Austin, TX – The Texas Library and Archives Foundation (TxLAF) is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2025 Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) Research Fellowship in Texas History. The fellowship’s stipend of $2,000 has been awarded to Dr. Sam W. Haynes.

Haynes directs the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies and serves as a professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). His research at TSLAC will enhance the online resource, Texas in Turmoil: Mapping Interethnic Violence, 1821-79, by contributing information gathered from the State Archives to the i

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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

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Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is pleased to announce the 2025 Family Place Libraries™ Project Grant Recipients.

2025 Family Place Libraries™ Project Grant Recipients
Burnet County Library System
El Paso Public Library
Irving Public Library
Laredo Public Library
McAllen Public Library
Navasota Public Library
Lubbock Public Library
Schertz Public Library
Sergeant Fernando de la Rosa Memorial Library
Sherman Public Library

TSLAC initiated this project in 2015 to help public libraries address early learning with a goal of ensuring that all children e

 

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Austin, TX – Join the Texas Center for the Book on Monday, March 10 from 2 to 3 p.m. (CT) for #TXBookChat LIVE: Texas on This Day: 500 Years of History with author Gary Vliet. A conversation with Texas Center for the Book Coordinator Michele Chan Santos will be followed by an audience Q&A session and book signing opportunity.

 

Gary Vliet, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin. He grew up in Alberta, Canada, and studied and worked in California before joining the faculty of mechanical engineering at UT, where he taught for 35 years. 

 

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Austin, TX – Lone Star Libraries is a new quarterly series of articles and videos from the Texas Center of the Book at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission that showcases and celebrates exceptional libraries across Texas.

 

The first feature spotlights The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos. The Wittliff Collections are both an archive and a museum. The Collections celebrate the cultural heritage of Texas, the Southwest and Mexico, in nine galleries. Collections include materials related to literature, writing, photography, music, TV and

 

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Liberty, TX – The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center (SHC), part of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC), will host a presentation on African American genealogy on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Presenters will explore key resources and collections for genealogy research, with a focus on those of most use in locating African American ancestors.TSLAC’s Information Services Supervisor Tonia Wood will explore records available online and through TSLAC headquarters in Austin, like voter registration lists of 1867-1869. SHC Reference Services Coo

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Austin, TX – Do you know the official dish of Texas? What about the official state snack? The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) presents answers to these questions and more in an appetizing new exhibit for 2025. Lone Star Menu: Tastes of Texas opens January 22 in the lobby of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in downtown Austin and is free and open to the public. Lone Star Menu highlights official, historic and iconic flavors of Texas through selections from the State Archives’ extensive collections. Home to the archival records

 

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Liberty, TX – The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center (SHC) invites readers to participate in quarterly book club meetings on the fourth Tuesday of January, April, July and October of 2025. SHC’s quarterly book club features works of fiction related to museums, archives and libraries. Led by a member of the SHC staff, discussions take place from 6 – 7 p.m. at the Center and are free and open to the public. 

 

The first selection for the 2025 SHC Quarterly Book Club is the novel The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Fikry is a widower who owns a bo

Join the Texas Center for the Book on Monday, Jan. 13 from 2 to 3 p.m. (CT) for #TXBookChat LIVE: His Majesty’s Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine with author S. C. Gwynne. A conversation with Texas Center for the Book Coordinator Michele Chan Santos will be followed by an audience Q&A session and book signing opportunity.

S.C. “Sam” Gwynne is the author of two acclaimed books on American history: Empire of the Summer Moon, which spent 82 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circ

Texas 4th-12th graders are invited to participate in Letters About Literature Texas, an annual writing competition administered by the Texas Center for the Book. Students select a book, book series, essay, play, poem, short story or speech and write a letter to an author—living or dead—explaining how his or her work changed their view of themselves or the world. Submissions will be accepted through Feb. 3, 2025.

The contest is open to all Texas students, grades 4-12, including public, private and homeschool. First through third place winners are awarded in three categories: grades 4-6, grades 7