McCallum, Arthur N. and Jane Y., House

The Arthur N. and Jane Y. McCallum House (1908) is a Late Victorian Queen Anne house with Arts and Crafts influences. Constructed by a local Austin carpenter, John C. Adrian and his sons, the house is believed to be largely designed by Jane McCallum with execution by Adrian. The McCallum House served as the center of the active and noteworthy lives of both Arthur and Jane McCallum. Arthur Newell McCallum led the development and enhancement of the Austin public school system as its superintendent for 39 years. Jane Yelvington McCallum led an equally active life as an early suffragist and state political office holder. The McCallum House is eligible under Criterion B in the areas of Education and Politics/Government. The property is being nominated for state wide significance because of its association with Jane Y. McCallum; and on local level for association with Arthur N. McCallum.

Arthur Newell McCallum (1865-1943 ) was principal of LaVemia, Texas, high school, when he and Jane Yelvington (1878-1957) met in 1896. After spending 6 years as superintendent in Kenedy then Seguin, Texas, A. N. McCallum received a post as superintendent for Austin public schools. The family moved to Austin in 1903 and lived in hotels and friend's homes until 1908 when their own house was completed. A. N. McCallum retained the position of superintendent of the Austin pubic Schools for 39 years until his retirement in 1942. During this time A. N. McCallum helped to change the face of education in Austin by enlarging the teaching staff, building new school buildings, and promoting education bonds for the Austin Independent School District. With Jane's help, A. N. McCallum put together The New Century Spelling Book with Houston school superintendent (and later Texas Technological College President) P.W. Horn, published in 1908. A. N. McCallum helped die Austin Public School system to grow. During his tenure in office the teaching staff grew from 73 to 500, reflecting the growth of the Austin schools during his tenure. Under A. N. McCallum's insight, the school board unanimously passed all bond issues that came before them (Austin American Statesman 1943). His last major act was in 1939 with the $1,362,000 school building program which gave the City of Austin five new elementary buildings and extensive additions to already standing structures. Early in his career he added the 11th year of schooling to the curriculum and in the 1939-40 school year he added die 12di year of schooling. On a state level, McCallum with Dr. W. S. Sutton organized die Conference for Education in Texas and retained duties as secretary until an executive secretary was appointed. He was a member of both the Texas State Teachers Association and the American Society of Political Economy (Austin American Statesman 1943). As A. N. McCallum's heart illness became very prominent m 1942, the front parlor was turned into a bedroom and a bath was added to the west end of the room during this time. This arrangement made it easier for Jane McCallum to care for her husband. On November 20th, 1943, A. N. McCallum died. Jane McCallum's diary records her constant attention at his bedside and visits from family members as his health declined (Humphrey 155).

Jane McCallum began attending meetings of Austin's Shakespeare Club in 1904 (Humphrey 147-156). The Shakespeare Club was a place were ladies could come together and put on productions of plays for friends and die community. In 1905 die Colonial Dames of America m Texas accepted Jane for membership. The Colonial Dames of America is a woman's group which accepts only woman whose ancestors arrived in the Americas before the War for Independence. These activities show the media in which she expressed her increasing social status within the community. In 1912 Jane was elected president of the Austin Shakespeare Club. During this year she also enrolled at the University of Texas in the fall semester, at the age of 33, her first venture toward higher education. In 1913, Jane became the first married woman to join a University of Texas sorority. On October 20, 1914, Jane joined the Austin Woman Suffrage Association. In 1915, an article written by Jane McCallum on Elisabet Ney was published in "The Texas Magazine". Jane McCallum and Elisabet Ney, Austin sculptress and woman's suffrage advocate, became acquaintances upon Jane's arrival in Austin. In October that year, Jane was elected president of the Austin Woman Suffrage Association. In 1917 Jane became very active in both the war relief movement and in woman's suffrage. Jane began with the anti-vice group (intended to remove prostitutes from areas surrounding army training camps) and helped the World War I movement in the Red Cross, raising funds for its work, teaching canning methods, and selling liberty bonds in the first and second Liberty Loan campaigns.

During 1917, Jane became involved in state politics when she spoke out against Governor James Ferguson and attended pro-University rallies. This is seen as another step in her public activism, for Governor Ferguson was trying, and eventually did, oust the president of the University of Texas and gain control of the Chancellery. Her first contribution to the Austin American Statesman was published during this year. It was an essay on her good friend, Elisabet Ney, tided The Builder of Formosa, for which she won much acclaim as a journalist. Jane McCallum would continue to write articles for the Statesman until her death in 1957. In October she was appointed to the board of the Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) as a committee chairperson. During 1918 Jane campaigned for prohibition, she formed local Hobby clubs for the reelection of Governor William P. Hobby, and continued her work in die war effort. That year. Governor Hobby signed the primary suffrage bill, this bill gave women the right to vote in Texas state elections, but not in federal elections. On June 26, 1918, Jane registered to vote and after casting her ballot in July was elected a delegate to the Travis County Democratic Convention. Jane continued to lobby for woman's suffrage through 1923. In 1923 Jane assumed the duties of executive secretary of the Women's Joint Legislative Council. In the 38th Legislature the Petticoat Lobby, as the council was nicknamed, was successful in getting bills enacted which authorized surveys of the state's educational and penal systems, strengthened prohibition laws, and appropriated funds for public schools. The 39di Legislature in 1925 enacted bills for funding maternity and infant care, reorganizing the prison system, and strengthening existing child labor laws. Jane started researching and writing her book. Women Pioneers in 1926 and was published by Johnson Publishing Company in 1929. In March she headed die Texas Women Citizens' Committee, Dan Moody for Governor serving as chairman from her home in Austin. (Jane McCallum Papers Austin History Center).

Dan Moody was inaugurated in January 2,1927, and Jane McCallum was named his secretary of state. While at this position, Jane discovered an original copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence and set up new procedures for preserving and exhibiting this document as well as modernizing procedures and office equipment in the Secretary of State's Office. Jane served as Texas' Secretary of State under two separate governors. Governor Dan Moody and Governor Ross Sterling, for six years. In 1933 Jane left die office at die state capital and late that year became very ill. In 1936 Jane was appointed a director of the Texas Public Safety Council where she helped to plan a Travis County tuberculosis hospital. In 1940, Jane was elected a presidential elector, casting her vote for Roosevelt and Wallace at the same session in which she supported a resolution to abolish the electoral college. In 1941, Congressman Lyndon Johnson was endorsed by Jane McCallum as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the primary race. (Humphrey) In 1946, Jane McCallum prepared a radio on behalf of Lyndon Johnson's campaign for House of Representatives. (House of Representative Papers 1937-1949 Box 54). Jane McCallum remained very active in local, state and national politics until her death in 1957.

The McCallums led an unconventional lifestyle for people of their era. Both parents worked and were involved in the community. Jane never made a move without the consent of her husband and family. Arthur and Jane were both able to become active because they had servants living on their property. This was a very common situation in those days, servants would live in a small shack behind the main house, awake before the family, and retire after the family had gone to bed. In this case, the servants had assistance in the rearing of the McCallum children thanks to Jane's mother, who left La Grange, Texas, after her husband died. With the security of the children taken care of by the family servants and the children's grandmother, Jane was able to become active in the community without feeling like she was neglecting her familial duties.

The McCallum House was the main social circle for the McCallum family. This is where the four children were raised, where Jane got her support to become active in the community, and where she and A. N. McCallum died. Family members have lived in this house since its construction in 1908 until its sale c. 1980. This house is the best surviving representation of the McCallum's lives and contributions.

Arthur N. and Jane Y. McCallum were prominent in both civic and state affairs. Their house was a major link in their everyday activities, parties were held for both friends and for new acquaintances, meetings were held in die parlor, and the library was turned into A. N. McCallum's office for the last year of his tenure as superintendent. The McCallum House is eligible under Criterion B for its association with die McCallums in the areas of Education and Government/Politics as the state and local levels of significance.