Buckner Orphans' Home Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2008.021

Staff Only

This collection contains historical matter, publications, and photographs from Buckner Orphans' Home and Buckner Children's Home in Dallas, Texas.

Historical Matter includes published histories regarding R.C. Buckner and the orphans' home. Also included is a dramatic work titled Buckner: An Unfolding Vision of Caring by former Buckner President Dr. R.C. Campbell, which discusses the history and development of the Buckner Home and organization.

Publications include promotional pamphlets, newsletters, reports, and a cookbook published in 1979.

Photographs included in the collection consist of copies of Buckner photographs, negatives, and slides obtained from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Materials were collected and compiled by former University Archivist, Dr. James Conrad.

Dates

undated, 1940-1982, inclusive

Conditions Governing Use

Items in this collection are protected by applicable copyright laws.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

In the 1870s, Tennessee native Dr. Robert Cook Buckner began advocating for the establishment of a home in Northeast Texas to care for and educate orphan children. As editor of The Texas Baptist, Buckner used every issue to plead for support. In 1877, at the annual Baptist Deacon's Convention in Paris, Texas, one-hundred deacons voted unanimously to establish a home in Dallas, Texas. The deacons named Buckner as superintendant and fundraising efforts began. In the fall of 1879, with Buckner contributing the final $800 to the fundraising efforts, the orphans' home was established in a rented three-room cottage in Dallas. The following year, Buckner Orphans' Home moved to a forty-four acre location in Dallas, where a portion of their operations remain to this day.

Buckner Orphans' Home, now called Buckner Children's Home, housed more than 350 children by 1900 and continued to grow and evolve throughout the twentieth century in response to drastic changes in America's social climate. In the 1970s, Buckner established locations throughout Texas and developed services for the elderly and unwed mothers. The single orphans' home established by Dr. Buckner is now a worldwide organization known as Buckner International; a global ministry dedicated to providing care and resources for orphans and at-risk children.