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Terry Jordan Collection, 1973-1979Add to your cart.

By Marissa Posada

Collection Overview

Title: Terry Jordan Collection, 1973-1979Add to your cart.
Predominant Dates: 1973-1979
ID: 01/ UG0020
Primary Creator: Terry Jordan (1938-2003)
Extent: 21.0 Boxes
Arrangement: This collection is arranged into 4 series: 1. Texas Log Cabin Register; 2. Photographic Materials; 3. Texas Log Cabin Register Tapes; 4. Student Papers. Most are arranged in alphabetical order.
Date Acquired: 00/00/1985. More info below under Accruals.
Languages: English

Abstract

Materials related to the Texas Log Cabin Register, project founded by Terry Jordan.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection contains documentation on Texas log structures assembled by Terry Jordan.  It includes the Texas Log Cabin Register, which lists all log structures known to the members of the project at the time, and also contains reference materials on the construction of log structures. The collection also contains photographic materials relating to the project, and a series of audio recordings of the meetings of the Log Cabin Advisory Board, including discussions of the exhibition “Dog Trots and Mud Cats”.  The final part of the collection is copies of student papers relating to Texas log cabins and early settlers.

Collection Historical Note

The Texas Log Cabin Register began as an interest of Terry Jones, shortly after he began teaching at North Texas State University in 1969. It started as information on log structures in Denton, and under his management, the project grew into a register of more than 800 log buildings in Texas, with notes, photographs, sketches, and other documents based on field observations by volunteers and NTSU geography students.  It received grant funding, and contributions from the Texas Historical Commission, as well as donations of labor and supplies/expenses by the volunteers working on the projects.  The Register was placed in the NTSU (Now University of North Texas) Archives to become an open resource for researchers.  It has formed the basis of numerous articles, as well as books such as Jordan’s own “Texas Log Buildings: A Folk Architecture.”.

Biographical Note

Terry Jordan was the Chairman of the Department of Geography at the University of North Texas from 1962 until 1982. Terry was born on August 9, 1938, in Dallas. In 1956, he enrolled in Southern Methodist University and was also a member and secretary of Beta Theta Phi fraternity and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated after three and a half years in January 1960, and received a $7,000 Southern Teaching Career Fellowship from the Council of Southern Universities for three years of graduate study for the Ph.D. Terry began his master's studies at Texas in fall 1960 at the age of 22, and he speedily completed his master's program in August 1961. In August 1962, he married Marlis Anderson. In January 1969, Dean Frank Gifford offered Terry the chairmanship of the Department of Geography at the University of North Texas with full professor status, telling him that they were seeking a vigorous young scholar who would continue to publish and would lead a transition from a teacher's college to a regional state university. Terry accepted this offer and remained at the department as chair until 1982. His appointment was newsworthy: the Dallas Morning News ran a feature article on his hire by Walter Moore, editor of the Texas Almanac. Over time, Terry became more interested in log structures (he never called them cabins) as a cultural indicator. He began maintaining a register of log structures at Denton, and he avidly sought examples throughout Texas and elsewhere, carefully noting building and notching styles. He published a series of articles on Texas log structures and a book, Texas Log Buildings: A Folk Architecture. This book won him the Tullis Prize of the Texas State Historical Association as the best book published on Texas history in 1978. He also won awards from the Texas Heritage Council, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and the American Association of State and Local History, and he was named one of sixty Fellows of the Texas State Historical Association in 1980. Terry chaired the geography department at North Texas for thirteen years. In 1982, Terry received the Honors Award of the Association of American Geographers, which was presented April 27, 1982, at the AAG meetings in San Antonio. About this same time, he was recruited by The University of Texas at Austin to fill its Walter Prescott Webb Chair of History and Ideas. The position at Austin came with research funding, and this enabled Terry to more freely pursue international research in such places as China, Tibet, Russia and Siberia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Tahiti, Scandinavia, Spain, and Korea. During the last twenty-one years of his life at Austin, Terry enjoyed his office in Room 306 of the Geography Building. He taught up until the final weeks before his death. He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and died In October of 2003. Shortly after his diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, the Department of Geography and the Environment at Texas honored him with a special reception, dedicating a newly renovated classroom in his honor.

Access Information

Access Restrictions:

The student papers in this collection are restricted.  Please contact the UNT Special Collections for more information.The Log Cabin Register is unrestricted and can be requested. Please contact the UNT Special Collections for more information.

Use Restrictions:

Reproduction and publication of materials in this collection are subject to the policies of the UNT Special Collections department. Copyright restrictions may apply.

Physical Access Note:

This collection is stored off-site and requires a minimum of 24 hours notice prior to use.

Reading Room or Duplication Requests

Depending on any access restrictions noted above, you may be able to request items be delivered to our reading room, or that we make reproductions for you. Just click on either the or icons in the listings below to be routed to our request form.

Administrative Information

Repository: Manuscripts
Accruals: 85-021
Acquisition Source: Terry Jordan
Acquisition Method: Gift
Preferred Citation: Terry Jordan Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections

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Box and Folder Listing
Box 1b: Multiple CollectionsSeries 1: Texas Log Cabin RegisterSeries 2: Photographic MaterialsSeries 3: Texas Log Cabin Register TapesSeries 4: Student Papers