G.W. McClanahan Sr. Paine Female Institute Collection

G.W. McClanahan Sr. Paine Female Institute Collection

George Walker McClanahan Sr. (1824-1874) was the first principal of the Paine Female Institute in Goliad, Texas, from 1855 to 1860. The Paine Female Institute was established in 1852, when members of the Methodist Church in Goliad held a public meeting to establish a college for women, to take the place of the late Hillyer Female College.

The collection consists of three folders that contain G.W. McClanahan Sr.’s correspondence dating from 1854 to 1857 concerning the Paine Institute, including three versions of an article he wrote about his journey from Virginia to Texas, a small bound notebook containing a curriculum and an attendance log from the 1855 Spring semester at the Paine Institute, a Bible questions and Answers booklet written by McClanahan’s son, G.W. McClanahan Jr., an article in the Lutheran newspaper The Messenger written in remembrance of G.W. McClanahan Jr. and a several newspaper clippings relating to the McClanahan family’s history. Of particular interest to both researchers and genealogists are the Institute’s attendance logs in the second folder. McClanahan’s account of his arrival in Texas includes descriptions of frontier life and agricultural practices. His correspondence also details his travel times and expenses.

G.W. McClanahan Sr.

Special Collections, Smith Library Center at Southwestern University

1854-1857