FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX—National Family History Month is celebrated every October, inviting Americans to research their heritage and connect with their past. This year, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) invites Texans to dig deeper into their family history with a variety of free resources, announced today.

TSLAC’s Genealogy Resources website was recently updated and provides a useful summary of available library and archives materials from its extensive collections that may be of interest to family history researchers.

Library Collections
Library resources include publications, indexes, databases and other types of information that genealogists find useful when tracing their family trees. Search the TSLAC library catalog online for published family and county histories, state and federal government reports, microfilm and other cataloged titles. Also available in TSLAC’s Reference Reading Room in Austin without an appointment (and some through Interlibrary Loan) are city directories, county records, county tax rolls, newspaper collections, vital statistics indexes and more.

Archival Collections
Did your ancestor do business or interact with the governments of the Republic of Texas or the State of Texas in any way? TSLAC’s archival collections may be of use. Collections of interest to family historians include Republic of Texas passports, Republic claims, Adjutant General service records, Confederate pension applications and indigent families lists, fire insurance maps, clemency records, convict record ledgers and indexes, election registers, voter registration lists, and more. Digitized records may also be available online through Ancestry.com Texas; free access to TSLAC records that have been digitized by Ancestry is available to Texas residents with the creation of a free Ancestry account. Many of these records are also available in the Texas Digital Archive without a subscription or login.

Research Guides by Topic
TSLAC has compiled multiple online guides for researchers interested in specific topics, including:
African American Genealogy
American Indian Genealogy
Business and Company Research
Education Records and Research Resources
Historical Elections Research
Mexican American Genealogy Research
Land and Property History Research
Military Records Research
Nacogdoches Archives
Resources of the Republic of Texas and Pre-Republic Era (1820-1845)

Online Services
TSLAC’s Austin and Liberty locations provide free on-site access to Ancestry Library Edition and NewspaperArchive–Texas on the public computers in our reading rooms.

On-site visitors can also access to the TexShare Databases, and Texas residents can sign up for remote access. If you are unable to visit us, contact a TexShare library near you about access options. Resources for genealogy and history research in the TexShare Databases include:
•    Fold3 Library Edition
•    HeritageQuest Online
•    Newspapers.com (Texas Edition)
•    ProQuest Historical Newspapers
•    Texas Digital Sanborn Maps

TSLAC is a FamilySearch affiliate, and both the Austin and Liberty locations provide on-site access to restricted images in FamilySearch affiliate collections. If you are unable to visit, search for a FamilySearch center or affiliate near you.

Learn more about these and other research resources available from TSLAC at www.tsl.texas.gov/familyhistory.

Public service hours on site in the Archives and Reference Reading Rooms at the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building, located at 1201 Brazos St. in the Capitol Complex in Austin, are 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. For assistance, call 512-463-5455 or email ref@tsl.texas.gov. More information is available at www.tsl.texas.gov/reference.

Researchers interested in Southeast Texas are encouraged to visit or contact the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, which serves as the official regional historical resource depository for the 10 Southeast Texas counties of Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto and Tyler. In addition to preserving historically significant state and local government records and publications, the Center serves as a library of Texana and genealogical resources. Visit the Center's museum, featuring the exhibit Atascosito: The History of Southeast Texas. Located at 650 FM 1011 in Liberty, the Sam Houston Center is open Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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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.