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Flowers, John Garland

President John Garland Flowers

Biography

The first native Texan and first Texas State alumnus to hold the presidency took over at a challenging time, as the campus faced World War II, followed by the flood of veterans attending college with the G.I. Bill. Enrollment plummeted to 434 in 1944 and climbed to 3,852 before the end of his tenure.

The campus added 55 properties including College Camp on the Blanco River and a 400-acre farm. The college dropped “teachers” from its name and became a multi-purpose regional college.

President Flowers served from 1942-1964.  He retired on August 31, 1964 and died on February 23, 1965 while visiting his daughter in Harlingen.

Source: Past Presidents, Handbook of Texas Online.

Individual Oral Histories

Bruce Roche, the director of the College News Service, conducted a series of three interviews with Dr. Flowers just prior to his retirement.  From the love of reading that began in childhood through his 22 years of experience leading the college, Dr. Flowers talks mainly about his career and his overall educational philosophy. He does mention a few faculty member and events related to the development of the college, most notably about meeting Senators in Washington, D.C. in an effort to have the federal property beyond the Fish Hatchery (known as Riverside, now Sewell Park) transferred to the school.

Interviewer Bruce Roche was director of the College News Service.  These interviews were the source material for his article, "Goal: Excellence -- Dr. Flowers' Lifelong Watchword," published in the Austin American-Statesman on August 30, 1964.  The original transcripts by Tommy Ruth Zarnow Ball,  who noted their value in writing her 1967 thesis The Administration of John Garland Flowers, were separated from the audio tapes and over time and thus the interviews were re-transcribed in 2020-2021. 

Note that there are three interviews; only the first two have corresponding audio files.

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PDF transcript, March 16, 1964
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HTML transcript, March 16, 1964

Full audio is available for the March 16 interview.  Request via Ask an Archivist.

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PDF Transcript, March 24, 1964
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HTML Transcript, March 24, 1964

Full audio is available for the March 24 interview.  Request via Ask an Archivist.

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PDF Transcript, June 10, 1964
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HTML Transcript, June 10, 1964

There is no audio for the June 10, 1964 interview.