Home > Archives & Reference > Archives & Manuscripts > Executive Record Books (this page)
Executive Record Books, 1835-1917
Internal Links
Microfilm Listing
Related Links
Nacogdoches Archives | Voters' Registration of 1867 | Election Registers
Executive Record Books is a general title including 1) records of the Executive Department filed in the Secretary of State's Office, and records proceeding from executive functions which were originally filed by law in the Office of the Secretary of State, and 2) records created by the Department or Secretary of State.
Authority for housing these records in the Secretary of State's Office originates in the Constitution of 1846 and from a law approved May 9, 1846, providing that the Secretary of State shall keep a fair register of all the official acts of the Governor...of all minutes and other papers in relation thereto..." This authority was confirmed by the Constitution of 1876, and succeeding amendments. Similar records for the period of the Republic, while created in the Executive Department, are filed in the Office of the Secretary of State, under authority deriving from the Ordinance and Decrees of the General Council, providing that the Secretary to the Executive "shall keep a fair and full record of all the proceedings of the Executive Office, [and] copies of the Public Correspondence of that office." No provisions during the period of the Republic specified further this duty of the Secretary of State, but the Constitution of 1836 provided for the continuance of this act under a provision that "all laws now in force in Texas, and not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall remain in force until declared void, repealed, altered, or expire by their own limitation."
The copies of correspondence in the volumes are not inclusive of the entire correspondence of the Executive and State Departments; for the most part it pertains to subjects on which proclamations were issued, except as noted in the volume content descriptions. The records cover the period from the Provisional Government, November 1835 through 1917. Separate volumes for Pardon (1870 - 1896) and Reward (1883 - 1938) proclamations have been filmed as well, along with the Department of State letterbooks (1837 - 1846), Consulate records from the New Orleans Consulate (1837 - 1845), and one volume of letters from Secretary of State W.C. Phillips or his office for the period 1867 - 1870.
Microfilm Listing
Please note that microfilm reels are available for loan to libraries, not to individuals. Contact your local library to arrange an interlibrary loan of the materials you wish to view. The following detailed list will help you identify the specific reels you may need.
Microfilm reels are also available for viewing on-site in the Library, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Reel EX-1
Provisional Government Letterbook
Dates: November 7, 1835 - March 16, 1836
Declaration of the People of Texas in General Convention Assembled
Plan and Powers of the Provisional Government
Ordinances and Decrees, Resolutions of the Consultation and General Council
Executive Ordinance establishing the "ad interim" government
Communications to the General Council and Governor Smith, communications referred to the General Council, and communications from the General Council: July 1835 - March 1835.
Executive Record Book
Dates: [January - October 1836]
Contents: The record book is disbound and housed in three file folders:Folder 1--pages 1 - 144, Folder 2--pages 145 - 38, Folder 3--pages 381 - 569
It includes the following major divisions of content:
Department of State outgoing correspondence (March 20, 1836 - August 9, 1836) pp. 1- 48. [Pages "49 - 56" are blank.]
Department of State incoming correspondence (March 23, 1836 - June 7, 1836) pp. 57 - 79. [Pages "80 - 82" are blank]
David G. Burnet outgoing correspondence (March 19, 1836 - October 17, 1836) pages 83 - 176.
David G. Burnet incoming correspondence (nd + March 4, 1835 - November 3, 1836) pages 177 - 411. [Some 1838 correspondence is entered on pages 343-344.]
U. S. Commissioners and Texas Agency correspondence (January 14, 1836 - June 17, 1836) pages 412-433.
Resignations (April 1, 1836 - July 15, 1836) pages 434 - 438.
The remainder of the volume is filled with a variety of correspondence, principally between the president or secretary of state and Thomas Toby, Robert Triplett, Thomas J. Rusk. It includes a transcript of Rusk's oration at the burial of the Goliad victims, and the text of the $200,000 loan negotiated by Stephen F. Austin in New Orleans pages 439 - 511.
Executive Record Book: Provisional Government
Dates: March - October 1835
President's Messages to Congress: October [4] - 22, 1836--pages 1 - 44.
Presidential addresses, proclamations, executive orders: March - October 1836 pages 45 - 95.
Executive Record Book
Dates: November 1, 1836 - December 9, 1841
Proclamations and Indian Treaties
"Record of the Executive Documents from the 10th December 1838 to the 14th December 1841"
Dates: December 10, 1838 - December 14, 1841
Letters sent; Inaugural address, executive messages
Letterbook: Mirabeau B. Lamar
Dates: February 10, 1840 - June 5, 1841
Letter sent: President to Commissioners to Negotiate a Loan of Five Million Dollars.
Reel EX-2
"Executive Record, of the Second Term of General Sam Houston's Aministration of the Government of Texas"
Dates: December 13, 1841 - December 9, 1844
Letters sent; Addresses, executive messages, proclamations, orders
Executive Record Book
Dates: January 31, 1842 - January 29, 1844
Colony contracts, proclamations
Executive Record Book: Anson Jones
Dates: December 9, 1844 - September 28, 1845
Letters sent; Valedictory speech: February 19, 1846
Executive messages; Appointments
Executive Record Book: J. Pinckney Henderson
Dates: February 19, 1846 - May 19, 1846
Description of inaugural ceremonies; Inaugural address, executive messages, proclamations, orders; Appointments;
Transfer of office to A. C. Horton
Executive Record Book: A. C. Horton
Dates: May 19, 1846 - November 10, 1846
Letters Sent, "Correspondence between the Executive and officers of the United States, Relative to the five companies of volunteers raised under the requisition of Col. Harney of the 26th June 1846";
Appointments
Restoration of office to J. Pinckney Henderson
Executive Record Book
Dates: February 8, 1846 - November 11, 1847
Proclamations
Executive Record Book: George T. Wood
Dates: December 21, 1847 - December 14, 1849
Executive Department Records: Letters sent; Inaugural and valedictory addresses; Executive messages, proclamations; Appointments; Pardons
State Department Records: Letters sent, correspondence concerning public printing, letters concerning delinquent or incorrect returns for census or elections
Official returns for electors for president and vice president--1848 (p. 143)
1848 statistical census of the populations (p. 239)
Resolutions of the Texas Senate and House requesting information from the governor or secretary of state
Reel EX-3
"Records of the Administration of P.H. Bell, Governor of the State of Texas" (Vol. I)
Dates: December 21, 1849 - December 10, 1850
Letters sent; Inaugural address, executive messages, proclamations; Appointments; Pardons, remissions of fines
Election Returns: Seat of Government, March 1850 (pp. 146-149)
"Records of the Administration of P.H. Bell, Governor of the State of Texas" (Vol. II)
Dates: December 21, 1851 - September 27, 1852
Inaugural Address, executive messages, proclamations; Appointments; Pardons, rewards, extraditions
Executive Record Book: P. H. Bell, James W. Henderson, E. M. Pease
Dates: December 31, 1849 - March 2, 1854
Executive Department: Letters Sent; Proclamations; Appointments; Pardons, rewards, extraditions
Secretary of State: outgoing official correspondence, biennial report
Election Returns: pages 54-59, 110-177, 178-183, 191-193, 254-261.
Reel EX-4
Executive Record Book: E. M. Pease
Dates: December 21, 1853 - December 15, 1857
Inaugural ceremony and address, valedictory address, executive messages; Appointments; Pardons
Election Returns: pp. 277-282, 292-298, 436, 451-459, 534-543, 548, 565, 570, 574, 599-601, 603, 610, 615-618, 647-651.
Executive Record Book: H. R. Runnels
Dates: December 21, 1857 - December 20, 1859
Executive Department: Inaugural and Valedictory addresses, executive messages, proclamations, instructions; Appointments; Pardons, remissions of fines, rewards, extraditions
Department of State: Census of the State of Texas as per returns for the year 1858 (printed, statistics only) attached, p. 443. Election Returns: pp. 83, 115-118, 181-190, 232, 297, 355-358, 388-391.
Reel EX-5
Executive Record Book: Sam Houston
Dates: December 21, 1859 - December 26, 1860
Letters sent; Executive messages, orders, authorization for transfers of railroad lands.
Broadside tipped in at page 48-49
Principal topic of letters is frontier defense, some letters about the 1860 Boundary Survey and political matters. Several letters feuding with Comptroller C. R. Johns.
Executive Record Book: Sam Houston, Edward J. Clark
Dates: December 27, 1859 - November 1, 1861
Executive Department: Proclamations; Appointments, passports; Pardons, remissions of fines, rewards, extraditions, warrants
Department of State: Election Returns: 89, 114-121, 147-150, 182, 222-223 [for ordinance of secession], 288, 322-327
Executive Record Book:
Dates: March 29, 1861 - October 22, 1861
Letters sent, principally concerning military affairs; Executive messages.
Executive Record Book:
Dates: November 7, 1861 - January 24, 1863
Letters sent--principally concerning military affairs; Addresses, executive messages; Appointments
Reel EX-6
Executive Record Book:
Dates: January 25, 1863 - November 4, 1863
Valedictory address, executive messages; Appointments
Executive Record Book: Francis R. Lubbock
Dates: November 8, 1861 - November 5, 1863
Executive Department: Valedictory address, executive messages; Appointments; Pardons, remissions of fines, rewards
Department of State: Election Returns: 21-24, 33-38, 72-73, 77, 108-114, 129, 170, 197, 202-207, 212-214, 216, 249-251
Executive Record Book: Pendleton Murrah
Dates: November 6, 1863 - December 23, 1863
Letterbook
Executive Record Book: Pendleton Murrah
Dates: November 5, 1863 - January 19, 1865
Executive Department: Inaugural address, addresses, executive messages proclamations; Commissions, passports; Pardons
Department of State: Election Returns: 63, 104, 115, 124, 128-133
Executive Record Book: Pendleton Murrah
Dates: February 7, 1865 - June 12, 1865
Executive Department: Addresses; Appointments, passports; Pardons, remissions of fines and bail bonds
Department of State: Election Returns: 16
Executive Record Book: A. J. Hamilton (Prov. Gov)
Dates: July 25, 1865 - August 13, 1866
Executive Department: Addresses, executive messages; Bonds and oaths; Pardons, remissions of fines, arrests Military Board Report (pp. 94-119)
Department of State: Election Returns: 198 - 227
Reel EX-7
Executive Record Book: J. W. Throckmorton
Dates: August 9, 1866 - August 8, 1867
Letters sent, principally to Major General Charles Griffin, Commander of the district of Texas and with other federal military or political officials
Inaugural address, summary of department status made upon his removal from office, executive messages
Appointments
Executive Record Book: J. W. Throckmorton
Dates: August 13, 1866 - August 8, 1867
Executive Department: Proclamations; Appointments, passports; Contracts; Pardons, remissions of fines, rewards, extraditions
Department of State: Election Returns: 44-47; Secretary of State Report-August 8, 1867
Executive Record Book: J. W. Throckmorton
Dates: January 8, 1867 - August 3, 1867
Letterbook--principally cover correspondence for enclosures
Executive Record Book: E. M. Pease
Dates: August 2, 1867 - September 30, 1869
Pease appointments, Throckmorton removal
Executive messages, proclamations; Appointments, removals from office, oaths of office; Pardons, arrests, extraditions
Reel EX-8
Executive Record Book: E. M Pease, E. J. Davis
Dates: January 18, 1870 - October 27, 1870
Pease: Correspondence, including copies of petitions and grand jury indictments; Executive messages; Pardons and remissions
Davis: Letters sent, principally to J. J. Reynolds; Recommendations for appointments or removals Recommendations for pardons
Penitentiary Report concerning convicts: 523-528
"Records of the Administration of Edmund J. Davis Governor of Texas Vol. II"
Dates: October 10, 1870 - May 30, 1871
Correspondence; Executive messages; Apointments; Rewards
Reel EX-9
"Records of the Executive Office"
Dates: January 8, 1870 - February 9, 1874
Executive Department: E. J. Davis appointment, proclamations; Oaths of office, bonds, pardons, rewards, extraditions
Department of State: Election Returns: 715-726, 743-746, 789-790, 865-867, 939-942, 1019-1058, 1133, 1146-1147
Reel EX-10
Executive Record Book: E. J. Davis, Richard Coke
Dates: June 20, 1873 - July 9, 1875
Proclamations; Appointments, commissions, passports; Pardons and remissions, rewards; Election Returns: 130-134, 449-455
"Records of the Administration of Richard Coke Governor of the State of Texas" (Includes Hubbard)
Dates: January 15, 1874 - January 14, 1879
Inaugural address, executive messages; Appointments; Financial receipts
Adjutant General Report: 62-65
Reel EX-11
Executive Record Book: Coke, Hubbard
Dates: July 10, 1875 - June 20, 1877
Proclamations; Appointments, commissions; Pardons, remissions, rewards
Election Returns: 60, 706-721
Executive Record Book: Hubbard
Dates: July 5, 1877 - January 21, 1879
Proclamations; Appointments; Pardons, rewards
Election Returns: 646-649
Reel EX-12
Executive Record Book: Roberts
Dates: January 21, 1879 - July 11, 1879
Inaugural address, executive messages; Appointments
Executive Record Book: Roberts
Dates: January 28, 1879 - June 13, 1881
Proclamations; Commissions; Pardons, rewards, extraditions
Executive Record Book: Roberts-Ross
Dates: June 13, 1881 - October 31, 1887
Executive messages, proclamations; Cessions of land, contracts; Pardons, rewards
Election Returns: 139-149, 454-465, 478-491, 561-564
Reel EX-13
Executive Record Book:
Dates: February 7, 1887 - October 31, 1907
Proclamations; Pardons
Election Returns: 28-32, 67, 188-189, 654-655
Reel EX-14
Executive Record Book: Proclamations
Dates: January 16, 1908 - February 14, 1917
Includes ceremonial, pardon, and quarantine proclamations, executive directives
Pardons and Remissions: Davis, Coke
Dates: January 24, 1870 - May 11, 1876
Reel EX-15
Pardon Register: Richard Coke
Dates: January 22, 1874 - [December 1874]
Includes some correspondence, largely financial, at the beginning of the volume.
Pardon Register
Dates: May 9, 1876 - April 2, 1885
Earlier pardons include documentation and petitions; later ones are simply recorded without extensive explanations
Reel EX-16
Pardon Register
Dates: May 3-1883 - September 6, 1886
Reward Register
Dates: April 28, 1883 - December 28, 1888
Reel EX-17
Pardon Register
Dates: September 6, 1886 - April 25, 1889
Reel EX-18
Pardon Register
Dates: February 18, 1896 - August 11, 1897
Pardon Register
Dates: August 23, 1897 - April 1, 1899
Reel EX-19
Reward Register
Dates: April 5, 1899 - September 22, 1900
Reward Register
Dates: January 9, 1889 - 1907
Reel EX-20
Reward Proclamations
Dates: August 20, 1901 - 1938
Register is composed of pre-printed reward proclamation forms; however, a number of the later proclamations are typed on legal-size pre-printed forms and either pasted in or inserted at the end of the volume
Pardon Register
Dates: April 27, 1889 - January 3, 1891
Reel EX-21
Pardon Register
Dates: January 3,1891 - December 14, 1892
Pardon Register
Dates: December 14, 1892 - april 9, 1894
Reel EX-22
Pardon Register
Dates: April 10, 1894 - February 18, 1896
Department of State Letterbook
Dates: November 18, 1836 - December 30, 1841
Letters sent; Presidential Commisisons for Department of State Personnel
Reel EX-23
Department of State Letterbook
Dates: November 22, 1836 - November 1841
Diplomatic correspondence of State Department personnel
Department of State Letterbook
Dates: November 12, 1836 - January 10, 1842
Secretary of State letters and reports. Includes estimates of departmental expenditures.
Department of State Letterbook: Letters Received
Dates: November 28, 1836 - March 24, 1841
Letters received in the Secretary of State's Office--includes Chief Justices' reports of official county boundaries.
Reel EX-24
Department of State Letterbook
Dates: January - June, 1839
Civil Officers--County level; Petty Distribution Acounts of Books and Pamphlets; Stationary distribution.
Department of State Letterbook
Dates: August 9, 1839 - August 31, 1841
Appointments, instructions, correspondence concerning diplomatic relations with Mexico and concerning the Santa Fe Expedition
Department of State Letterbook: Letters Received
Dates: January 4, 1841 - December 2, 1844
Letters from Texas legations, principally in Washington, Paris, and London.
Department of State Letterbook: Letters Sent
Dates: December 16, 1841 - February 4, 1846
Letters from the Secretary of State's Office, principally to Texian Legation staff.
Department of State Letterbook: Home Letters
Dates: January 19, 1842 - February 10, 1846
Letters from the Secretary of State to Republic Officials, both national and county levels.
Reel EX-25
Department of State Letterbook: Home Letters
Dates: February 8, 1842 - February 1, 1847
A. Neill's list of Perote Castle Prisoners; correspondence, ship lists, colonists' lists for Republic-era colonization ventures: German Emigration Company, Castro Colony, Fisher-Miller Colony, Peters Colony, Mercer olony [includes list of Texas Association members]; copy of ordinance accepting Annexation adopted by Convention on July 4, 1845
State Department Account Book
Dates: December 1838 - March 1841
"Department of State, Diary, February 5th 1845"
Dates: February 5, 1845 - December 20, 1849
Record of fees, commissions, certifications, and other transactions in the Secretary of State's Office
Reel EX-26
Department of State: Diplomatic Correspondence
Dates: May 7, 1839 - August 10, 1844
Department of State: Diplomatic Correspondence
Dates: January 20, 1843 - August 27, 1845
Principally letters of Texian Ministers to foreign governments
Department of State: Diplomatic Correspondence
Dates: October 16, 1844 - January 4, 1846
Legation letters, letter from foreign diplomats to the Secretary of State
Consulate Letterbook: New Orleans
Dates: May 7, 1837 - March 24, 1843
Consular Correspondence: New Orleans
Dates: December 11, 1837 - March 5, 1845
"Record of Consular Letters to and from the Department"
Dates: January 16, 1839 - November 6, 1841
"Records of Legation from August 16th 1844"
Dates: August 16, 1844 - November 8, 1845
Correspondence of the New Orleans Consulate
Consular Record Book: New Orleans
Dates: June 30, 1837 - November 6, 1840
Record of fees, certifications, documents witnessed, etc., at the New Orleans Consulate
Consular Record Book: New Orleans
Dates: January 1839 - July 6, 1841
Tabular statement of fees; Folder of Powers of Attorney issued from May 23, 1838 - February 4, 1840, inserted at back of volume.
Department of State: Public Correspondence
Dates: August 23, 1867 - January 21, 1870
Letters sent by W. C. Phillips, Secretary of State, or his office.