Lately, I’ve been looking over my fieldnotes and trying to piece my seemingly clipped notes together into insightful thoughts on what life was like on campus. I need to go back to the Special Collections Office and take more fieldnotes. These will be different from my current fieldnotes because they will delve deeper into individual newspapers. In addition to this, the next time I go to my fieldsite, I need to look at papers that will help WA4. This involves papers from the early 30s, all the way to after the end of WWII, so probably ’45-’47. As mentioned in my previous research journal, I will be taking a random sampling of papers, and looking at the various types of articles. From there, I can come up with a general percentage of what types of articles were printed from 1930-1946. For WA4, I also need to review John Allen’s oral history. I only mentioned the part about the student play about Hitler’s advances in m fieldnotes, so I will need to obtain more details about it. That is what inspired my approach to WA4 after all. All of my questions were answered Tuesday by Dr. Carter that pertains to WA4. I can’t think of any about my research project at this present time. As far as from my classmates, discussion helps. I like bouncing ideas off of people, so if you’re free and are up for discussion, don’t hesitate to ask and whatnot. 
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Annotated Table of Contents
1) Fieldnotes over The East Texan
- Set 1: General Overview of The East Texan from 1941-1944. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features (“Lions in the Fight”, “Society News”, “Tench-Hut!”, etc.), government propaganda, advertisements, political cartoons, and military enlistment ads.
- Set 2: Notes over a few pictures taken of articles and pictures. Includes the conversion of Mayo Hall to a girls dormitory.
- Set 3: General Overview of The East Texan from 1944-1945. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features, government propaganda, political cartoons, and advertisements. Includes the death of President Roosevelt, the proclamation of V-E Day, and the surrender of Japan.
2) Pictures
- Look of the paper
- Political cartoons
- Military advertisements for enlistment
- General Advertisements (Coca-Cola, Wrigley’s Gum, Chesterfield Cigarettes, ads aimed at women toward the end of the war, etc.)
- Pictures of soldiers
- Patriotic slogans (“Remember Pear Harbor!”, “Buy more war bonds!”, etc.)
- Government propaganda
- Bold headlines (V-E Day and the surrender of Japan)
- Mayo Hall picture
3) Oral Histories
- Mary McCrary. Wife of an E.T. professor. Speaks of life before their move to Commerce, physical descriptions of Commerce and its changes, the Great Depression, her sons’ and husband’s enlistment into the armed forces, the influx of students after the war, and her thoughts on the progression of E.T. (“Morale of college has dropped considerably.”).
- John Allen. Former student of E.T. who graduated in 1940. Later became a radio broadcaster for various radio stations including WFAA. Spoke of his childhood, various family stories, his time at the Training School in Commerce (the high school student teachers from E.T. teach before becoming accredited teachers), his time at E.T. (a member of the band and an acted in school plays). He also speaks of the lingering effects of the Depression, the community’s thought on the college (“life and bread of Commerce”), and physical description of Commerce. He also mentions the effects of WWII on civilians (rationing, brownouts of coastal cities, and government regulation of the broadcasting of the news over the radio). He talks about a student produced play about Hitler’s advances during WWII. That will be looked at into further detail for WA4.
4) Writing Assignments
- WA2–”The Evolution of The East Texan“. History of The East Texan from 1920-present times.
- WA3–Research Proposal.”Through the Eyes of the Students-The East Texan during Word War II”
- First draft of WA4–This one is a summary of John Allen’s life and what information he offers about WWII, and how it affected people and coastal cities.
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Codes
Campus Changes (CC)
- CC1–New courses offered
- CC2–Physical changes
Government Regulations (GR)
- GR1–News regulations
- GR2–Radio regulations
- GR3–Civilian acts of defense (blackouts, brownouts, “Sealed lips don’t sink ships”, etc.)
- GR4–Rationing
Soldiers (S)
- S1–Current students, alumni, and teachers in the fight
- S2–Articles about supporting the soldiers (writing them, sending care packages, etc.)
Patriotic Slogans (PS)
- PS1–”Buy more war bonds/defense stamps”
- PS2–”Remember Pear Harbor”
- PS3–”Set the rising sun”
Political Cartoons (PC)
Enlistment (E)
- E1–Advertisements to for Armed Forces
- E2–Women’s Armed Forces
- E3–Red Cross Ads
- E4–Articles about enlistment
Campus Life (CL)
Academic News (AN)
Society News (SN)
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One Page Analysis
In order to understand how the campus changed, I need to paint a picture of what the campus and student life was like before the heavy impact of WWII toward the end of the war. John Allen’s oral history will help immensely in this respect since he does go into detail about student life and his involvement with the music and theatre department. The newspapers will also help because campus, academic, and society news did not go away even with the heavy impact of the war. I want to piece together a portrait of campus life before, during, and after the war. The articles over war coverage will reflect how campus life was altered during that time. From there, I can find the effects on the students as a whole .
I’m not sure what makes my research meaningful. It is connected to Commerce, the place I am earning my higher education degree. It is gives insight on how a previous generation dealt with the hardships of war. As far as that, everything I’ve seen in the newspaper is super patriotic. There are patriotic slogans printed everywhere in the newspaper. Some are bold, others are buried between articles, and pictures. Both men and women got involved in cause. Men joined the Armed Forces, and women joined military organizations such as WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), and the Red Cross. Political cartoons also reflected this increase in patriotism. There were a couple that showed a little boy going around with a wagon full of paper, calling for scrap paper from his neighbors. There was also one where a little boy said he would use his rainy day change to buy war bonds. Hopefully, everything will come together soon!
