This collection contains the materials of Gustine Courson Weaver (1873-1942) and was originally part of the Historical Collection to which Mrs. Weaver donated in the 1930s and 1940s. Gustine Courson was married to a minister by the name of Clifford Weaver and eventually lived in McKinney, Texas. Previously, the couple had traveled abroad to Japan as missionaries, but settled in Texas for the remainder of their lives. Gustine Weaver collected all forms of materials including dolls, manuscripts, pop-up books, miniature books, journals, newspaper clippings, and “Heidi” materials, among other things, including some artifacts. Mrs. Clifford Weaver also created scrapbooks of her own life as well as the many subjects she was interested in. Mrs. Weaver was also the author of Santa’s Cotton Doll Farm, a children’s book which was illustrated by Dorothy McGonagill.

Included in this collection are the Te Ata scrapbooks, which have original photographs and clippings of the famous Native American. A scrapbook of Dickie Jones, the voice of Pinocchio, and scrapbooks on fabrics are also included with these materials. The remaining scrapbooks in this collection are in a bound format and are titled “Dolls,” “Heidi,” “Illustrators,” with additional titles arranged according to subject matter.

The collection includes the Weaver family photo album with photographs of Gustine Weaver’s father, John Courson, her sister, Olive Courson, and many of their cousins and other relatives. The album dates back to the late 1800s and includes primarily cartes de visites and cabinet cards. (Materials have been arranged in a folder based format with each heading giving a description of the contents).