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. We close out the piece highlighting fresh uploads to the Texas Digital Archive, our repository of electronic items.
Archivists create finding aids for collections once they are processed and add these descriptive guides to Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO). TARO hosts finding aids from institutions around the state and researchers may determine whether or not to limit searches to the State Archives. Not all collections have been processed and therefore the list of finding aids does not represent the entirety of our holdings. The Archives & Manuscripts page of the TSLAC website provides more information and guidance on how to access archival collections.
Contact ref@tsl.texas.gov or 512-463-5455 with questions about using TSLAC’s archival resources. For a comprehensive list of all recently added and updated finding aids visit Archives: Finding Aids (New & Revised).
New Finding Aids
State Records
Texas General Land Office Special Board of Review agenda, minutes, and exhibits – GLO I.11
Administratively attached to the Texas General Land Office, the Special Board of Review considers various aspects related to the development of real property belonging to Texas, the Permanent School Fund, or any other dedicated state fund. Records consists of agenda, minutes, and exhibits, dating 1995-1998.
Texas Governor Allan Shivers press files – GOV IV.08
Press staff of the Texas Governor’s Office were responsible for issuing press releases and media advisories on the activities and actions of the governor, writing speeches for the governor and collecting, copying, and distributing information about the governor and first lady. Records are the press files for Governor Allan Shivers and consist of clippings, press releases, speeches, notes, publications, proclamations, correspondence, and related records, dated 1937, 1941-1943, 1946-1957, bulk 1946-1957.
A portrait of Governor Allan Shivers,January, 1953. 1983/112 M-351-1, Texas Department of Public Safety photographs.Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Texas Governor Allan Shivers scheduling files – GOV IV.09
As the chief executive of the State of Texas, the governor has many responsibilities and duties that require a full schedule to fulfill. The governor’s scheduling files document Governor’s Office responses to requests for the governor’s time as well as logistical organization of the governor’s attendance at local, state, national, and international events. Records are the scheduling files of Governor Allan Shivers and consist of correspondence, invitations, schedules, and related records, dated 1949-1964 and undated, bulk 1951-1957.
Revised Finding Aids
State Records
Texas Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell records – GOV I.23
The governor of Texas is the chief executive officer of the state elected by citizens every four years. Thomas Mitchell Campbell served as governor of Texas from January 15, 1907, to January 17, 1911. Records of Governor Campbell’s term in office relate to the state penitentiary, the Santa Fe railroad merger, relations with Mexico, and state agency business. Types of records are correspondence, attorney general opinions, reports, invitations, telegrams, financial records, petitions, clippings, and letterpress books, dating from 1906 to 1911 and undated.
The House recordings finding aids below were revised to refer only to the digital files TSLAC created by digitizing the original audiotapes. LRL now has full custody of the original audiotapes while TSLAC retains ownership of the digitized versions of those recordings.
Texas House of Representatives Committee on Saving Taxes public hearing recordings – LEG I.01 (fully available on the Texas Digital Archive)
The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Saving Taxes, appointed during the 56th and 57th Texas Legislature, was given the charge to investigate ways to reduce costs and waste in state government and to devise operational plans for all state departments, agencies, and institutions to provide economical and efficient services to the public. The committees held public hearings during 1959-1960 and 1962, at which primarily state agency personnel testified. Each agency’s staff was asked questions concerning the agency’s operations, current expenditures and revenue generated by the agency, and what cost-saving measures could be implemented at the agency itself and throughout state government. Digital copies of the audiotape recordings of these public hearings, 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, are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas House of Representatives Textbook Investigating Committee recordings – LEG I.02 (fully available on the Texas Digital Archive)
(The House recordings finding aids above were revised to refer only to the digital files TSLAC created by digitizing the original audiotapes. The Legislative Reference Library now has full custody of the original audiotapes while TSLAC retains ownership of the digitized versions of those recordings.)
In response to controversy over the content of public school textbooks and assigned student reading in Texas in the 1950s and 1960s, the Texas House of Representatives Textbook Investigating Committee was created (House Simple Resolution 736, 57th Texas Legislature, Regular Session) in 1962 to study the contents of public school American history textbooks that had been approved for use in Texas schools and report its findings to the House of Representatives before the end of the regular session of the 58th Legislature. Economics and home economics textbooks, in addition to literary works used as assigned reading, also came under the committee’s consideration. The committee held public hearings in Austin, Amarillo, and San Antonio, and held two meetings after the hearings, all in 1962. Digital copies of the audiotape recordings of these public hearings and meetings, 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, are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Recently Added to the Texas Digital Archive
Texas House of Representatives Committee on Saving Taxes public hearing recordings – LEG I.01 (fully available on the Texas Digital Archive)
Texas House of Representatives Textbook Investigating Committee recordings – LEG I.02 (fully available on the Texas Digital Archive)