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 7:00 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.
Harriett Hobbs Paine, 1890s. Hardin Family Papers, 1974.002. SHC.
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 Coordinator Darlene Mott will share resources available in Liberty, such as poll tax lists and probate files. Southeast Texans are invited to come out and learn how to use TSLAC and Sam Houston Center collections to possibly discover more about their family’s story.
This event is free and open to the public. No registration required. Contact the Center at (936) 336-8821 or SamHoustonCenter@tsl.texas.gov for more information.
The Sam Houston Center is a component of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and 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. The Center’s primary mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to historically significant state and local government records and publications of the designated region and secondarily to serve as a library of Texana and genealogical resources.
The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty has announced that it will host its second Family History Day of 2024 on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Steven Kantner, Digital Assets Archivist at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC), will share tips and tricks for preserving family photos and media. Photos from yesterday or centuries past all present challenges to those hoping to make the images last for future generations. Morning and afternoon sessions will offer instructions on how to properly care for family photographs and ensure the information is not lost to time. Participants will learn about photograph identification, proper storage and handling, safely creating digital images, digital archiving and other activities related to preserving personal collections.
Family History Day Schedule: 10 a.m. – 12 noon Identification and preservation session 12 noon – 1:30 p.m. Lunch break (on your own) 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Digitization and digital archiving session
A free preservation kit will be provided to pre-registered participants. Contact SHC via email at samhoustoncenter@tsl.texas.gov or call (936) 336-8821 to register. Seating is limited.
The Sam Houston Center is a component of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and 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. The Center’s primary mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to historically significant state and local government records and publications of the designated region and secondarily to serve as a library of Texana and genealogical resources.
Torchbearer Mable McKnight addresses the crowd at the Liberty Relay Event, with Mayor Paul Henry (left) and other Liberty County and Southeast Texas torchbearers behind her. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
The Olympic Torch Relay begins at a ceremony in the city of Olympia, Greece, the site of the ancient Olympic Games, at the ruins of the temple of the goddess Hera. An actress playing the temple’s high priestess lights the flame using a parabolic mirror that concentrates the sun’s rays. She then passes it to the first torchbearer, and the relay begins, carrying the flame to its final destination, the Olympic stadium in the host city of the Games. When the flame arrives, the final torchbearer lights the Olympic cauldron, which remains lit for the duration of the Games and is extinguished at the closing ceremony.
In 1996, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, hosted the Summer Olympics. The Olympic flame arrived in Los Angeles, California (site of the 1932 and 1984 Summer Games) from Athens, Greece, on April 27. During its journey across the continental United States, the relay passed for the first time through Southeast Texas, on May 22. In Liberty, a ceremony was held on the grounds of the Geraldine D. Humphreys Cultural Center, and the city provided lunch to all the relay participants. Liberty was one of only five cities in Texas where the relay stopped for such an event.
Map of Olympic Torch Relay route through Southeast Texas on May 22, 1996. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center’s Olympic Torch Relay Collection documents the Olympic Torch Relay event in Liberty and the relay’s passage through Southeast Texas. The collection includes photographs of the Liberty event and local relay participants, clippings from various Southeast Texas newspapers pertaining to the relay as it passed through the area, event maps, meeting minutes and notes documenting the planning and organizing of the Liberty event by a local committee, posters and other publicity materials, and the torch carried by torchbearer Don Kelly of Beaumont in the Liberty area.
Liberty Relay Event Poster. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
Event map for the Liberty Relay Event. Arrows show the torch route into and out of the event. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
At the Liberty ceremony, a small Olympic cauldron was lit by incoming torchbearer Sharon Davis, a message from the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games was read, and the four Liberty County torchbearers (Larry Wadzeck, Mable McKnight, Sharon Davis, and Timothy Daniel) were introduced and spoke to the crowd. Combined bands from Liberty, Barbers Hill, and Huffman-Hargraves high schools provided Olympic-themed music, including “Olympic Fanfare” and “Bugler’s Dream.” The flame resumed its journey when torchbearer Tim Daniel lit his torch from the cauldron and carried it out of the Humphreys Cultural Center and back to its U.S. Highway 90 route. The city’s Liberty Bell replica was rung during the arrival and departure of the flame.
Torchbearer Sharon Davis lights the cauldron at the Liberty Relay Event. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
Torchbearer Tim Daniel and his escort runner (unidentified). Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
From Liberty the relay passed through the communities of Ames, Raywood, Devers, Nome, China, Beaumont, Vidor, and Orange before continuing into Louisiana.
Many of the torchbearers had been nominated as “community heroes.” Criteria included volunteer work and service as a community leader, role model, or mentor. The Olympic Organizing Committee selected 5,500 community heroes out of 40,000 candidates. Thirty-eight were from Southeast Texas, representing Dayton, Liberty, Devers, Orange, Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Bridge City, and Vidor.
Commemorative photo of torchbearer Don Kelly of Beaumont, who ran his leg of the Relay in Liberty. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.Torch carried by Don Kelly during the Olympic Torch Relay in Liberty on May 22, 1996. Made of aluminum reeds and Georgia pecan wood. Wide gold-plated band on lower half is engraved with the host city names and years of all the Olympic Games, commemorating the 100thanniversary of the modern Olympics. Olympic Torch Relay Collection, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, TSLAC.
The Olympic Torch Relay is a major event for every community through which it passes en route to the Olympics host city, and May 22, 1996, was undoubtedly a memorable and exciting day for the residents of Southeast Texas. As Brendan Harris, director of the relay event for sponsor Coca-Cola, told the Baytown Sun, “These people are the reason we do this. It gives people from these small towns a chance to share in the Olympic experience. And it gives a town like Liberty the chance to be the host city of the Olympics for a day.”
Visitors may view the Olympic Torch Relay Collection at the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center during business hours, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The finding aid is on Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO): Olympic Torch Relay Collection.
Mark your calendars for Friday, June 14, when the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center invites you to stargaze with an expert at the Center’s Amateur Astronomy Night. Village Creek State Park Interpreter Alex Stamatis will lead visitors on a tour of the night sky from 8:30 until approximately 10:00 p.m. Learn to locate constellations and view some of the season’s most fascinating celestial objects using telescopes, binoculars and the naked eye.
With assistance from Trinity National Wildlife Refuge Biologist Laurie Gonzales and the Refuge’s interns, Stamatis will also explain the impact of light pollution on observation and the environment. Visitors are encouraged to bring along flashlights, especially red-light flashlights, and join the fun on the Center’s grounds at 650 FM 1011, Liberty, Texas. (In the case of inclement weather or poor viewing conditions, the event will be moved to Friday, June 21.)
The Sam Houston Center is a component of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and 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. The Center’s primary mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to historically significant state and local government records and publications of the designated region and secondarily to serve as a library of Texana and genealogical resources.
