State Archives Announces Collections Newly Accessible for Research

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX - The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has announced new and revised finding aids recently made available online, along with fresh uploads to the Texas Digital Archive, its repository of electronic items.

The State Archives preserves and documents the heritage and culture of Texas by identifying, collecting and making available for research the permanently valuable official records of Texas government, as well as other significant historical resources. Finding aids are written guides to archival records, including descriptive information and a folder inventory, and help researchers in the use of holdings that have been prepared for research.

The full list of recent updates to finding aids and digital images can be found in the State Archives' quarterly blog post, New Online.

Maintaining the official history of Texas government, TSLAC preserves more than 200 million pages of archival documents and more than two million volumes of printed library materials. The State Archives holds records dating back to the 18th century, as well as newspapers, journals, books, manuscripts, photographs, historical maps and other historical resources. The Texas Digital Archive manages, preserves and facilitates access to TSLAC's electronic records collections, including those transferred by state agencies or digitized by the State Archives. All records visible in this portal are unrestricted and available for public use. Browse, search, view and download more than ten million digital items at www.tsl.texas.gov/texasdigitalarchive.

Highlights of these newly accessible records include a variety of state, local and manuscript collections. The Texas Department of Agriculture audiovisual materials consists of 16 mm motion picture films and digital copies of the original audiotape and video recordings documenting the department's activities, including many of the agency's programs and events, public appearances of commissioners Jim Hightower and Rick Perry, and interviews with agricultural producers in Texas, 1969-1999 and undated. The majority of the films have been digitized and are available to view online in the Texas Digital Archive.

A revised finding aid for the Texas Secretary of State colonization records is also now available. Colonization records were created to document the efforts of the Republic of Texas to encourage the immigration of new citizens by the signing of contracts with agents, similar to the Mexican government's empresario grants, and the enforcement of the agreements contained within those contracts. Types of records include lists of immigrants, contracts, correspondence, reports, resolutions, petitions and proclamations, 1820-1879, and undated. Alphabetical name card indexes of people emigrating to Texas as colonists under the Peters, Castro, and Fisher-Miller contracts have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.

The Texas State Parks Board Civilian Conservation Corps drawings, including an online search portal, has been updated. Records comprise blueprints, maps, drawings, correspondence and reports that detail the plans for additions, renovations and construction of parks and park facilities in Texas by the CCC, 1905-1974, and undated, bulk 1933-1945. These records document designs intended for 40 sites across Texas that were for the most part developed to be state parks, though materials on several municipality-operated parks are also present. The designs describe a range of park facilities, including common buildings, landscaping, cabins, roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, dams and site furniture.

Additional Texas Supreme Court records have been digitized (with Opinions and M case files added periodically) to the Texas Digital Archive. The records consist of case files, applications, opinions, dockets, indexes, register, and minutes covering the period 1840-2004. Also present are the records of the Texas Commission of Appeals, consisting of opinions, dockets and minutes, dating 1879-1892, 1918-1943.

Newly revised local records finding aids include Galveston County (Tex.) County Court records, 1838-1956, and Galveston County (Tex.) Justice of the Peace records, 1870-1976.

The Joseph Dillard Gates manuscript collection, 1818-1925, and undated, is also available for research, with the majority of the materials now digitized and part of the Texas Digital Archive. The Gates family were landowning Anglo-Texans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with members who served in the Texas Revolution and in the Civil War for the Confederacy, and who were first based in Gonzales County, where they were active in ranching and local politics. The collection documents the financial and business lives of Samuel Hardin Gates, his son, Joseph Dillard Gates, and his grandson, Amos Hardin Gates, as they amassed an estate of more than 644 acres between 1852 and 1920.

Researchers are invited to visit the State Archives during public service hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. Appointments to use archival materials are encouraged but not required. For more information, see www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/visit.

Other newly published finding aids include the Texas Department of Agriculture meeting minutes, agenda, and supporting documentation, 1924-2021; Texas Historical Commission Historic Sites Division presentations, 2011-2015; Texas Historical Commission executive director files, 1953-2009; Texas Historical Commission Archeology Division records, 1995-2001; Texas Veterans Land Board records, 1968-2019; Texas Department of Water Resources water planning files, 1954-1974; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Law Enforcement Division records, 1960-1996; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Texas Sesquicentennial project files, 1975, 1984-1987; and Texas Board for Supplying the Public Buildings and Grounds of the State with Water minutes and report, 1883.

Additional recently revised state records finding aids include the Texas Attorney General's Office Hetty Green case file, 1891-1941; Texas Secretary of State candidate campaign contribution and expenditure records, 1918-1992; Texas Secretary of State political action committee campaign contribution and expenditure records, 1972-1993; Texas Secretary of State voter registration lists, 1867-1870; Texas Education Agency Office of the Commissioner of Education records, 1929, 1933-1937, 1940-1971; Employees Retirement System of Texas records, 1942-2022; Texas Governor Mark White records, 1947, 1962-1987; Texas State Board of Pharmacy records, 1907-1949, 1969-1970, 1984-2023; Texas Department of Agriculture records, 1924 to 2021; and Texas State Board of Control records, 1854, 1885-1890, 1909-1979, 1987.

A full list of all of TSLAC's finding aids may be viewed at www.tsl.texas.gov/arc. A comprehensive, up-to-date list of all recently added and updated finding aids can always be found in TSLAC's online catalog at https://bit.ly/TSLACnewcollections.

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The Texas State Library and Archives Commission provides Texans access to the information needed to be informed, productive citizens by preserving the archival record of Texas; enhancing the service capacity of public, academic and school libraries; assisting public agencies in the maintenance of their records; and meeting the reading needs of Texans with disabilities. For more information, visit www.tsl.texas.gov.

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