Lubbock's Most Influential
(11) Curry Holden, as he was known, had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and was driven to share what he learned with students, both in the classroom and in his writings.
His quests sent him in search of prehistoric man, cowboy history and reclusive Indian tribes in the Mexican desert. "What we leave on the printed page is about the only lasting thing we can leave behind," he said in an interview after the publication of his 12th book.
His need to share his knowledge of the past was born and matured in a country schoolroom and continued through his years at Texas Tech.
Holden was born in Coolidge and attended elementary school in Colorado City and high school in Rotan. He taught three years in a one-room school near Rotan, then joined the U.S. Army in 1917. After the war, he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Texas.
When McMurry College was found in 1923, Holden was named head of the history department, where he stayed for four years before returning to UT to teach and complete his doctorate.
On the heels of an expedition to excavate a pueblo site in the Panhandle, Holden was invited to Texas Tech as a professor of history in 1929. He had found a home where his career and the university would blossom together.
In the spring of 1934, Holden took students on an ethnohistorical expedition to study the warlike Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico. Texas Tech sponsored a second expedition in 1935 and Holden published a report, "Studies of the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico," in 1936.
Basically an ethnographic account, it contained articles by the expedition's specialists in related fields. Holden contributed five papers that touched on marriage, child-rearing, education, household economy and Fiesta de Gloria Easter ceremonies. Several more publications and a historical novel resulted.
His field schools for archaeological work became so popular that despite the Depression, students scrimped and save to attend.
In 1935, he organized the West Texas Museum Association and sought funds from the Texas Centennial Commission for a regional museum on the Tech campus. He led supporters from 67 West Texas counties on a "march on Austin" with a petition for $160,750 ($25,000 was allocated) for a museum. With private funds and university matching, the building was dedicated in 1950, coincident with Tech's 25th anniversary celebration.
Twenty years later, the building would be renamed Holden Hall in honor of his work.
The museum focused on the Southwest with exhibits on history, science and art. Artist Peter Hurd was commissioned in 1952 to paint a fresco in the entrance, depicting life on the South Plains between 1890 and 1925. A bust of Holden now stands in the rotunda.
Holden's most significant archaeological discovery occurred ironically barely a mile from Tech in 1937, when two of his students found a Paleo-Indian flint point in Yellowhouse Canyon. The flint point was on the bank of a small natural lake that the city was dredging to open an ancient spring.
Holden played a crucial role in the long struggle to preserve the site. In 1989, the site was designated the Lubbock Lake National Historic and State Archeological Landmark.
In 1955, Holden and other supporters organized the Southwest Collection and Archives, which contained ranch records he had collected over the years and other valuable materials.
Holden and his wife, Frances, launched plans in 1965 for a new museum building, which was dedicated in 1970. The museum complex included a Science Training program, the National Ranching Heritage Center and Windmill Plaza. Though an unassuming man, he rose at Tech in various positions for more than 40 years. In 1936, he became chairman of the history and anthropology department; in 1938, he was named dean and director of anthropological, historical and social-science research.
As dean of the Graduate School from 1945 to 1950, he initiated an accredited graduate program in four doctoral fields, including history. Holden retired in 1970. He received the Distinguished Faculty Emeritus Award of the College of Arts and Sciences and was named 1965 Distinguished Director Emeritus of the Museum at Texas Tech.
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86th infantry
Lubbock's Most Influential
(11) Curry Holden, as he was known, had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and was driven to share what he learned with students, both in the classroom and in his writings.
His quests sent him in search of prehistoric man, cowboy history and reclusive Indian tribes in the Mexican desert. "What we leave on the printed page is about the only lasting thing we can leave behind," he said in an interview after the publication of his 12th book.
His need to share his knowledge of the past was born and matured in a country schoolroom and continued through his years at Texas Tech.
Holden was born in Coolidge and attended elementary school in Colorado City and high school in Rotan. He taught three years in a one-room school near Rotan, then joined the U.S. Army in 1917. After the war, he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Texas.
When McMurry College was found in 1923, Holden was named head of the history department, where he stayed for four years before returning to UT to teach and complete his doctorate.
On the heels of an expedition to excavate a pueblo site in the Panhandle, Holden was invited to Texas Tech as a professor of history in 1929. He had found a home where his career and the university would blossom together.
In the spring of 1934, Holden took students on an ethnohistorical expedition to study the warlike Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico. Texas Tech sponsored a second expedition in 1935 and Holden published a report, "Studies of the Yaqui Indians of Sonora, Mexico," in 1936.
Basically an ethnographic account, it contained articles by the expedition's specialists in related fields. Holden contributed five papers that touched on marriage, child-rearing, education, household economy and Fiesta de Gloria Easter ceremonies. Several more publications and a historical novel resulted.
His field schools for archaeological work became so popular that despite the Depression, students scrimped and save to attend.
In 1935, he organized the West Texas Museum Association and sought funds from the Texas Centennial Commission for a regional museum on the Tech campus. He led supporters from 67 West Texas counties on a "march on Austin" with a petition for $160,750 ($25,000 was allocated) for a museum. With private funds and university matching, the building was dedicated in 1950, coincident with Tech's 25th anniversary celebration.
Twenty years later, the building would be renamed Holden Hall in honor of his work.
The museum focused on the Southwest with exhibits on history, science and art. Artist Peter Hurd was commissioned in 1952 to paint a fresco in the entrance, depicting life on the South Plains between 1890 and 1925. A bust of Holden now stands in the rotunda.
Holden's most significant archaeological discovery occurred ironically barely a mile from Tech in 1937, when two of his students found a Paleo-Indian flint point in Yellowhouse Canyon. The flint point was on the bank of a small natural lake that the city was dredging to open an ancient spring.
Holden played a crucial role in the long struggle to preserve the site. In 1989, the site was designated the Lubbock Lake National Historic and State Archeological Landmark.
In 1955, Holden and other supporters organized the Southwest Collection and Archives, which contained ranch records he had collected over the years and other valuable materials.
Holden and his wife, Frances, launched plans in 1965 for a new museum building, which was dedicated in 1970. The museum complex included a Science Training program, the National Ranching Heritage Center and Windmill Plaza. Though an unassuming man, he rose at Tech in various positions for more than 40 years. In 1936, he became chairman of the history and anthropology department; in 1938, he was named dean and director of anthropological, historical and social-science research.
As dean of the Graduate School from 1945 to 1950, he initiated an accredited graduate program in four doctoral fields, including history. Holden retired in 1970. He received the Distinguished Faculty Emeritus Award of the College of Arts and Sciences and was named 1965 Distinguished Director Emeritus of the Museum at Texas Tech.
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Company G
86th infantry
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