an uninverted master tif along with a positive negative image.

Envelope numbers were taken from original envelope. Some of the envelope numbers were missing or did not have any negatives inside envelope resulting in skips in the digital image numbering.

Extent only includes negatives which were not deaccessioned.

Processing Information

Students and volunteers who contributed to metadata for the individual images in the database include:
Eric Robertson-Gordon,
Allen Garza,
Charlotte Nickles,
Alison Tudor,
Beth Grayson