Texas Disability History Collection

Robert Hanks Brister, son of a pioneer Burleson, Texas, family, was a World War I Army baker, a public school superintendent, a Baptist deacon, a Waco-based insurance agent, and a president of the Texas State Teachers Association. He also worked at the Veterans Administration's vocational rehabilitation service in Waco and became an insurance underwriter. Brister married Ruby Irene "Bob" Neal, a Weatherford, Texas, native, on April 23, 1921; they had two children. His papers include correspondence, photographs, family histories and genealogies, books, school annuals, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, financial records, speeches, memorabilia, artifacts, ephemera, and certificates. The papers document Brister's years as a college student, math teacher, soldier, school administrator, teacher advocate, civic leader, and insurance agent. Handwritten personal correspondence received during his years as a student and a soldier includes details of daily farm life and social banter from classmates and girlfriends. Materials documenting his years as an educator include speeches, reports to school boards, correspondence with colleagues, and efforts to obtain employment upon his resignation as Waco superintendent. Noteworthy are six photo albums, a vintage camera in its original leather case, a double locket, and two patriotic silk handkerchiefs. The papers include some material about African American schools, namely yearbooks from Waco's segregated Moore High School.