As legislators and staff return to the Texas State Capitol for the start of the 88th Texas Legislature, we’re looking back at the legendary Texas Governor Ann W. Richards. Thirty-two years ago this month, Governor Richards was inaugurated as the 45th Governor of Texas. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has in our collections papers, photographs, and publications connected to Texas governors dating back to the first chief executive of the state, including Richards.
Cover: Indelible Ann: The Larger-Than-Life Story of Governor Ann Richards by Meghan P. Brown and Carlynn Whitt
Last fall, TSLAC’s Texas Center for the Book selected as the Texas Great Read for 2022 the new picture book biography about Governor Richards, Indelible Ann: The Larger-Than-Life Story of Governor Ann Richards by Meghan P. Browne and illustrator Carlynn Whitt. The author spoke about her work and the importance of the TSLAC collections in supporting her research in the promotional video for the Texas Great Read, which also includes images of Richards from our State Archives.
Texas Center for the Book interview with Meghan P. Browne for the 2022 Texas Great Read, Indelible Ann.
Browne is not the first author to publish a book on Richards. Our library stacks contain numerous titles focusing on the governor, some of which are currently on display in the Reference Reading Room. See below for a list of featured titles.
The thorny rose of Texas : an intimate portrait of Governor Ann Richards
Shropshire, Mike.
976.4063 R39S
Main
Where is Sam Houston Buried? : A Tour of the Graves of the Governors of Texas
Swearingen, John
923.2764 SW31w
Main
With Ann : a journey across Texas with a candidate for Governor
Bonar, Ave.
923.2764 R39B
Main
Women and Texas history : selected essays
Downs, Fane
305.4 W8423
Main
To search for these books and more, visit our library catalog. If you are interested in checking out a title from this post, please visit the Reference Desk or contact your local library about borrowing books through the interlibrary loan program. Call us at 512-463-5455 or send an email to ref@tsl.texas.gov with your questions about our collections.
Governor Richards, press conference with Harley Davidson, May 21, 1992. Governor’s activities, 1991-1995, 1992/095-2-1, TSLAC Current Events Photographic Documentation Program Collection. TSLAC.
I did not want my tombstone to read, ”She kept a really clean house. I think I’d like them to remember me by saying, “She opened government to everyone.” Ann Richards, from Indelible Ann: The Larger-Than-Life Story of Governor Ann Richards by Meghan P. Browne and Carlynn Whitt.
Explore Our Collections
Visit us online or at our library to see documents and images from the first century of Texas governors in Texas Governors and their Times, 1846-1946 on exhibit at TSLAC through May 15, 2023.
Sign up for our research webinar, “Researching Texas Governors at TSLAC” scheduled for January 27 at 3:00 p.m.
The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board (THRAB) is pleased to welcome new board member Felicia J. Williamson. Williamson, who will join THRAB on February 1, 2023, has served as the Director of Library & Archives at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum since 2015, working to expand, strengthen and increase access to the Museum’s important collection of rare books, artifacts and oral history testimonies. In addition, she has received a grant from the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission to catalog oral history testimonies, as well as a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to catalog and make available artifact collections.
Williamson graduated with a BA in History, German and European Studies and a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She received a master’s degree in Library and Information Science with a focus in archives from Louisiana State University (LSU). A Certified Archivist, Williamson is a former member of the Executive Board for the Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA) and a member of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). As the Head of Sam Houston State University’s Special Collections (2011-2015), Williamson instituted a program of instruction and outreach awarded the Texas Library Association’s (TLA) “Upstart Innovative Programming Award” for efforts to increase access to archival collections.
The Director of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Gloria Meraz, appointed Williamson for a three-year term expiring February 1, 2026.
As our archives staff work on an ongoing basis to arrange, preserve, describe, and make available to the public the materials under our care, we spotlight new additions to the website in a regular feature from Out of the Stacks. The column lists new and revised finding aids recently made available online, along with fresh uploads to the Texas Digital Archive, our repository of electronic items. For a comprehensive list of all recently added and updated finding aids visit Archives: Finding Aids (New & Revised).
New Finding Aids
State Records
Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation records The Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (TBWEF) established in 1993, plans and executes the eradication and diapause programs designed to eliminate the boll weevil and the pink bollworm from cotton in the state under the supervision of the Texas Department of Agriculture. Records of TBWEF date 1983-2013 and include foundation quarterly board meeting minutes, agenda, and supporting documentation; agriculture commissioner talking points; manuals; administrative correspondence; program records; financial statements; independent auditor reports; newspaper notices and purchase orders; complaints; and budgets.
Texas Governor Allan Shivers legal files Legal staff of the Texas Governor’s Office were responsible for providing legal advice to Governor Allan Shivers. Records are the legal files for Governor Allan Shivers and consist of press releases, memorandums, correspondence, administrative records, clippings, and legal documents, dated 1949-1956, bulk 1950-1954
Manuscripts
Governor Price Daniel records holiday announcements about traffic safety, December 1959. 1965/162-133, Bradford Smith audiovisual materials. TSLAC. View in the TDA.
Bradford Smith audiovisual materials Bradford Smith started his career in Texas print and broadcast media in the Rio Grande Valley. In 1958, he moved to Austin to be Texas State Traffic Safety Director and later a member of Governor Price Daniel’s staff. These audiovisual materials, created by Smith while serving in those roles, date 1958-1962 and consist of black-and-white photographs and negatives, 16mm motion pictures, color transparencies, a framed drawing of a political cartoon, and an open reel audiotape. Most photographs document events of Governor Daniel. The motion pictures and audiotape have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Revised Finding Aids
State Records
Texas State Securities Board records (includes one series of electronic records in the Texas Digital Archive) The Texas State Securities Board, composed of the former Securities Divisions of the Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Board of Insurance Commissioners, was created by the Texas Securities Act of 1957 (Senate Bill 294, 55th Texas Legislature, Regular Session) to regulate securities sold publicly in Texas. The mission of the State Securities Board is to protect Texas investors and its goals are to ensure a free and competitive securities market for Texas, increase investor confidence, and thereby encourage the formation of capital and the creation of new jobs in Texas. The regulation of securities involves the registration of stocks, bonds, and other securities sold in the state; the licensing of persons or firms selling securities; the investigation of alleged violations of the act; and the presentation of these violations to county and district attorneys for prosecution.
These Texas State Securities Board records include correspondence and memoranda, press releases, agenda and minutes, summaries of board actions, notices of hearings, copies of board orders, reports, legislation, attorney general opinions, court documents, printed materials, budget materials, and notes. Records range in date from 1933 to 2021. Materials cover nearly all aspects of the regulation of securities, both by the Secretary of State (1933-1957) and by the Securities Board (1957-2021).
Texas Governor Allan Shivers personal files Allan Shivers served as lieutenant governor of Texas from January 21, 1947, to July 11, 1949, and as governor of Texas from July 11, 1949, to January 15, 1957. These records created, received, and maintained by the Texas Governor’s Office are what Shivers considered to be his personal files, though they were administered by him and his staff as part of official state government business and are state records. These files consist of personal correspondence, clippings, photographs, greeting cards, booklets, brochures, and related records, dated 1946-1959, undated, bulk 1950-1957.
Manuscripts
National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators organizational materialstwo additional photographs digitized (in Project files series) among the other digitized and born-digital records available on the Texas Digital Archive. Through institution-based membership, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) encourages the exchange of information, cooperative approaches, and professional development and standards, and promotes awareness of government records issues. As an outgrowth organization from its predecessor, the National Association of State Archives and Records Administrators (NASARA), NAGARA was founded in 1984 to meet the needs of the government archives and records administration profession on all levels of United States government. These materials document the history and activities of NAGARA’s organizational pursuits with local, state, and federal governments as well as late NASARA endeavors with state governments. The NAGARA records include administrative files, correspondence, events files, meeting minutes, project and grant files, and records concerning relations with professional organizations, dating 1974-2018, undated, bulk 1984-1996. Records are paper as well as electronic; additionally, a portion of these materials have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas Digital Archive
Paintings and coatings,1991. General professional materials, 2022/30-12. Allen McCree papers. TSLAC. View in the TDA.
Allen McCree Papers, 1975-1997 Allen McCree was the architect of the Capitol of Texas from 1988 to 1992 and oversaw the interior preservation and underground extension of the Capitol Building. These Allen McCree papers, dated 1975-1997, primarily document McCree’s involvement in architectural projects in the state and include plans for the Capitol project, general architectural materials, newspaper clippings, correspondence, memos, notes, architectural plans and specifications, budgets, reports, pamphlets, drafts, and slides and a script for a lecture on the history of the Capitol. All of these materials except oversize prints and architectural drawings have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas Joint Committee to Investigate the Texas State Ranger Force transcript of proceedings The Texas Joint Committee to Investigate the Texas State Ranger Force was created in January 1919 during the 36th Texas Legislature to investigate the actions taken by the Texas Ranger Force during the period from 1914 to 1919. Records consist of digital copies of the original three-volume transcript of proceedings conducted by the committee during January and February of 1919. These digital copies were created by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission with grant funding provided by the Library Services and Technology Act, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas Supreme Court: M Case files, 1840-1892 The M case are part of a larger set of records titled the Supreme Court Case files. The Case files as a whole consist of two distinct groups of files, the circuit court-era or M files, 1840-1892, and case files from 1893-2004. As of 2017, case files for 2005 forward are held by the Texas Supreme Court. Types of materials present in the case files include original petitions (briefs, appeals), original indictments (criminal cases only for the early years), transcripts of proceedings from the district court, bills of exception, agreements, demurrer and answer, supplemental answers, statements of facts, testimony, judgments, motions, petitions and/or bonds for writ of error, citations in error, assignments of error, sheriffs’ returns, certifications of costs, waivers of service, precepts, motions for rehearing, applications for extensions of time, certification of costs, and opinions of the lower court. The M case files have been partially digitized and are available in the Texas Digital Archive.
Will you be cooking enough food to feed an army this Thanksgiving? The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) can assist you with that! As part of our U.S. Documents collection, we hold the 1916 Manual for Army Cooks. The pumpkin pie recipe included in the manual begins with 25 pounds of pumpkin, “sufficient for about 15 pies.” And, if you are trying to keep critters—or people!—out of your pie, there are instructions for suspending food in a swinging cage.
According to the National Park Service, “during the Spanish-American War, less than 200 men died from battle injuries, but over 5000 died from sickness or disease. And much of the sickness was attributed to the lack of trained cooks. So, in 1905, the War Department opened the first school for bakers and cooks at Fort Riley, Kansas. It soon added schools at the Presidio, at Washington Barracks, D.C., and at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.”
Recipe #567. Pie, pumpkin or squash, Manual for Army Cooks (244-245).
Prior to his promotion to head the organization of bakery companies under the Office of the Quartermaster General, Colonel Leonard Lyon (L. L.) Deitrick organized the School for Bakers and Cooks in the Southern Department (Fort Sam Houston), and assisted in the preparation of manuals for bakers and cooks, including this version held by TSLAC.
Tip for how to store food while at camp.
A few recipes that probably won’t be making it to our Thanksgiving table include: pancreas, thymus gland, rolled wheat mush, brains without eggs, or gruel. For a look at more recipes and explore more cooking tips from the Army Manual there is an online version here: http://www.314th.org/numbered-documents/0564-manual-for-army-cooks.pdf.
As one of two regional and 54 selective depositories in Texas belonging to the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), TSLAC assists in providing publications of the federal government free to the public at no cost. As a regional depository, TSLAC develops and manages a comprehensive, perpetual Federal depository collection and provides reference and interlibrary loan services to selective depositories within the state or region.
Spanish moss mat, moss spinner, and needle, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center maintains two extensive collections of Alabama-Coushatta craftwork. The Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts and the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Collection include rivercane baskets, long leaf pine needle baskets, beadwork items, pottery, wood carvings, and other craftwork. Basketry and beadwork make up the majority of the items, which were created by tribe members at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation in Polk County, Texas. Items date primarily from the 1930s to the 1990s.
Rivercane elbow basket, about 1960, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
Cane basketry is an important aspect of southeastern Native American societies, including the Alabama-Coushattas. It is one of their oldest artistic traditions. These baskets are plaited from strips of rivercane, a large bamboo-like grass native to the southeastern United States. Some are used for gathering or storing plant foods, sifting grain, or other utilitarian purposes. Sometimes geometric designs created with dyes from plant or animal sources are added as decorative enhancements.
Rivercane gathering basket, about 1976, Alabama-Coushatta Indian Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
Rivercane wall pocket basket, about 1960, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
The Alabama-Coushattas are more closely identified with pine needle basketry. Needles of dried long leaf pine, common to East Texas, are coiled and sewn together with raffia (fiber from the leafstalks of the raffia palm). Finished baskets may then be decorated with pinecones, raffia flowers, or geometric patterns. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including animal effigies (whimsical decorative baskets in the shape of animals, birds, or insects).
Longleaf pine needle food storage basket, about 1976, Alabama-Coushatta Indian Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
The Sam Houston Center’s collections include decorative baskets as well as those for household or agricultural use. Many of the animal effigy baskets represent species common to East Texas. The armadillo and turtle baskets shown below also utilize pinecone sections to create portions of the bodies.
Animal effigy baskets (armadillo, duck, butterfly, and turtle), about 1970, 1998, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
Longleaf pine needle vase with pinecone decorations, about 1975, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
Many tribe members are also skilled crafters of colorful beadwork. Beadwork items in the Center’s collections include jewelry, purses, and bolo ties, as well as other personal accessories. Shown here are a necklace, bolo tie, brooch, belt buckle, coin purse, and earrings.
Various beadwork items, about 1960, 1975, 1976, 1986, Frances Broemer Collection of Alabama-Coushatta Indian Artifacts and Alabama-Coushatta Indian Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. TSLAC.
Selected items of Alabama-Coushatta craftwork are displayed in the Sam Houston Center’s museum as part of the permanent exhibits on the history of Southeast Texas, including a mat woven of Spanish moss, a moss spinner, and needle. The Center’s hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. No appointment is required to tour the museum. For more information, go to Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center | TSLAC (texas.gov) or call 936-336-8821.
Sources:
Frances and Walter Broemer Archives, SHC. Alabama-Coushatta Indian Collection, SHC. Native American Basketry, 64parishes.org
Please tell us about your research project, including what TSLAC collections you are using.
I am researching the Texas Women’s Meeting, which took place in June 1977 in Austin as part of the United Nations International Women’s Year initiative. This meeting was one of 56 state and territory meetings that served as a precursor to the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston. Because this was a federally funded event, the TSLAC holds all the records from the Texas IWY Coordinating Committee, which includes meeting minutes, correspondence, outreach materials, oral histories, press clippings, and video footage that reveal the behind-the-scenes struggles of planning this event.
What did you discover in the State Archives that was surprising or changed the direction of your research?
At this juncture in history, we hear a lot about the battle between anti-feminists and feminists over the Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive freedom, but the Texas IWY records add nuance to this story. Many groups, including Black women, Chicanas, and lesbians, were actively pushing their own concerns and working to make sure they were represented at the meeting. Often, this led to tensions with the official committee, which was struggling to “balance” the racial, religious, and economic diversity of the attendees. These challenges are important to recognize as we consider the multi-faceted nature of women as a group and the reality that there are “feminisms” rather than a singular “feminism.”
International Women’s Year press conference stage, November 10, 1975. Public relations committee files, 1978/032-7-Unmarked images-2, Texas International Women’s Year Coordinating Committee records. TSLAC.
Describe how your research will contribute to scholarship in your field or subject area.
International Women’s Year has received renewed attention in recent years as historians consider the event on a state, national, and global scale. However, Texas is a unique case study because it was the host state of the National Women’s Conference. If the Texas meeting fell apart, it did not bode well for the success of the national conference and organizers knew that. Texas is also interesting because we see the political dichotomy of the state in the 1970s. The Texas legislature ratified the Equal Rights Amendment just days after Congress passed it, and the state was at the center of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case. However, Texas was also the home of a substantial conservative movement and the birthplace of the Women Who Want to be Women group that helped put together a “pro-family” counterrally at the Astrodome during the National Women’s Conference.
Additionally, the Texas State Meeting gives us a lens to view some of our more modern women politicians in the early days of their careers.
Future Texas Governor Ann Richards as well as future U.S. representatives Sylvia Garcia and Eddie Bernice Johnson all participated in the Texas meeting and the National Women’s Conference. My research looks at how these events shaped their politics moving forward. More broadly, this work centers women in politics and highlights their tremendous impact, both in office and at the grassroots level
Image: Ann Richards, 1977. Program committee files, 1978/032-15-Photograph album-13, Texas International Women’s Year Coordinating Committee records. TSLAC.
What was the most exciting item you accessed at TSLAC?
TSLAC is helping to digitize video footage of the first planning meeting for the Texas Women’s Meeting and I’m very excited to see that. Of course, there are written minutes of the meeting but those don’t convey the emotion or delivery of the heated debates these women engaged in about representation. This footage could provide additional context and serve as visual confirmation of some of the struggles these women wrote about in their personal letters.
Box of media from the archival collection the research fellow is using.
What tips can you provide for other researchers, when visiting the State Archives?
Bring a sweater, even in 100-degree heat! In all seriousness, though, contacting archivists before your visit to talk about the collection makes the in-person research process so much smoother. The TSLAC archivists are some of the most helpful people I’ve worked with and can point you in the right direction. Also, make sure to peruse the books in the suggested reading section of the library. They have some wonderful titles on Texas history that dig into all the quirks and complexities of the state.
Thank you Caitlyn Jones! Best of luck on your project.
For more information on the collection mentioned in this interview:
Texas International Women’s Year Coordinating Committee Records: An Inventory of International Women’s Year Coordinating Committee Records at the Texas State Archives:
Planning a visit to the State Archives in Austin? Check out the Before You Visit page from our reference staff. Contact reference for more information about research at the State Archives at ref@tsl.texas.gov or 512-463-5455.
The TSLAC Research Fellowship in Texas History is administered in partnership with TSHA and made possible by the generous support of the Texas Library and Archives Foundation.
The application must include the purpose of the proposed research, collections of interest, a description of the medium of the product of the research, a complete vita and why the fellowship is necessary to complete the project. The recipient of the fellowship may be asked to present the results of their research at a TSLAC event. The award will be announced at the TSHA’s annual meeting in El Paso in March 2023. Judges may withhold the award at their discretion.
Past Recipients 2022 Andrew Busch, Caitlyn Jones and Christopher Phillips 2021 Leroy Myers Jr., Marc A. Molina and Bobby Cervantes 2020 Sheena Lee Cox and Micaela Valadez 2019 Maggie Elmore and Deborah Liles
Please contact our reference staff at 512-463-5455 or ref@tsl.texas.gov for information about archival collections that may support your project. Some descriptive guides (finding aids) are available online on the Archives & Manuscripts webpage.
THRAB Archival Award of Excellence: Harry Ransom Center
Harry Ransom Center representatives Alejandra Martinez, Daniel Zmud, Jim Kuhn, and Coyote Shook
THRAB Advocacy for Archives Award: Texas Archival Resources Online
TARO representatives Rebecca Romanchuk, Penny Castillo, Jimmy Williamson, Kristi Nedderman, Ada Negraru, Molly Hults, Aaron Choate, and Amy Bowman
THRAB David B. Gracy II Distinguished Archival Service Award: Society of Southwest Archivists
THRAB member Linda Barrett poses with Society of Southwest Archivists representatives Jimmy Williamson, Ada Negraru, Molly Hults, Mark Lambert, Daniel Alonzo (holding award), Mike Miller, and Rebecca Romanchuk
Congratulations to the 2022 THRAB Archival Award recipients! The nomination period for the 2023 awards will open in late spring. To keep up with announcements from THRAB, join the mailing list by sending a request to THRAB@tsl.texas.gov.
A key component of the Texas Archives Month celebration is an educational poster presented online with a range of resources related to the theme. The 2022 Texas Archives Month digital poster focuses on analyzing primary sources in the classroom and offers step-by-step tips for students and educators. The theme focuses on various types of primary sources students encounter and links to a webpage with helpful strategies for analyzing documents, photographs, and maps. Visitors will also find images from Texas archives to download and use with analysis worksheets provided by the National Archives Records Administration (NARA).
Texas Archives Month Poster 2022
If educators and students need more primary sources for practice and instruction, the poster webpage offers links to digital collections around the state providing access to thousands of images online.
Texas Archives Month activities also annual archival awards administered by members of THRAB. THRAB is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 archival awards!
THRAB 2022 Archival Award Recipients
THRAB selected as the 2022 Archival Award of Excellence recipient the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas for their projects surrounding the reorganization and digitization of Radclyffe Hall and Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge Papers. Ransom Center staff collaborated to reorganize, digitize, and present online the collection as a digital archive available to an international audience. Additionally, they enhanced access with a of suite teaching guides to assist educators and students. Created in 2016, the Archival Award of Excellence recognizes significant achievements in preserving and improving access to historical records in Texas.
The Advocacy for Archives Award recognizes outstanding achievements and lasting impacts on the archival community and the historical record in Texas. The 2022 recipient of this award is Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO). TARO advocates for archives by coordinating with Texas repositories to create standardized, searchable online finding aids and offering a centralized portal for identifying and locating participating collections. TARO staff also train Texas archives personnel on how to use the software and employ the standards required to streamline access on the TARO platform, txarchives.org. THRAB members believe TARO has helped revolutionize access to the historical record in Texas and looks forward to the growth and continued success of the project.
“The TARO steering committee is thrilled with this wonderful honor from THRAB that acknowledges the tremendous efforts of the countless volunteers across the dozens of member repositories contributing to this project. The award will also raise the profile of TARO and perhaps encourage even more repositories to join,” said TARO steering committee chair Samantha Dodd of Southern Methodist University.
The Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA) is the recipient of the David B. Gracy II Award for Distinguished Archival Service. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, the award recognizes the vital role the professional organization plays in the archival community. SSA Past President (2014-2015) Katie Salzman said, “It seems fitting that an organization whose early foundation and development was so influenced by Dr. Gracy should receive this honor. SSA embodies the dedication, advocacy, and leadership that were the hallmark of his own career.” SSA hosts an annual meeting, provides low-cost professional development opportunities, scholarships, and recently introduced an Archives-in-Residence program.
The awards will be presented at the next THRAB meeting on October 7 at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
THRAB programming is supported by funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
The newest public exhibit at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC), Texas Governors and Their Times, 1846-1946, is now on display in the lobby of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building. Exhibits are free and no reservations are required. Texas Governors and Their Times, 1846-1946 showcases materials from the State Archives documenting the official work and daily business of the state’s chief executive spanning 100 years.
Governor’s Mansion, about 1970-1980. Color slides and transparencies, 1991077/130/001. Texas Tourism and Development Agency records.
Explore how seven governors responded to the issues of their eras through a selection of proclamations, correspondence, photographs, legislation, postcards, and more. As Texas transitioned from an independent republic to the 28th state in the Union, these governors oversaw the growth and development of what would become the second most populous state in the country. Below are a few examples of items on display. The entire exhibit is also available for viewing anytime online in the virtual version of Texas Governors and Their Times.
Although he was born in Ohio, Wilbert Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel loved his adopted state of Texas, where he moved in 1925. He wrote his best-known song, “Beautiful Texas,” in 1933 and recorded it with his band the Light Crust Doughboys. The song was a fixture at O’Daniel’s campaign rallies and at events during his term as governor.
Sheet music for “Beautiful Texas” by W. Lee O’Daniel, 1933. Patriotic songs, Vocal music, Texas sheet music collection, Box 2015/083-7.
Part of the inauguration celebration of Texas governors is the inaugural ball. This small booklet includes a program of the events of the inauguration and a dance card. A woman attending the ball would have used this dance card to record the names of her intended dance partners for each dance of the night.
Inaugural Ball dance card in honor of Governor O.B. Colquitt, January 17, 1911. Inaugurations of Texas Governors, Box 2-23/902.
This phonograph cylinder contains an early recording of a speech by Governor Hogg. It was donated to the Texas State Archive in 1910 by Oscar Branch Colquitt, who served as governor from 1911 to 1915.
“Christmas greetings from the Allreds” sent to the Graham family. James V. Allred served two terms as governor of Texas from 1935-1939. Richard Niles Graham was the grandson of Governor Elisha Pease, and the Graham-Pease family were prominent leaders in Austin.
The Governor’s Mansion, undated. Photographs, Graham (R. Niles) Collection, 1964/306-620.
“We think this new exhibit illustrates the importance of government records, especially those of the state’s highest elected office, to understanding Texas history,” said State Archivist Jelain Chubb. “Historic photographs show us what it was like to be in the governor’s office in 1911, letters of both Union and Confederate military officials as well as civilians give us first-hand accounts of the periods of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and artifacts from inaugurations, like the programs and mementos on display, allow us to imagine what it was like to attend these historic events. The items we preserve in the State Archives really bring history to life.”
Named a National Literary Landmark, the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building is the agency’s flagship located directly east of the Texas Capitol. Lobby exhibits are open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and the Second Saturday of each month, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Visit online: www.tsl.texas.gov/lobbyexhibits.
Texas Governors and Their Times will be on view until May 15, 2023.
For questions about our collections and how to access them, please contact the reference desk at ref@tsl.texas.gov or call 512-463-5455.
