Sinise

Jerry Sinise Western History Collection, 1809-1991
2.5 cubic feet (5 document boxes)
Location: 0225-0226
Collection #: 057
Accession #: 1999.024

Introduction

The Jerry Sinise Western History Collection contains research materials on several important western historical figures including Captain G. W. Arrington of the Texas Rangers and the infamous Horrell-Higgins feud, of which Sinise focused on John “Pink” Higgins. The Sinise collection contains a number of photographs including copies of photos from various library archives. His photo collection includes photographs of several well known western historical figures such as Wm. Tilghman, Captain G. W. Arrington, Pancho Villa, John “Pink” Higgins and Geronimo. His photo collection also includes a limited edition series of photographs that depict the construction of the Pioneer Woman statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Jerry Sinise was born James G. Sinise on July 8, 1926 in Harvey, Illinois, and lived in Blue Island, Illinois for 17 years. He had two brothers, Jack, who retired from the First National Bank of Blue Island, and Bob, a film editor in Los Angeles. Sinise attended grade school and high school in the Blue Island school system. He received his BA in journalism and psychology at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma in 1950. He married Dorothy Ann Jacob of Amarillo, Texas on June 12, 1949, and the couple had four children: Jerry Lynn Shilling, Paula Jo Sinise, Cynthia Brewer, and Martin Sinise. Jerry Sinise served as a radioman in the South Pacific from 1944-1946, and as a radio operator and journalist aboard the USS McCoy Reynolds from 1951-1952, after which he was honorably discharged. Sinise’s career began at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma where he served as press relations director from 1950-1951. In 1952-1953, he served as associate editor of Straight at the Standard Publishing Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sinise ventured away from journalism from 1953-1960 when he worked as a insurance, credit and employment investigator for the Retail Credit Company of Amarillo, Texas. He remained in the insurance industry from 1960-1961 when he worked as an insurance salesman for the Allstate Insurance Company in Amarillo. In 1961-1966 he returned to journalism when he became a feature writer and farm editor for the Amarillo Daily News. From March 1969 to March 1981, Sinise was the editor for the monthly magazine, Grain Producers News, for the Producers Grain Corporation. It was in this publication that he wrote a monthly column, and took all the necessary photographs. He wrote and designed two award winning annual reports for PGC, and in 1980 he began a monthly employee newsletter called The Insider. He also worked as editor of Calf News from 1979-1985. Sinise began work as a freelance writer and photographer with the Jim Thomas Agency in Amarillo. While working as a freelancer, he edited and wrote articles for the Amarillo Association of Life Underwriters Newsletter, 1970-1977, Southwestern Investment Company’s Signal, 1968-1976, and the AGC Construction News, 1974-1976. He was also the publisher and owner of Southwest Heritage, a quarterly magazine from 1968-1970.

Sinise also wrote seven books, they include: Pink Higgins, The Reluctant Gunfighter and Other Tales of the Panhandle (Nortex Press, 1973), (Texas Cattle Feeders Association, 1977), George Washington Arrington, Civil War Spy, TexasRanger, Sheriff and Rancher (Eakin Press, 1978), Black Gold and Red Lights, the story of the first four years of Borger, Texas (Eakin Publications, 1982), Texas Show Caves, the history of 7 commercially-operated caverns in Texas (collaborated with his wife Dorothy), (Eakin Press,1983), Johnson Remembered, a biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, in collaboration with Jakie Pruett (Eakin Publications, 1985), The Dr. O. M. Franklin Story, a biography of the man who patented the first workable blackleg vaccine for cattle (privately published by the Franklin family). Sinise was a ghostwriter for several publications, they include: The Hon. James Nathan Browning (1850-1921); for the Potter County Historical Survey Committee in 1969, and Three Questions-Three Answers, a story from the life of Dr. Charles Newton Gould (1868-1949);for the Potter County Historical Survey Committee, in 1967. Sinise wrote and sold a movie scenario called The Garwood Story to American Video-Cinema in Dallas, Texas and a 30-minute television script to the Whistlestop Theater at KXTX-TV in Dallas. He wrote scripts and slide shows for the Texas Cattle Feeder Association, The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, the Military Division of American-AmicableLife Insurance Co. of Waco, Texas, and the Presidents Council of the Amarillo Association of Life Underwriters. He also wrote and sold more than 4,000 articles to a number of magazines including: Progressive Farmer, US News & World Report, Farm Journal, Western Livestock Journal, Beef, California Highway Patrolman, and Accent West. In March 1985, Sinise started a weekly newspaper from scratch in Fritch, Texas called The Lakefront Journal, where he wrote the articles, photographed all the necessary pictures forthe articles and assisted with the layout of the newspaper. In January 1986, he relinquished his ownership of the Journal to his partner and purchased a weekly newspaper in Follett, Texas. At the Limelight, he was responsible for the writing, photography, advertising and the layouts needed for the paper. On August 31, 1989, Sinise sold the Limelight and moved to Dallas,Texas. In Dallas he received an offer to serve as technical editor for the ARCO Oil & Gas Company in Plano, Texas. He was responsible for editing reports written by geologists on the NARS project. In February 1990 he received a two-year contract from R&TS as a technical editor of reports, letters, memos and manuals. Jerry Sinise died on March 30, 1996.