Ursula Lauderdale Papers

Original Digital object not accessible

Identity elements

Reference code

US TxSaTua UA0143

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Collection

Title

Ursula Lauderdale Papers

Date(s)

  • 1870s-1940s (Creation)

Extent

1 slim document box (.25 linear feet).

Name of creator

(1872-1968)

Biographical history

Ursula Hall Lauderdale was born in Moberly, Missouri on July 29, 1872. She moved to Texas at a young age with her family, first residing in Gainesville and then Fort Worth. She moved to New York City and attended the Art Students League of New York and the Metropolitan Arts Studio. Her instructors included Michel Jacobs, William Devol, Robert Henri, Maurice Braun, and Frank Reaugh. She returned to North Texas and married attorney and Dallas county judge Edward Seay Lauderdale (1861-1930) around 1899. They lived in the Munger Place neighborhood of Old East Dallas and Highland Park. She was an art instructor at the Bush Temple of Fine Arts, a music conservatory, throughout the 1920s. During this time, she was most celebrated for the creation of a stained-glass window titled "Ruth" in the City Temple Presbyterian Church. Lauderdale was also involved in the Southwestern Chautauqua movement in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Lauderdale joined the faculty of Trinity University (then located in Waxahachie) as an art instructor for one year in 1928. She and Edward Lauderdale divorced in 1929, following her divorce she was briefly married to P.H. Rahl. They moved to San Antonio in 1930, and she set up a kiln and studio in the Menger Hotel, focusing on tile painting and oils. Lauderdale was part of the WPA Index of American Design Federal Arts Project, contributing several watercolor depictions of early American folk art. She was part of the first decade of studio artists in reimagined La Villita, setting up shop in 1946. In her La Villita studio she taught classes in portrait and china painting. She was a member of the Texas and National League of Pen Women and several art leagues. She passed away at the age of 95 in 1968. Lauderdale is considered to be an Texas impressionist painter, focusing on landscape and still-life, but is also identified as a “practical” folk artist working with wood, china, glass.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

This collection contains material from Ursula Lauderdale, a Texas artist and former art instructor at Trinity University. It includes a small scrapbook, photographs, correspondence, documents, and news clippings. The scrapbook, clippings, membership cards, and many of the photographs help to illustrate her work as an artist during the early 20th century.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

This collection is open and available to the public for research in the Special Collections & Archives reading room. The materials are non-circulating.

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

The materials in this collection may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). The materials are available for personal, educational, and scholarly use. It is the responsibility of the researcher to locate and obtain permission from the copyright owner or his or her heirs for any other use, such as reproduction and publication.

Languages of the material

  • English

Scripts of the material

    Language and script notes

    Finding aids

    Acquisition and appraisal elements

    Custodial history

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Donated by Ruth M. Fisher in 1983.

    Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

    A 1928 Mirage yearbook had been physically separated from the collection and subsequently discarded as a duplicate.

    Accruals

    Related materials elements

    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

    Related archival materials

    Related descriptions

    Notes element

    General note

    Old identifier - UA 06-03-04

    Specialized notes

    • Citation: Ursula Lauderdale Papers. UA0143. Coates Library Special Collections & Archives, Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas).

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Description control element

    Rules or conventions

    DACS

    Sources used

    Archivist's note

    Finding aid created by Abra Schnur, July 2020.

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Name access points

    Digital object metadata

    Master file

    Reference copy

    Thumbnail copy

    Digital object (Master) rights area

    Digital object (Reference) rights area

    Digital object (Thumbnail) rights area

    Accession area