Lamb, Arch 1984 1985

Mr. Lamb, former Lubbock County Commissioner, discusses his life and the Texas Tech Saddle Tramps. In the second interview, Lamb discusses the evolution of hte Dairy business in Texas and his experiences with the Texas Tech Dairy.

General Interview Information

Interviewee Name: Arch Lamb

Additional Parties Recorded: None

Date: July 23, 1984 and January 22, 1985

Location: Lubbock, Texas

Interviewer: Cindy Martin (1984), Richard Mason (1985)

Length: July 23, 1984-- 01:16:12 (1 hour, 16 minutes) January 22, 1985-- 02:45:02 (2 hours, 45 minutes)

Abstract

July 23, 1984 Tape 1, Side 1: Arch Lamb, Born: June 10, 1912, Parents, James William Lamb, father, Nellie Rebecca Katherine Hancock Lamb, mother, Born on the Wallace Farms, Wallace Farms, Description, Location, Battle Creek Farm, Boll Weevils (1919), Location, Arch Lamb (again), Education, High school reunion, Creamery, Duties, Milk strike (August 1934), To Texas Tech (December 1934), Dairy plant, Financial resources, Registration, Anecdote: Registrar flipping a coin and admitting, Lamb, Arch Lamb (again), Financial difficulties, Shoe shining business, Anecdote: Texas Tech student operating a mercantile store out of his dorm room, Texas Tech (again), Social clubs, Election of Lamb as Yell Leader, Saddle Tramps, Origins (1937), Red Raider Rider, "The Spirit of Texas Tech", George Tate, original rider.

July 23, 1984 Tape 1, Side 2: Saddle Tramps (continued), Anecdote: Ringing the victory bells all night after beating TCU, Bonfires, Arbor Day (1938), Connor Cole, faculty advisor, Lamb (again), Passing out cigarettes, Anecdote: State agent’s "visit", Passing out Beechnut gum, Student representative, Saddle Tramps (again), Cotton Bowl (January 1939), Organizational changes.

July 23, 1984 Tape 2, Side 1: Lamb (again), Sale of dairy, Farming, Problems, Milk strike, Lubbock County Commissioner (1954), Contributions, Debt reduction, Retirement.

Tape 2, Side 2: Blank

January 22, 1985 Tape 3, Side 1: Early dairy experience, Cattle, Mechanized farming, Trench silos, Importance of milk products to family food supply, Anecdote: drinking hot water tea, Milking schedule, Utilization of milk, Great Depression, Storage of milk, Evaporative cooling (pre-1920s), Ice boxes, Ice plants, Ice, Evaporative cooling (again), Running water cooling, Ice box (again), Ice delivery, Condensed milk, Ice Cream, M. B. Ice Cream Company, Waco, Texas, Café freezers, Drug store, Coolidge, Texas, Description, Changes in quality, Commercial dairying, Raw milk dairies (1920s).

January 22, 1985 Tape 3, Side 2: Raw milk dairies (continued), "Dairy bo", Labor intensity, Size, Churning butter, Cheese making, Beginning involvement in pasteurized milk and ice cream (1937), Nature of creamery work, Bottle washing, Bottle filling, Milk prices (1930s), Government intervention, Killing cattle, Milk coupons.

January 22, 1985 Tape 4, Side 1: Milk prices, 1930s (continued), Milk producers’ strike (1934), Running milk at night, Anecdote: beaten as a strike breaker, End of strike, Duration, To Tech (1934), Job in college creamery, Tech Dairy, Operation, Milk route, Anecdote: crash of milk wagon, Competition with local dairies, Local dairying operations, Produce houses, Closing of Swift and Company, Irrigation wells (c. 1941), Pasteurization laws, Reasons for passage, Effect on local dairies, Paper milk carton, Effect on local dairies, Capital investment required.

January 22, 1985 Tape 4, Side 2: Economics of dairy business, Bangs disease, Technological advance, War Years (1940s), Anecdote: problems with bacteria count, Tech Dairy program, Professor Ritter, Decline in program, Sale of Lamb’s dairy, Borden dairy, Dairies established by Tech graduates, Ben Jenkins, Milton Kirksey, George Wilson, Claude Brown, Jersey milk, Butterfat/cream, Bottles, War years (again), Banner Creamery, Abilene, Texas, Servicing military installations, O. D. Dillingham, Conscript classification, Banner Creamery (again), Service territory, Anecdote: "Corn sugar and heart attack", Service territory (again), Military supply, Sediment problems: Big Spring, Texas, Anecdote: military reports gelatin in milk.

January 22, 1985 Tape 5, Side 1: Anecdote (continued), Milk grades, Grade A milk, Cooperative cheese plants, Plainview, Texas, Sale of pasteurizing unit, Anecdote: installation, Anecdote: eating in Plainview restaurant, Closure, Reasons, Albert Garrett, Plainview, Texas, Cloverlake Dairies, Refrigeration, Shipping cream by railroad, Contamination problems, Oleo margarine, Public acceptance, Coloring, Price, Ice cream business, Changes in sales tactics, Voight continuous ice cream freezer, Nested cartons, Increased sales, Dairy prices, Influence of large creameries, Competition, Dry cleaners, Important technological developments, Carrousel milking operation, Feed distribution equipment, Refrigeration.

January 22, 1985 Tape 5, Side 2: Important technological developments (continued), Pasteurization, Home refrigeration, Sanitation improvements, Hydraulics, Chemicals, Good dairying regions, New Mexico, Roughage availability, South Plains.

Range Dates: 1912-1985

Bulk Dates: 1925-1985

Access Information

Original Recording Format: cassette tapes

Recording Format Notes: digitized October 2017, Audio CDs available in Reading Room

Transcript: no

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