University Photograph Collection

East Texas Normal College was established in Cooper, Texas in 1889 by William L. Mayo. In 1894 the original campus burned down and the school moved to its current location in Commerce, Texas. In 1917 the school was renamed East Texas State Normal College after becoming a state public college. It became East Texas State Teachers College in 1923 and later, in 1957, it was renamed East Texas State College. In 1965 the school became a university with a doctoral program and it's name changed to East Texas State University. In 1996 it became a member of the Texas A&M University System and was renamed to Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Marketing and communications has been a part of Texas A&M University-Commerce since its founding, with the college publishing catalogues and pamphlets to advertise the school. Photographs of the school and students became especially prominent with the publication of The Locust Yearbook starting in 1920 and The East Texan newspaper in 1915. However, a formal Department of Communications wasn't formed until 1951. With William Jack Bell as the department head, the Department of Communications instructed students in journalism, speech, and photography. It also took over publication of The Locust and The East Texan. With the rise of digital photography in the mid-2000s, the Department of Communications ceased regularly producing negatives and photographs and moved to storing their images online, where they could be more easily viewed and accessed by the public.