Interview with Dr. Gerard Roland Vela, UNT Professor Emeritus of Microbiology. The interview includes Vela's personal experiences about childhood and education, serving in World War II-era U.S. Navy, having a fellowship at Harvard University, and joining the North Texas faculty in 1965. Additionally, Vela discusses his family history, his love of chemistry, genetics, and microbiology, the growing pains involved with transitioning North Texas into a research university, the construction of a research program, his relationship with students, and his service on the Denton City Council. Photographs are included throughout the interview.

Interview with Clarence C. Dobbins concerning his experiences while employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression. Dobbins worked at camps in Farmersville, Texas (Company 869) and Kaufman, Texas (Company 869). Interview includes Dobbins' history before joining the CCC.

Interview with Jonathan Burns, a veteran of the New Mexico National Guard from Hereford, Texas. Burns discusses his recollections as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II and the conditions he experienced during the Bataan Death March.

Interview with Dr. Victor Rodriguez spotlighting significant insights into his storied and sterling career through five time dimensions: (1) his early all-Hispanic elementary school training; (2) his continued study and budding athletic prowess in the Edna, TX, school district; (3) his Victoria Junior College athletic achievements and learning; (4) his higher education art training, Geezle membership, and track accomplishments at North Texas State College; and (5) his 37-year career as a teacher, coach, and superintendent in the San Antonio (TX) school district. Inspired by his Anglo third-grade teacher in an all-Hispanic school in Edna, TX, Victor responded to his teacher's challenge to be a civic contributor by becoming a daily bell ringer at the local Catholic church (described in detail in his book, The Bell Ringer), a job requiring him to arise at 4:30 each morning and to run two miles one way amid nipping dogs to ring the bell. This discipline and activity would tap his athletic ability later as he surfaced as a distance district winner despite running barefoot, in blue jeans, and in an oversized t-shirt. From this beginning, he would emerge as a state champion and win a track scholarship to Victoria Junior College where he …

Interview with Representative Tip Hall, a member of the House of Representatives from Ennis, Texas. Hall discusses his experiences attending the 68th Legislative Session for the state of Texas, impressions of Speaker "Gib" Lewis, his role on the Appropriations Committee, taxes, and other legislation.

Transcript of an interview with Rosa Lee Daniels concerning her experiences as a student at Frederick Douglass Colored School until it burned down in 1913, and was rebuilt and renamed the Frederick Moore School in Denton, Texas (1910-1921). Daniels discusses the school facilities, her teachers, discipline, school equipment and facilities, segregation, and Klan activities in Denton.

Transcript of an interview with with William and Ely Sledge and their reminiscences and experiences concerning their father's farm near Pilot Point, Texas, 1900-1980. They discuss comments about their African-American ancestors; their descriptions of various pieces of old farm equipment strewn about the homestead; sorghum mill and syrup- making; hog butchering and meat preservation; water well; description of farm buildings; segregated education; home remedies; garden area; canning; rural social life and entertainment; trading among neighbors; cash crops (peanuts, cotton); harvesting; description of the interior of the family farmhouse and its contents; listening to boxing contests (Joe Louis and "Jersey Joe" Walcott) on the family radio; store-bought and mail order catalog items; "Juneteenth" celebrations; description of personal documents and papers, 1878-1931.