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Executive Committee; Tobins, engr.

[An invitation and two tickets for inaugural events of Miriam A. Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas.]

Austin, Texas, 1925 and 1933. Engraved invitation on bifolium, 10.25” x 7.5”, 2 pp., with original envelope; 2 inaugural ball tickets, both filled out in ink, 1925 and 1933, 3” x 4.5” and 2.375” x 3.875” respectively. CONDITION: Very good, .5” separation along central horizontal fold of invitation, light soiling and .125” marginal tear to 1933 ticket.

Three ephemeral items pertaining to the inaugurations of Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, the second female governor in U.S. history, who served two non-consecutive terms as governor in 1925 and 1933.

The invitation to the inaugural “Reception and Ball” of 1925 is illustrated with the seal of Texas and an engraving of the State Capitol, where the ball would take place on the evening of Tuesday, January 20th. Inside are listed the twenty members of the Executive Committee, including two women. The first ticket, for the same 1925 reception and ball, is filled out to admit “Mr. Chas. W. Ashmore and ladies.” The 1933 inaugural ball—honoring both Miriam Ferguson and Lt. Governor Edgar E. Witt, took place on Tuesday, January 17th, 1933, at the Gregory Auditorium in Austin, and is filled out to admit “Mr. Ed. Taylor and ladies.”

Born in Texas, Miriam Amanda Wallace “Ma” Ferguson (1875–1961) was the first female governor of Texas, serving terms from 1925 to 1927 and from 1933 to 1935. After studying at Salado College and Baylor Female College, Miriam married James Edward Ferguson and became the first lady of Texas upon his election to governor in 1915. After he was impeached and barred from running for future office during his second term, Miriam entered the 1924 gubernatorial race in his stead, telling the public that, if elected, Texas would acquire “two governors for the price of one” (Huddleston). Denouncing the KKK and resisting new liquor laws, she defeated Republican nominee George Butte and became the second female governor in the country (Nellie Ross of Wyoming having been inaugurated fifteen days earlier). Her first term was marked by controversy and signs of corruption, and although an impeachment effort failed, Miriam lost the 1926 nomination to Attorney General Daniel Moody. She ran again in 1930, after the Texas Supreme Court rejected her husband’s attempt to put his name on the ballot, but did not win re-election until 1932, when she defeated the Republican nominee Orville Bullington. She made a last and unsuccessful bid for the governorship in 1940, retired from politics in 1944, and died in Austin in 1961.

REFERENCES: Huddleston, John D., “Miriam A. Ferguson” at Texas Politics online.

Item #7595

Price: $350.00

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