Sidney [Doc] McGee papers

Collection

Identifier: RG-0000-0008

Staff Only

Content Description

During Sidney McGee's tenure at Tennessee Tech University, he made a number of trips to Europe, from which he collected extensive tourist memorabilia and unused postcards, and kept hundreds of photos, which also grace this collection. McGee was a sports enthusiast and columnist who, as Tech’s unofficial director of sports information for many years, wrote press releases for the Tennessee Tech basketball team, and kept journals, notes and statistics—these along with newspaper clippings of his weekly column in the Herald Citizen, “Talk About Tech” are also part of this collection. McGee also kept political interest news articles and cartoons during the Nixon presidency. McGee and his wife were fond of nature, with both having been members of the Upper Cumberland Bird Club and the Tech Garden Club, memorabilia of which are also included. Also included are items associated with Tech Women’s Club, as Marjorie was a member. McGee was also a book reviewer for the Saturday Review of Literature, the Nashville Banner and the Chattanooga Times, and some of his reviews are also contained in this collection.

This collection consists of six series of materials: Professional Papers (1919-1977), Personal Papers (1912-1977), Clubs and Hobbies (1961-1975), Travel (1918-1975), Reports and Publications (1900-1977), and, Photographs (1895-1971). They are housed in 29 boxes, 6 individual volumes of photographic books, and oversized documents, prints, and maps in mapcase drawers.

Contains brittle newspaper clippings and some fragile photo albums

Dates

1894 - 1977
Majority of material found within 1940 - 1977

Creator

McGee, Sidney Lamont, 1897-1976 (Person)

Bio

Dr. Sidney Lamont McGee (1897-1976) founded the foreign language department at Tennessee Tech University in 1939 and remained at Tech until May of 1968. He dropped out of college in the beginning of his sophomore year at West Virginia University (WVU) to enlist in the army and stationed in France during World War I. He returned, completed his Bachelor’s degree, and two days later married Marjorie McDaniel, on June 11, 1922. He earned his Master’s degree from WVU in 1924 and his Doctorate from the University of Montepellier (France) in 1927. Marjorie joined Tech faculty in 1946, teaching both French and German. During his tenure, Professor McGee taught journalism, German, French, literature, military correspondence and a course in radio. He was an advisor to the Oracle from 1942 to 1950. Retiring as Foreign Language Department Chairman at Tennessee Tech, he earned the title Professor Emeritus of Foreign Language.