| COLLECTION INFORMATION | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|---|---|
Size: 3 boxes (1 oversized), 251 items Acquisition: Gift, 1985 Access: Open for research Processed by: Pam Palmer, 1986 |
Elga Odessa Daniels, daughter of Mary Latishia and Henry Jefferson Daniels, was born on October 23,1908 at Swift, Texas. Her father was a sharecropper and the family lived at Swift until Elga wasabout eleven. Then they moved first to Melrose and later to Woden and Shady Grove. Elga missed about four years ofschool to help work on the farm. In 1926 at the age of 18, she was the only girl in Nacogdoches County to enter a cotton-raising contest. Using Chilean Nitrate of Soda along with potassium fertilizer, she produced 2-1/2 bales from one acre at a time most farmers were getting rarely more than a bale an acre. She was crowned Cotton Queen of Nacogdoches County. In 1927, at the first convention of the East Texas Chamber of Commerce, through the support of a large delegation from Nacogdoches County, Elga was voted Queen of East Texas.
The Chilean Nitrate of Soda Educational Bureau noticed the attention Elga was receiving and sponsored a trip for her and other state cotton-raising champions to Atlanta, Georgia, where Elga was crowned Cotton Queen of the South, and to Washington, D.C., where the champions were received by President Calvin Coolidge and made guests of honor at a banquet hosted by United States Senators and foreign diplomats. In 1928 Elga went on tour again with the cotton champions to Florida and Cuba. During these years her picture and story appeared in newspapers and farm journals throughout the country and she received fan mail from all over the United States and as far away as Liverpool, England and South Africa.
Elga graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1928 and attended Stephen F. Austin State Teacher's College for a year or two. She also raised prize-winning poultry and aspired to be a writer, publishing a few items in newspapers and farm journals. She taught at Hobart School in Carson County for two years and married William Edward Bonifield in Borger, Texas on May 24, 1931. They later resided in Oklahoma City.
Elga returned to Nacogdoches County to visit friends and relatives over the years and was guest of honor at the 50th Anniversary of the East Texas Chamber of Commerce in 1976.
The collection consists of a scrapbook, fan mail and other correspondence, clippings and magazines with articles about Elga, photographs, mementos, and Elga's notes on her tours and writings for periodicals.
251 ITEMS. [A-122]
Box 1
Folder 1: Correspondence from Chilean Nitrate of Soda Educational Bureau, 1927 re: contest, tour, The Farmer's Wife magazine, Hawaii. Includes Leah Parker, Herbert C. Brewer, "furry" Purrington. Handwritten, typescript, printed. 11 items.
Folder 2: Correspondence from Chilean Nitrate of Soda Educational Bureau, 1928 re: tour to Florida and Cuba. Includes Purrington, Brewer, and A. G. Floyd. Handwritten, typescript, printed. 5 items.
Folder 3: Correspondence with organizations, 1927-1928 re: public appearances. Handwritten, typescript, printed. 9 items.
Folder 4: Correspondence from E. Y. Fitch of Wilson, AR [companion on the two educational tours], 1928. One envelope empty] Handwritten, mimeograph, printed. 8 items.
Folder 5: Correspondence from Blanch Beall of Wilson, AR [friend of Fitch and sister of Elstner, who was on the tour], 1928. Handwritten. 3 items.
Folder 6: Correspondence from W. W. Aiken, editor of THE CROCKETT COURIER, 1927, n.d. re: summer job for Elga, her writing aspirations. Typescript [1 letter with first page missing]. 3 items.
Folder 7: Correspondence from Fannie Louise Simpson [Nacogdoches poet and teacher], 1927. Handwritten, printed. 2 items.
Folder 8: Correspondence from Ida Mae "Pete" Jordan of Trinity, TX [friend of Elga's from SFATC], 1929. Handwritten. 2 items.
Folder 9: Correspondence from Troy Olds of Nacogdoches, 1926-1929. Handwritten, printed. 2 items.
Folder 10: Correspondence from Margie Lyon, Nacogdoches, 1927. Typescript, printed. 2 items.
Folder 11: Correspondence from friends, 1927-1929, n.d. Handwritten, typescript. 8 items.
Folder 12: Correspondence from friends--Christmas cards, 1927-1928, n.d. Handwritten, printed. 6 items.
Folder 13: Correspondence from fans, Jan. 1927. Handwritten, typescript. 6 items.
Folder 14: Correspondence from fans, Feb. 1927. Includes 2 letters from Liverpool, England. Handwritten, typescript. 5 items.
Folder 15: Correspondence from fans, Mar. 1927, n.d. Handwritten, typescript [first page of one letter missing]. 5 items.
Box 2
Folder 1: Correspondence from fans, Apr.-June 1927. Includes letter from South Africa. Handwritten. 6 items.
Folder 2: Correspondence from fans, Aug.-Dec. 1927. Includes letter from British Columbia. Handwritten, typescript. 4 items.
Folder 3: Correspondence from fans, Jan.-Feb. 17, 1928. Handwritten. 9 items.
Folder 4: Correspondence from fans, Feb. 18-20, 1928. Handwritten.8 items.
Folder 5:Correspondence from fans, Feb. 21-22, 1928. Handwritten. 6 items.
Folder 6: Correspondence from fans, Feb. 23-[28], 1928. Handwritten, typescript. 8 items.
Folder 7: Correspondence from fans, Mar.-June 1928. Handwritten. 6 Items.
Folder 8: Correspondence from fans, 1929, n.d. [Includes empty envelope and fragment of a letter]. Handwritten. 6 items.
Folder 9: Correspondence from relatives[?] re: genealogy, family matters, 1927-1941. Includes obituary for Mary Latishia Daniels [Elga's mother]. Handwritten, printed. 3 items.
Folder 10: Correspondence re: contests, 1938-1941. Typescript, printed. 2 items.
Folder 11: Correspondence from East Texas Chamber of Commerce, 1976 re: 50th Anniversary meeting. Includes programs. Typescript, carbon, photocopy, printed. 5 items.
Folder 12: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1928-1976 re: Stephen F. Austin State University, World War II, feature story on Elga by Geneva Stephens. Includes EAST TEXAS magazine. Handwritten, typescript, printed, mimeograph. 5 items.
Folder 13: Correspondence re: financial matters and financial papers, 1927-1930, n.d. Includes A. W. Birdwell. Handwritten, typescript, printed. 8 items.
Folder 14: Calling cards, 1928, n.d. Includes Margie Neal, first woman State Senator of Texas, with autographed envelope. Handwritten, printed. 7 items.
Folder 15: Empty envelopes, probably mostly from fan letters, 1926-1928. Handwritten, printed. 6 items.
Folder 16: Elga's notes on her tours, including telegraph report to Nacogdoches DAILY SENTINEL and text of radio speech given in Atlanta, GA, 1927-[1928]. Handwritten, typescript. 3 items.
Box 3
Folder 1: Certificates from Texas ARM University Extension Service, [1926?]; American Red Cross, 1943; Boy Scouts of America, 1943. Handwritten, printed. 3 items.
Folder 2: Programs, 1927-1928. Includes Atlanta, GA; Washington, D.C.; Lufkin and Palestine, TX; Memphis, TN; Lakeland, FL; Havana, Cuba. Printed. 7 items.
Folder 3: Programs, 1929-1930, n.d. Includes SFASU, Nacogdoches High School, Mayer & Schmidt's Fashion Revue, Tri-State Fair at Amarillo, TX. Printed. 5 items.
Folder 4: EAST TEXAS magazine, May 1927, featuring Elga Daniels. Printed. 1 item.
Folder 5: THE GRACE LOG magazine, Jan./Feb. 1927, with article on cotton contest winners. Printed. 1 item.
Folder 6: REVISTA DE AGRICULTURA COMERCIO Y TRABAJO magazine from Havana,Cuba, July 1927. Printed. 1 item.
Folder 7: Photographs, mostly of Elga on tours,and Nacogdoches Rotary Club, ca. 1927-1928. Black & white. 8 items.
Folder 8: Travel brochures for Mountain Lake Sanctuary, FL; Havana, Cuba; and Kentucky State Capitol, ca. 1927-1950. Printed. 3 items.
Folder 9: Miscellaneous. Wedding announcements, l928 and 1931; railroad ticket stub, 1927; Nacogdoches High School season ticket with note signed by R. E. Price, n.d.; article on bridge playing in Nacogdoches, 1973. Handwritten, printed. 5 items.
Folder 10: Scrapbook of clippings and mementos, including Elga's writings in newspapers and some drawings, 1926-1928. Handwritten, printed. 1 vol.
Folder 11: Newspaper clippings, [1926-1928]. Printed. 15 items.
Folder 12: Newspaper clippings, [1927-1947], n.d Printed 11 items.
Folder 13: Newspaper clippings, [1971-1983], n.d. Printed. 9 items.
Folder 14: Newspaper clippings, n.d. Printed. 6 items.
Folder 15: Newspaper clippings--oversized, [1976-1979]. Printed. 4 items.
Folder 16: THE LONGVIEW DAILY NEWS/LONGVIEW MORNING JOURNAL. Supplement about East Texas Chamber of Commerce, 1976. Includes Elga Daniels Bonifield and Kelly Plow Company. Printed. 1 vol.
Not in a folder: Two boards with clippings, ca. 1927, lacquered on them.
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