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Major General Elbert "Frenchy" DeCoursey, M.D., was born in Ludlow, Kentucky, on April 12, 1902. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in 1924 and an MD degree at Johns Hopkins in 1928. He interned at Brooke Army Hospital at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps in 1929.

A pathologist, DeCoursey held various positions in the United States Army. He was the Director of the Army Group Joint Commission for the Investigation of Effects of the Atomic Bomb in Nagasaki, Japan; consultant for the Division of Biology and Medicine for the Atomic Energy Commission; commandant of the Army Medical Service Research and Graduate School (now Walter Reed Institute of Research); Director of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; and Chancellor of Army Medical Service School at Ft. Sam Houston (now US Army Academy of Health Sciences). DeCoursey rose through the ranks of commissioned officers, and was named a Major General in 1954.

In 1959 DeCoursey retired from military service and became the Director of Scientific Research at Trinity University. He also lectured regularly at the National Institute of Health, the University of Texas Health Science Center, and Baylor University. DeCoursey was the Director of the National Board of Medical Examiners from 1948-1955, Director of the Texas Heart Association, and a trustee of the Southeast Texas Methodist Hospital.

DeCoursey was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1945, was a Diplomat of the American Board of Pathology, and a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists. He was also awarded the Caldwell Award in pathology in 1960 and the Bronze Medal from the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists in 1962. DeCoursey was also a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio. DeCoursey was married to Esther F. DeCoursey, who was involved in various San Antonio charities. Dr. DeCoursey passed away on December 4, 1994.

Claude William Black, Jr. (November 28, 1916- March 13, 2009) was one of San Antonio’s most indefatigable advocates for the equal rights of African Americans.  He graduated in 1937 from  Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, and earned a Master Of Divinity degree at Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, MA, in 1943.  He attended Trinity University in the early 1970s in order to complete graduate coursework in the Urban Studies department. Records documenting the following aspects of Reverend Black's life are included in the collection.

Ministry:  In 1949, Reverend Black became pastor  of the Mount Zion First Baptist Church, and served there for 49 years until 1998, after which he continued as Pastor Emeritus. He returned as interim pastor from 2005-2008.  He created service organizations for the elderly, the poor, and the hungry, and started the first African American, church-owned credit union, Mount Zion Federal Credit Union.  In the 1950s and 1960s, Reverend Black and other African American community members staged peaceful, civil rights protests that led to integration of lunch counters at local motels and at Joske's Department Store, theaters, parks and other public spaces. Reverend Black belonged to multiple religious organizations, such as the San Antonio Council of Churches and the San Antonio Ministers Association. One of these, the Baptist Ministers Union, was very active in church-related civil rights actions, one of which the scrapbook about the Billy Graham Evangelistic Rally (July 25, 1958) fully documents.

Politics:  From 1973—1977, Black was elected City Councilman for the City of San Antonio and was appointed as the first African American Mayor Pro Tem.  He was invited by President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1966 to participate in the White House Conference on Civil Rights and by President William Jefferson Clinton in 1995 to participate in the White House Conference on Aging. The scrapbooks in the collection are especially focused on Reverend Black's political campaigns and concerns.

Community:  Black served on boards and committees with numerous community organizations, particularly those that would benefit the traditionally African American East side of the city.  He was often invited to speak at civic and ceremonial events, as can be seen through the letters of invitation in the correspondence and letters section. Reverend Black received certificates and proclamations in his honor throughout his life that acknowledge his prolific activity.

ZerNona Stewart Black (February 7, 1906-January 24, 2005) worked extensively with service organizations, with her husband in civil rights activities, and fulfilled the many duties of a pastor’s wife. Originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, a YWCA assignment in 1943 brought her to San Antonio to run the local Negro USO Club. She met Reverend Black shortly after her arrival, and they married in 1946. She was an educator, teaching college courses and Mount Zion First Baptist Church bible school programs. Mrs. Black received a speech and education degree from Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts and later pursued graduate courses at various universities, including Trinity University. She taught at Langston College in Langston, OK, and at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio.

She co-founded Health, Inc., an elder daycare agency, as well as a local chapter of Jack and Jill, Inc., promoting programs for African American youth. She was Executive Director of the Eastside Senior Citizens Project, and helped to run Project F.R.E.E. (she kept the records of Project F.R.E.E. and Health, Inc., two church-affiliated organizations). She headed the church drama ministry and numerous church councils. She worked as a YWCA Chairman and as a volunteer and youth supervisor with the Guadalupe District Baptist Association. She received many honors and awards for her generous service to the church, seniors, women and mothers, children, and to the community at large.

Ronald Hilton was born in Torquay, England, in 1911. He received both his BA and MA from Oxford University, and studied at the University of California-Berkeley. Hilton's teaching career began at the University of British Columbia; he joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1942. Hilton founded the Institute of Hispanic American Studies at Stanford in 1948. The institute published the Hispanic American Report, a monthly journal about the Spanish-speaking world, and broadcast radio programs. In 1965 Hilton founded the World Association of International Studies, where he edited the World Affairs Report, a quarterly journal featuring commentaries on world news. The journal went on to become the first journal in any field to appear in its entirety online when Hilton began publishing it on the world wide web in 1983. Outside of his scholarly pursuits, Hilton played an influential role in uncovering the secret preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion, when he reported that it was an open secret in Guatemala that Cuban ex-nationals were training there to overthrow Fidel Castro. His report was published in The Nation, and led to the New York Times's investigation into the matter. Hilton passed away in 2007, and was survived by his wife, Mary Hilton, and his daughter, Mary Huyck.

San Miguel de Allende is a municipality in the eastern region of Guanajuato, Mexico. The area was the site of a Chichimeca village called Izcuinapan prior to Spanish colonization in the early 16th century. The current town was founded in 1555 by Bernardo Cossin, and named San Miguel el Grande. By the mid-18th century it was one of the largest settlements in New Spain, with a population of over 30,000 residents. San Miguel was central to the Mexican War of Independence in the early 19th century; the town was renamed San Miguel de Allende in 1826 in honor of revolutionary hero Ignacio Allende.

Dr. Marion Oettinger, Jr., is the Curator Emeritus of Latin American Art and the former Kelso Director of the San Antonio Museum of Art. Oettinger received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of the Americas, Mexico, and his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also studied at the Monterrey Institute of Foreign Studies, Monterrey, California, and the University of Pittsburgh. Oettinger has lived and worked in various parts of Latin America and Spain for more than 25 years and has conducted research among groups in Mexico, Central and South America, Spain and countries of the Caribbean. A cultural anthropologist and art historian specializing in Latin American art and culture, he has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. He has taught at Cornell University, Occidental College, and the University of North Carolina and is the recipient of Fulbright Hays, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Geographic Society, and American Philosophical Society grants and the 2010 Van Deren Coke Lifetime Achievement Award in Spanish Colonial Art and Folk Art. Oettinger joined the San Antonio Museum of Art in 1985 as Curator of Folk Art and Latin American Art, later serving as Senior Curator of Latin American Art (1994-2004, 2011-2018) and Betty and Bob Kelso Director of the San Antonio Museum of Art (2005-2011). In 2018 Oettinger became the Curator Emeritus of Latin American Art at SAMA. He resides in San Antonio, Texas.

Sammye Johnson is Professor Emerita of Communication at Trinity University. Prior to joining the faculty at Trinity, Professor Sammye Johnson was an award-winning editor and writer for more than a decade. She continues to freelance; since 1985, she has published more than 450 articles in newspapers and magazines and received 19 writing awards. Johnson earned both her BSJ and MSJ at Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism.

She has published more than 20 articles in the top refereed journals in the journalism and mass communication field and presented more than 60 refereed papers at national and international conferences. She also has contributed 15 chapters to books specifically dealing with magazine publishing in the United States.

She is a founding co-editor of The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Journal (The IJPC Journal), a refereed academic journal that premiered in 2009 and is published by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.

She also gives workshops on a variety of editorial and design topics and consults with editors and art directors wanting to modify, reposition, or revive an existing publication.

Victor Nicholas Alessandro was born in Waco, Texas, on November 27, 1915. His father, also named Victor Alessandro (1883-1971), was a conductor and music teacher. Alessandro grew up in Houston, Texas. He studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, the American Academy in Rome, and the Salzburg Mozarteum. Alessandro married flutist Ruth Drisko in 1956, and had two children, Victor Tabbut Alessandro and Ruth Ann Alessandro. Alessandro passed away on November 27, 1976 of emphysema.

In 1938 he became the conductor of the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Texas in 1951 to lead the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, and led the ensemble until his retirement in 1976. Alessandro received honors the National Association for American Composers and Conductors and the 1956 Alice M. Ditson Award for service to American music. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester, Southwestern University, and Southern Methodist University.

Francis Wilson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1854. He began his acting career with appearances in minstrel shows and comedies, before headlining plays and comic operas in New York City. Wilson formed his own theatre company in 1899. In addition to acting, Wilson authored plays and several books about fellow actors, including a biography of John Wilkes Booth. Wilson was the founding president of the Actors' Equity Association.

Francis Wilson was married twice, to Mira Barrie and Edna Bruns. He had four children. Wilson died in 1935.