The Personal Series (302.25 linear feet) is comprised of materials from 1917 to after Bullock’s death in 1999, with the bulk ranging from 1975 to 1999. The Personal Series is arranged into ten subseries: Awards-Certificates-Plaques, Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Jan Bullock, Memorabilia, Museum, Notebooks, Publications, Photographs and Scrapbooks. This series is perhaps the most diverse of the five series in the Bullock Collection, reflecting the complexity, determination and commitment of the man himself. Texas was important to Bullock, as was family. He not only used the phrase “God Bless Texas,” he lived it, and although his love for his state is evident throughout the Collection, it is nowhere more evident than in the accolades he received, the words he wrote, and the items which he chose to collect and keep as tokens and affirmations of his life.

The Awards-Certificates-Plaques subseries is made up of framed awards, certificates, and plaques, including 3D awards, that Bullock received throughout his political career. There are a few unframed certificates, mainly certificates of appreciation and recognition that were received toward the end of Bullock’s public career and even posthumously, but the vast majority of the items are framed. Particularly interesting is the High School Diploma of Bullock’s Mother, Ruth Mitchell Bullock, from Gainesville High School, Gainesville, Texas in 1917.

The Biographical Materials section of the Personal Series consists of files containing predominately paper items in the form of personal and family records such as birth and death certificates, biographical sketches, Boy Scout certificates, career accomplishments, financial records, funeral programs and gift lists. There are also inauguration and campaign mementos, invitations and programs to and from events and fundraisers. Bullock’s law practice information, military records, marriage records, passport, programs, report cards, resumes, college transcripts and tokens complete this subseries. While some of these items are duplicated in the campaign series files, these items were kept separate in Bullock’s personal files and this arrangement was retained.

Correspondence in this series is separated into alpha correspondence, family correspondence, and legislator correspondence. There is some overlap in the correspondence section due to Bullock’s desire to have copies of items he might need wherever he might be. Therefore, some of the correspondence located here may be duplicated in the Comptroller’s and Lieutenant Governor’s Series correspondence files. See note on access restriction.

Materials in the Jan Bullock subseries of the Collection are materials that have come to Baylor by way of Jan Bullock since Bob Bullock’s death. The majority of the material consists of get-well and condolence correspondence, articles and programs surrounding Bob Bullock’s illness and funeral in 1999. There are also invitations and materials for the 2000 Republican Convention and the 2000 Presidential Inauguration – both of which Jan attended. Newsletters Jan received and news clippings dealing with Jan, or in some way referring to Bob Bullock posthumously, are also located in this series. Photographs of the Bullock Archive that were taken for Jan have graciously been returned by Jan to be included in the Collection. These Bullock Archive photographs and some photographs of the Bullock Statue that now resides in the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum were separated from this section and placed with the photograph section of the Personal Series. The small amount of materials regarding Jan Bullock that came to Baylor with Bullock’s materials have remained where they were located within Bullock’s items, and mostly consist of photographs that are in the photograph notebooks and a small amount of correspondence.

The Memorabilia subseries of the Personal Series contains a wide variety of items, some dealing with specific events such as Inaugurations and sessions of the Legislature, and some simply different pieces or items that were gifts to Bullock, or had some special significance to Bullock personally. There is a large selection of gavels in this subseries that were given to Bullock to use for different occasions, such as the passage of specific legislation or the opening session of a specific legislature. The collection of gavels varies in size with some being quite large. Inaugural materials also were placed in this sub-section, and Bullock collected and kept many of the Inaugural items associated with his two terms as Lieutenant Governor: t-shirts, playing cards, plates, bags, belt buckles, pins, posters, and paperweights are among the items in this section.

In addition to gavels and Inaugural items, there are many individual items that held special significance for Bullock. These items include: t-shirts, pen sets, desk items, figurines, paperweights, framed sketches, correspondence, articles, and special invitations. Also included is a piece of the San Jacinto Monument, two hardhats and posters from the Texas Capitol Restoration project, desk nameplates, book ends, a brass scale, and a framed concealed handgun license. There are two framed sections of carpet in this subseries as well, one piece of the original carpet from the Senate Chamber in the Texas Capitol and one from the Comptroller’s Office mounted with a plaque of employee’s signatures on it. A bronze bust of Bullock and a bronze bear mother and cub statue (“The Defender”, Baylor Alumni Association) reside on two wooden pedestals that also came to Baylor as Bullock memorabilia. Wooden items such as carved birds and hand-carved boxes, glass items, a marble container, a bronze bust of LBJ, and different items such as large paperclips and biscuit barrels that Bullock would give away, round out the Personal Memorabilia subseries of the Bullock Collection.

The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum is the direct result and everlasting example of Bob Bullock’s commitment to the state of Texas. Always a lover of Texas and her history, one of Bullock’s wishes was to see a history museum of Texas and Texans…one that would tell the story of Texas in the grand style that was only fitting and deserving of such a great state. That wish was realized in April 2001, less than two years after Bullock’s death. The materials in this Museum subseries were collected by Bullock Archive staff in the course of visiting the museum and taking part in different functions at the Museum, and were put together artificially for addition to the Bullock Collection. The materials pertain to the building, the opening, and the initial programs of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Articles and news clippings surrounding the building of the museum and the ongoing activities during the various stages of museum completion are found in this section. Invitations and programs for the cornerstone leveling ceremony, the grand opening, and the dedication ceremony of the museum are also located in these materials, as well as the initial programs of the museum, in the form of museum brochures, flyers, and museum publications. As additional brochures and flyers for new museum programs arrive, they will be added to this section of the Collection.

Notebooks found in the Personal Series deal mainly with Bullock’s illness and subsequent death in 1999. This includes six notebooks of condolence correspondence, arranged alphabetically by sender. Also, one notebook of flower cards that came with flower arrangements and plants, one of get well cards and letters that were sent to Bullock during his illness, one memorial gift notebook that contains acknowledgements of memorial gifts given in honor of Bob Bullock from June 1999 through December 1999, and lastly, a notebook made up of obituaries and related articles on Bullock, his death, and his political legacy. This last notebook also contains some Internet articles from web sites about Bullock.

The Publications subseries section of the Personal Series contains published items found in Bullock’s materials. There are magazine articles, books, news clippings, newsletters, press releases and reports. The magazine articles are referred to as simply article(s), and are arranged by year for the years: 1972, 1974, 1976-1978, 1980-1981, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1992-1995, 1999, and 2003. These articles are either about Bullock or about something that had some relevance to Bullock at that time. [There are also articles about George W. Bush in this section. Bob Bullock was Lieutenant Governor the first term George W. Bush served as Governor of Texas in 1995-1999. Bullock and Governor Bush became friends, and Bullock collected some articles about the Governor. After Bullock’s death, Jan Bullock also collected articles about then Governor Bush, and those have been placed in with the articles that Bullock kept. There are also a small section of Internet articles that were printed off web pages, which are from 1999-2000.

Books were also found in Bullock’s materials and for the most part, a separation sheet was filled out and the books were cataloged and put into either the BCPM General Collection or the non-circulating Bullock stacks. Some books were left in the files and they include: Texas Senator books for the 72nd Legislature (1991-1992) through the 77th Legislature (1999-2000). Also a book on Senate Procedures, a copy of the Citizen’s Handbook, How the Texas Legislature Works, Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature: 1846-1995, A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard and numerous copies of The Little Red Hen, by Paul Galdone,. Bullock used The Little Red Hen and A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard, as motivational tools and examples. The lessons in the two books, those of strong work habits and work ethics, were lessons Bullock admired and practiced in his own life. Bullock was known to give out copies of these two books to visiting children, students, or personnel whom might benefit from the lessons.

There are also news clippings in this Publication subseries of the Personal Section, and these are the news clippings that Bullock had copies of in his personal materials. It is possible, considering Bullock’s proclivity for having duplicate copies of items at hand in numerous places that these particular news clippings could be cross-filed in any or all of the other series in the collection. Newsletters were also in Bullock’s materials and they have been arranged by year [for the years: 1962, 1975, 1979, 1982, 1990, 1992-1995, 1998-2001. These newsletters are from organizations that either sent the newsletter to Bullock or were picked up at some function. Some copies of Fiscal Notes, a newsletter by the Comptroller’s Office were also located in Bullock’s files. Where found, they were left, and further information regarding Fiscal Notes will be in the description of the Comptroller’s Series of the Collection.

The press releases that are located in this subseries are also from Bullock’s personal files, and much like the news clippings, may be cross-filed with press releases at other places in the collection. These press releases are dated 1986, November 1992, 1993, and May 1995. Lastly, the reports in this subseries consist of reports about Texas politics and political processes. Included in this subseries are: Texans In Action Report for 1976-1977, Special Financial Report by Bullock for 1990, Texas Senate Report for 1991, Issues for Texans Now reports by Bullock for 1992, and reports on the 73rd, 74th, and 75 Legislatures. Again, it is possible for these reports to be cross-filed with issues or correspondence within the other Series of the Collection.

There are over 6,000 photographs in the Bullock Collection, which visually document Bullock’s life from family and childhood through political career and beyond. This Photograph subseries contains framed photographs, notebooks, photo albums and unframed oversize photographs. Framed photographs include all framed photographs regardless of size and include family photographs as well as autographed photos from politicians and public figures. The framed photographs were scanned and digital copies were printed and put into notebooks to allow for easy reference and researcher use. The photograph notebooks contain photographs sized 8” x 10” or smaller. These photographs are filed in photographic sleeves and sheet protectors and are arranged into categories: campaign, events, family (which also includes individual shots of Bullock), groups (consisting of press and other groups of more than one person with or without Bullock in the photograph), individuals (identified and unidentified, meaning Bullock and more than one other person in the photograph) and lastly, proof sheet notebooks. These proof sheet notebooks span the years 1993 to 1998 and are press office contact sheets, photographed by Senate Media Services in Austin, Texas. These proof sheet notebooks are not complete as some months during the 1993 to 1998 time span, thought labeled, have no press office contact sheets in them. The last portion of the Photographs subseries, unframed oversized photographs, contains photographs mounted on matt boards that are larger than 8” x 10,” and unframed photographs which themselves are larger than 8” x 10.” See notes to Researchers.

The Scrapbook subseries consists of twenty original scrapbooks put together by Bullock’s Mother, Ruth Mitchell Bullock, and three other scrapbooks dealing with different events in Bullock’s life. Throughout the first twenty scrapbooks crafted by Bullock’s mother, the dominant themes are family and politics – themes that would come to explain and define Bullock’s life. The original twenty scrapbooks contain a large portion of personal information about Bullock’s early childhood and his early political career from the 1950s through the early 1970s. The first three scrapbooks in the subseries consist of Bullock’s baby book, as well as two scrapbook with early childhood and family photographs, certificates of merit and awards, Sunday school certificates, cards and invitations, correspondence, early schoolwork, poems, articles, and news clippings. While the first two scrapbooks span dates from 1925-1958, the third concentrates on the early 1940’s.

Scrapbooks four through twenty range in date from 1939-1968, with two pieces of early correspondence, which date 1902 and 1903 respectively. Scrapbooks four through eighteen are rich with information on politicians and political issues of the times. United States political interests are covered heavily, with many clippings and articles on John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower and their families. Texas politics also plays a prominent part in the scrapbooks through articles and news clippings revolving around Texas politicians and issues. Articles and clippings on family members as well as interesting events and places can also be found in these scrapbooks. Political cartoons, editorials, clips and articles on current local events, and an intermittent mingling of family correspondence round out scrapbooks four through eighteen.

Scrapbooks nineteen and twenty are by Ruth Mitchell Bullock also, but consist of mostly newspaper cartoons from the 1960’s, with the bulk dating from 1965-1968. These scrapbooks were put together for Robert Douglas Bullock, Jr., Bob Bullock’s son, and came to Baylor with the other scrapbooks belonging to Bob Bullock. The newspaper cartoons contained in these books are varied, with the great majority of the cartoons in these two books are from Peanuts and Dennis the Menace comic strips. Ruth Bullock also clipped out pictures of children and animals that she liked and she wrote little messages and identifications by some of the pictures.

The last three scrapbooks in the subseries deal with special events relating to Bullock and they describe and depict those specific events. Scrapbook #21 was made for Bob Bullock by Mrs. Glenna Enos of Crockett, Texas in 1989, after Bob Bullock spoke at the Elementary PTO Meeting in May of 1989. Mrs. Enos was president of the PTO at that time, and had this scrapbook put together and sent to Bullock on his birthday. Scrapbook #22, is a large brown scrapbook that looks like a ledger book and contains correspondence, telegrams and signed letters of friends and supporters. This scrapbook was a gift to Bullock at “A Special Texas Evening with Bob Bullock,” on January 24, 1986. Scrapbook #23 contains photographs and correspondence taken the day Bullock was awarded the “world’s only Bob Bullock Beetle” from dealer friends and members of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association in January 1999. While this scrapbook is located with the framed photograph of the event, a copy has been made and is in the Biographical Materials files of the Personal Series.

The Bob Bullock Collection also contains a digital scrapbook CD, which was created by Senate Media Services, the media unit for the Senate of Texas. This digital scrapbook CD contains digital copies of the first nine scrapbooks in the scrapbook subseries of the collection, as well as slides, film, and a miscellaneous scrapbook of photographs. The slides section of this digital scrapbook are made up of one slide show presentation that was given at Hill Junior College in 1985 when Bob Bullock was inducted into the Hill Junior College Hall of Fame. A paper print layout of the slide presentation is also located in the Personal Series of this collection. At the end of the HJC slide show, there are also thirty-one additional slides that show news clippings, photographs, and items of general interest from Bullock’s career. There are a total of 111 slides in this slide show section. (See notes to researcher regarding Hill Junior College slide show.) Portions of this CD are access restricted.

The Film section of the digital scrapbook CD contains eight video clips: 16mm films from 1975, a State Capitol Extensions dedication clip from January 11, 1993, an interview from 1994, the Lieutenant Governor’s Swearing-In on January 17, 1995, the 74th Senate wrap-up speech from June 1995, the State Cemetery Re-Dedication speech on March 8, 1997, the 75th Senate Sine Die on June 2, 1997, and Bullock’s Retirement Press Conference which was held on June 5, 1997. There is also one radio “spot” in the reel section from the “Ask Bob Bullock” Radio Show from Austin, Texas. This show was an informal question and answer program for the taxpayers of Texas featuring Controller Bob Bullock. This particular spot was aired on May 22, 1997.

The Miscellaneous scrapbook in the last section of the digital scrapbook CD contains 555 random photographs put together by Senate Media Services. Some of these photographs are color photographs and some are black and white. Please note: An actual miscellaneous scrapbook did not exist in physical form until Bullock Archive staff created one by comparing actual photographs in the Bullock Collection to the images found on the CD. All 555 images in the miscellaneous scrapbook were printed (color and black/white) and inserted into five notebooks in the same numerical order as the miscellaneous scrapbook. Any matching photograph found was inserted with the printed copy into the compiled notebooks. In some instances, a variation of one or two degrees of angle exists between the actual photograph and the copy. Regrettably, not all photographs contained in the miscellaneous scrapbook were found, and in these instances, the printed image from the CD is the only one that exists in the Collection.

End of Expanded Scope and Content