Guide
to
MS 262
Burges-Perrenot Family Papers
Span Dates 1890-1986,
Bulk Dates 1890-1945
26 feet, 2 inches (linear)
Processed by Laura Hollingsed
March - June 2001
Citation: Burges-Perrenot Family Papers, 1890-1986, MS 262, C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department. The University of Texas at El Paso Library. C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department University of Texas at El Paso |
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Biography
In the years 1889 to 1912, three brothers, William Henry Burges, Jr., Alfred Rust Burges, and Richard Fenner Burges came to El Paso, Texas to practice law. These southwest pioneers became prominent lawyers and leading citizens in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Their father, William Henry Burges, Sr., was born in Virginia and settled in Seguin, Texas. There he studied law and was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1859. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army and fought with Hood's Brigade in Virginia. He was wounded at Sharpsburg and surrendered at Appomattox. Upon his return to Texas, he married Bettie Rust with whom he had three sons, William Henry, Jr., Alfred Rust, and Richard Fenner. William, Sr. was an eloquent speaker and served many terms in the Texas State Senate. When Bettie Rust Burges died on January 25, 1873, after the birth of Richard, the boys were raised by their grandmother and aunts. Their Aunt Nannie married Dr. William Yandell, who later moved to El Paso, Texas, where the Burges boys eventually followed and made their home.
The oldest brother, William Henry Burges, Jr., was born on November 12, 1867, in Seguin, Texas. In 1889 he graduated from the University of Texas as a member of its first law class. That same year he set up a law practice in El Paso, where as City Attorney from 1893-1895 he fought to end gambling and vice in the city. From 1911-1914 the governor appointed him as Regent to the University of Texas. Burges Hall at the University of Texas at El Paso and Burges High School are named for him in honor of his lifelong advocacy of education. After practicing law briefly in Chicago in 1917, he returned to the southwest to defend the citizens of Bisbee, Arizona, and Phelps Dodge Corporation along with other major copper companies in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Case. His most famous case brought him international recognition. His clients included big oil, mining, and railroad corporations. He also represented Chinese immigrants in Chinese Exclusion Act cases. He was a founding member and president of the El Paso Bar Association, a member and president of the Texas Bar Association, and served on the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association in 1912-1915. In 1896, he married Anna Pollard from Fulton, Missouri, who came to El Paso to visit her brother. William H. Burges, Jr., died on May 11, 1946. He and his wife Anna had no children.
Alfred Rust Burges, the middle brother, was born in Seguin, Texas on February 16, 1871. Like his brothers, during his early years he attended his aunt's private school in Seguin. Later he attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College until 1891. He then read law in the offices of Cochran and Hill in San Angelo, Texas until he was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1894. In 1898 during the Spanish-American War, the governor of Texas appointed Alfred Rust as captain of Company F, 4th Texas Infantry. After the war he returned to his law practice in San Angelo. He moved to El Paso in 1912 to join the practice of his younger brother, Richard Fenner Burges. Alfred Rust Burges and his two brothers were charter members of the El Paso Bar Association. In 1914 he married Leona Stanley of Austin, Texas. They had no children. His law partnership with his brother Richard continued until his death on March 19, 1924.
The youngest of the Burges brothers, Richard Fenner Burges, was born on January 7, 1873 in Seguin, Texas. In 1890, after being tutored by a German professor, he attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College where he excelled at oratory. He then returned to Seguin and studied law privately. At age 19 he moved to El Paso to join the law practice of his brother William and was admitted to the Bar by 1894. On December 7, 1898 he married Ethel Petrie Shelton, who passed away in 1912. They had one daughter, Jane Rust Burges. In 1897 he left his brother William's law office and practiced alone until 1912 when he joined in partnership with his other brother Alfred Rust. After Alfred Rust died in 1924, Richard worked alone until 1938 when he again joined his brother William's law practice. Richard and William practiced law together until Richard's death on January 13, 1945.
Richard Fenner Burges served as El Paso City Attorney from 1905-1907. At that time he wrote the City Charter and continued the reforms his brother William had begun earlier. He was instrumental in the building of Elephant Butte Dam. From 1913-1915 Richard served in the Texas State Legislature. He authored the Texas Forestry Act and the Texas Irrigation Code. He was assistant counsel for the United States during the Chamizal Zone arbitration from 1910-1915. In 1915 he served as president of the International Irrigation Congress. When World War I began he organized Company A, 141st Infantry, which became a part of the famous 36th Division. His company trained at Camp Bowie, Texas, and went on to fight in France. He received a battlefield promotion to Major and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre from France for his bravery. Upon his return to El Paso after the war, he was mentioned as a possible nominee for governor of Texas, but he declined to run. He was elected as president of the Texas Forestry Association in 1921-1923. In 1923 while in Carlsbad, New Mexico, he visited the then unknown Carlsbad Caverns. His efforts helped make the site a national monument. During the years 1935-1940 Richard Fenner Burges was special counsel for the Department of Justice on the Rio Grande Rectification Project. Locally, he served for many years on the El Paso Public Library Board and in other community positions. The Richard F. Burges Branch Library was named in his honor.
Jane Rust Burges, the only daughter of Richard and Ethel Burges, was born in 1900 in El Paso, Texas. When Jane was twelve years old her mother died. Jane attended Sunset Heights School, El Paso School for Girls (later Radford School), and Shipley School for Girls in preparation for Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. At Bryn Mawr she excelled in theatre. She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1922 and began studying law. In 1923 she married Preston Rose Perrenot in El Paso. They had three children: Richard Burges Perrenot, Mary Austin Perrenot, and Anne Perrenot. Jane Rust Burges Perrenot was active in the El Paso community as a member and president of the Junior League and the El Paso Public Library Board. She donated funds for the building of the Southwest Collections wing of the El Paso Public Library and land for the Westside Branch Library. In 1972 for meritorious service to the community she received the Teotihuacan Award given by the Women's Department of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. The City of El Paso bestowed the Conquistador Award upon her in 1973 for her work with the El Paso Public Library. She died in El Paso in 1986 and left the Burges family home at 603 West Yandell in El Paso to the El Paso Country Historical Society.
Series Description
The Burges-Perrenot Family Papers are arranged in eight series:
Series I. Personal and Biographical.
Arranged in three subseries--Biographical Information, Genealogies, and Book, Pamphlet, and Scrapbook Lists.
Series II. Correspondence.
Arranged in four subseries--William Henry Burges, Jr., Richard Fenner Burges, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot, and Other. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically by major correspondent or topic, then chronologically.
Series III. Literary Productions.
Arranged in two subseries--William Henry Burges, Jr. and Richard Fenner Burges.
Series IV. Activities.
Arranged in six subseries--Books and Libraries, Business, Historical Research, Law, Poetry, and Other. Files in each subseries are filed alphabetically by subject or author.
Series V. Scrapbooks.
Arranged in four subseries--William Henry Burges, Jr., Richard Fenner Burges, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot, and E. A. Shelton. Scrapbooks in each subseries are filed alphabetically.
Series VI. Published and Printed Material.
Arranged in eight subseries--Invitations, Programs, El Paso Organizations, Pamphlets, Magazine Articles, Newspapers, Maps, and Other. Items in each subseries are filed alphabetically by topic, title, or author.
Series VII. Postcards and Travel Views.
Arranged in three subseries--Postcards, Travel Views (stereoscope cards), and Stereoscope Device.
Series VIII. Exhibit Material.
Contains photographs, biographies, and exhibit labels from prior exhibit.
Scope and Content Notes
The Burges-Perrenot Family Papers contain personal correspondence and scrapbooks of newspaper and magazine clippings that include genealogical and historical research; speeches and addresses; and research relating to pioneer El Paso lawyer Richard Fenner Burges' varied interests in poetry, literature, history, law, forestry, conservation, irrigation, politics and the military. Social invitations, programs, pamphlets, and postcards, including many from early El Paso and Juarez, are in the collection. A stereoscope device, and stereoscope photographs from the World War I period are also part of the collection. The majority of the scrapbooks were produced by Richard Fenner Burges, with four belonging to his brother, William Henry Burges, Jr., two belonging to his daughter, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot, and one containing speeches and correspondence of his father-in-law, E. A. Shelton. Most of the correspondence belonged to Richard Fenner Burges and his daughter, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot.
The Personal and Biographical series consists of biographical information on William, Richard, and Jane Burges, and genealogical material concerning the Burges and Shelton families. The other subseries contains book and pamphlet lists for Richard Fenner Burges' library. An index created by Richard F. Burges for the scrapbooks is located in this subseries. The papers are handwritten or typewritten, and some are photocopies and carbon copies of typed letters. Newspaper clippings and some photographs are included.
The second series, Correspondence, is arranged in four subseries: William Henry Burges, Jr., Richard Fenner Burges, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot, and Other. The series contains correspondence from Richard Fenner Burges to his daughter Jane Rust Burges Perrenot. Approximately fifty years of scholarly correspondence between Richard Fenner Burges and Rev. Percy Jones, edited for publication by Richard Fenner Burges under the title Priest and Pagan, is included. The other papers consist of family letters and miscellaneous personal correspondence regarding Richard Fenner Burges' book collections, genealogy, and other interests such as poetry, politics, and Texas history. The correspondence is handwritten or typewritten. Some papers are carbon copies or photocopies of typed letters.
The Literary Productions series is arranged in two subseries including speeches, addresses, publications, and notes by William Henry Burges, Jr. and Richard Fenner Burges. Most of the papers are typed, some are handwritten, and some are in printed form.
The fourth series, Activities, is divided into six subseries to include Books and Libraries, Business, Historical Research, Law, Poetry, and Other. The papers include newspaper clippings, journal clippings, bound and photostat copies of historical Texas documents, and a large collection of typewritten and handwritten poems. The series also contains the corporation records for "Bill Palvogt and Associates, Inc." (a company owned by Jane Rust Burges Perrenot's son-in-law) for 1960-1962.
The Scrapbook series consists of thirty scrapbooks in four subseries. The scrapbooks are arranged alphabetically by a letter system created by Richard F. Burges or by their original title. The volumes labeled "Q," "R," "T," and "V" are not included in the collection. The subseries, William Henry Burges, Jr., includes four scrapbooks of clippings of current events, politics, and law from c. 1890 to 1945. The second subseries, Richard Fenner Burges, contains twenty-three scrapbooks dated from c. 1890 to 1945. These books include clippings on current events, history, politics, society, poetry, literature, conservation, farming, forestry, irrigation, and the military. They also include invitations, programs, and personal finances. Sources of the clippings are local and national newspapers and various magazines and journals. Two scrapbooks are included in the third subseries, Jane Rust Burges Perrenot. One of her scrapbooks, 1937-1972, contains articles about El Paso's history. Another book, dated 1921-1984, is filled with various clippings, invitations, Christmas cards, and typed letters. The fourth subseries, consists of the letters, speeches, and addresses of E. A. Shelton, former El Paso postmaster.
Published and Printed Material, the sixth series, is arranged alphabetically by subject, title, or author in eight subseries: Invitations, Programs, El Paso Organizations, Pamphlets, Magazine Articles, Newspapers, Maps, and Other. The series consists of a large assortment of social and business invitations and programs for the years c. 1890 to 1945. Invitations and programs from Texas governor's balls and presidential visits to El Paso are included. El Paso Organizations include the El Paso Bar Association, the Toltec Club, the Woman's Club of El Paso, various charities, and local schools. The Pamphlets subseries contains a large assortment of pamphlets on various topics: local history, politics, speeches, health, forestry, irrigation, legal cases, fiction, science, theatre, business and maps. A pamphlet box from Richard Burges' library is in this series. Magazine articles, various El Paso and Texas newspapers, and some maps are included.
The Postcards and Travel Views series has three subseries. The subseries Postcards contains an album of postcard travel views and a collection of loose postcards sent to Jane Rust Burges by her father during his business and military travels. Travel Views includes approximately one hundred stereoscope photographs of World War I carnage and destruction, travel scenes, and art pictures. A Stereoscope Device for viewing the photographs is located in this series.
The last series, Exhibit Materials, contains a photograph of Richard F. Burges and Jane Rust Burges Perrenot, and biographic information used in a University of Texas at El Paso Library exhibit on the Burges-Perrenot Family Papers.
Provenance Statement
The estate of Jane Burges Perrenot donated the Burges-Perrenot Family Papers to the University of Texas at El Paso Library C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department in 1986.
Restrictions
No access restrictions.
Literary Rights Statement
Permission to publish material from the Burges-Perrenot Family Papers, MS 262, must be obtained from the C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department, University of Texas at El Paso.
Notes to the Researcher
The correspondence and scrapbooks in the collection are in very poor, fragile condition. Please handle with care. Photocopying might be prohibited for some materials.
Researchers should also see Burges collections at The University of Texas at Austin, the El Paso Public Library, and the El Paso County Historical Society. The University of Houston obtained part of the Burges library in the early 1950's.
Series I
-- Personal and Biographical
Series II -- Correspondence
Series III -- Literary Prductions
Series IV -- Activities
Series V -- Scrapbooks
Series VI -- Published and Printed Materials
Series VII -- Postcards and Travel Views
Series VIII -- Exhibit Materials