
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
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 materials two 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

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.
Contact ref@tsl.texas.gov or 512-463-5455 with questions about using TSLAC’s archival resources at the Lorenzo de Zavala building in Austin and SamHoustonCenter@tsl.texas.gov or 936-886-9821 regarding collections at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty.