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.
New Finding Aids
Manuscripts
Price Daniel Audiovisual Materials and Related Papers
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/00041/tsl-00041.html
Price Daniel served as Texas attorney general, US senator, and Texas governor. These audiovisual materials and related papers date 1952-1962, 1980, undated, and encompass Daniel’s service in these offices, as well as his US Senate and Texas gubernatorial campaigns, and contain one item from after his political career.
Topics covered include narcotic laws, segregation, states’ rights, traffic safety, and Texas business and agriculture. The most common film format is 16mm black-and-white film, and audio materials include open reel audiotapes and instantaneous recordings. Some audiovisual materials include accompanying documents. These materials and accompanying documents have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas State Archives Broadsides and Printed Ephemera Collection http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/12014/tsl-12014.html
The Broadsides and printed ephemera collection is an artificial collection assembled by Texas State Archives staff beginning in the early 20th century. It consists of approximately 700 documents related to Texas and United States history. Printed ephemera was produced to distribute information as events unfolded, and it offers unique snapshots of Texas’s and the nation’s past.
Image: $1000 Reward, 1873. Broadside 276, Broadsides and printed ephemera collection. TSLAC. View in the TDA.
The ephemera in this collection includes both originals and copies of various formats, dating 1645-1999, bulk 1835-1930s. The original documents in this collection have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Local Records
Newton County (Tex.) District Clerk Records
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/00042/tsl-00042.html
District courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in law and equity, which includes criminal cases of the grade of felony and misdemeanors involving official misconduct, divorce, cases of title to liens on land, election contests, and civil actions where the amount in controversy is at least $200. The district clerk serves as the clerk and custodian of all records for the district courts, indexes and secures all court records, and collects filing fees. These Newton County (Tex.) District Clerk records consist of civil and criminal docket books of the district court, a fee book, a district court minute book, and a record of jurors for the district court. Records date 1847-1898, with the bulk dating 1860-1879. The last two items listed are in digital format and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Newton County (Tex.) Tax Assessor-Collector Records
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/00040/tsl-00040.html
Newton County (Tex.) Tax Assessor-Collector records reflect the office’s duties related to the assessment and collection of taxes and voter registration. The records include tax assessment rolls, delinquent tax rolls, abstract books, poll tax receipts, and voter registration receipts of women voters. Records date about 1846-1936, bulk 1847-1932. A 1912 Newton County tax roll is in digital format and is part of the Texas Digital Archive.
State Records
Texas National Research Laboratory Commission Records
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/40147/tsl-40147.html
Established in 1985 by the 69th Texas Legislature, the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission oversaw the process of siting the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas. Records include correspondence, memorandums, minutes, agenda, meeting summaries, meeting supporting documentation, reports, financial reports, studies, plans, agreements, settlements, contracts, proposals, photographs, maps, drawings, speeches, news releases, news clippings, publications, transcripts, audiocassettes, videocassettes, magnetic tapes, design specifications, environmental impact statements, socioeconomic studies, property inventories, research files, construction schedules, biographical sketches, administrative records, and notes, dating 1980-1997. Subjects include the site characterization and selection process of the Superconducting Super Collider, costs for the design and construction of a particle accelerator, geological features of Amarillo and Ellis County, collection and analysis of environmental data, and potential socioeconomic impacts of the project. External entities reflected include the US Department of Energy, Parsons Brinckerhoff, and Morrison Knudsen.
Texas Comptroller’s Office Executive Administration Division Correspondence
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/30202/tsl-30202.html
The Texas State Comptroller’s Office is responsible for collecting state revenue, tracking state expenditures, and monitoring the financial condition of the state. Documenting those duties, these are records of the Comptroller’s Office Executive Administration Division consisting of administrative correspondence (both incoming and especially outgoing letters, emails and memoranda, and attachments), superseded correspondence concerning executive orders and directives, legislative correspondence, and unprocessed correspondence on microfiche, dating 1940-2017, undated, bulk 1991-2017. Typically, correspondents are state legislators, state agency officials, the lieutenant governor, the governor, local officials (at the city, county, and school district level), federal officials, and corporate entities.
Revised Finding Aids
State Records
Texas Comptroller’s Office Executive Administration Division Records
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/50101/tsl-50101.html
The Texas State Comptroller’s Office is responsible for collecting state revenue, tracking state expenditures, and monitoring the financial condition of the state. These records document those duties, representing activities of the various division directors, the deputy comptrollers, and comptrollers Bob Bullock, John Sharp, Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn, and Susan Combs. The records consist of correspondence, memorandums, reports, speeches, clippings, invitations, thank-you notes, computer printouts, press releases, and other administrative documents, dating 1948-2000, bulk 1973-1988, as maintained by the Executive Administration Division of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Texas Governor Rick Perry Constituent Communication Office Correspondence
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/80030/tsl-80030.html
The Constituent Communication Office of the Texas Governor’s Office was responsible for preparing replies to many of the letters written to Governor Rick Perry. These records are correspondence with attachments sent to Governor Perry and responses sent by the Governor’s Office. Dates range from 1998 to 2015 and undated with the bulk of records dating 2001 to 2014.
Texas 2nd Court of Appeals Selected Case Files
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/50021/tsl-50021.html
Texas Courts of Civil Appeals were first established in 1891 by constitutional amendment (Article V, Section 6) to reduce the backlog of cases on the Texas Supreme Court docket. Courts of Civil Appeals are intermediate appellate courts between the trial courts and the Supreme Court. Records include briefs of appellants and appellees, motions, cover correspondence, statements of facts, opinions, arguments, and transcripts of court proceedings that comprise the case files of the Texas Court of Civil Appeals, Second Supreme Judicial District, from 1892 to1944, bulk 1892-1919.
Employees Retirement System of Texas Records
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/50070/tsl-50070.html
The Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) oversees retirement and health benefits for State of Texas employees to provide for, protect, and enhance the economic well-being of members, retirees, and their beneficiaries through effectively managing benefit programs, using sound actuarial principles and available resources consistent with applicable laws. The programs offered by ERS include benefit payments for both service-related and disability-related retirements and benefits for survivors of active and retired members. These records document the interests, activities, and functions of ERS and consist of correspondence, memoranda, memorandums of understanding, contracts, statements, meeting files, copies of legislation, action plans, proposed resolutions, notes, drafts, studies, reports, clippings, statistics, plans, financial records, publications, agreements, newsletters, press releases, pamphlets, questionnaires, and a floppy disk, dating 1942-2016 and undated.
Texas State Department of Education County Superintendent Records
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/15007/tsl-15007.html
The Texas State Department of Education (precursor to the Texas Education Agency) was the primary administrator and supervisor of public education in Texas. Under the State Department of Education the Office of County Superintendent’s duties were to be secretary and executive officer of the county school trustees, supervise school districts, approve school fund vouchers, distribute textbooks, hold teachers’ institutes, and take the scholastic census. The State Department of Education county superintendent records contain various reports (annual, scholastic census, school lands, and school building condition); annual statements of school funds, abstracts of scholastic census, and correspondence pertaining to common school districts under the supervision of the county superintendent, dating 1881-1932, bulk 1881-1911. Records for some common school district counties include resignations, trustees’ oaths, school progress reports, and financial statements.
Texas Supreme Court Records
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20169/tsl-20169.html
The Texas Supreme Court has final appellate jurisdiction in most civil and juvenile cases. It also has the authority to conduct proceedings for the removal or involuntary retirement of state judges; supervises State Bar operations; promulgates rules and regulations for the discipline, supervision, and disbarment of lawyers; and has supervisory and administrative control over the judicial branch. The records consist of case files, applications, opinions, dockets, indexes, registers, and minutes covering the period 1840-2004. Also present are the records of the Texas Commission of Appeals, consisting of opinions, dockets, and minutes, dating 1879-1892, 1918-1943. A portion of these materials has been digitized and is part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas State Board of Education School District Records
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/15005/tsl-15005.html
The Texas State Board of Education in conjunction with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction administered state management of public schools in Texas until the passage of the Gilmer-Aiken laws in 1949. The Texas State Board of Education school district records consist of annual/term reports, bonds of indebtedness, notices of incorporation, scholastic censuses, and treasurer’s annual statements. These records provide details on school district finances, student and teacher demographics, and school facilities and date 1879-1938 and undated, bulk 1880-1912.
New in the Texas Digital Archive (TDA)
Texas Constitutions Collection
https://tsl.access.preservica.com/tda/texas-state-government/texas-constitutions
A government constitution sets out the fundamental principles and common rules by which that government operates. In this context, a constitutional convention is used to either draft or re-draft a government’s constitution. This can be differentiated from a constitutional amendment, which either adds to or alters specific aspects of an existing constitution without re-writing the whole. These collections represent the records of specific constitutional conventions. Only the resulting constitutions themselves have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Price Daniel Audiovisual Materials and Related Papers
https://tsl.access.preservica.com/tda/sam-houston-center/shc-government-records/
Price Daniel served as Texas attorney general, US senator, and Texas governor. These audiovisual materials and related papers date 1952-1962, 1980, undated, and encompass Daniel’s service in these offices, as well as his US Senate and Texas gubernatorial campaigns, and contain one item from after his political career. Topics covered include narcotic laws, segregation, states’ rights, traffic safety, and Texas business and agriculture. The most common film format is 16mm black-and-white film, and audio materials include open reel audiotapes and instantaneous recordings. Some audiovisual materials include accompanying documents.
Newton County Tax Assessor-Collector Records
https://tsl.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/so_263fdb4c-14d7-4f1b-a0af-3dfbb858b14a/
Newton County (Tex.) Tax Assessor-Collector records reflect the office’s duties related to the assessment and collection of taxes and voter registration. The records include tax assessment rolls, delinquent tax rolls, abstract books, poll tax receipts, and voter registration receipts of women voters. Records date about 1846-1936, bulk 1847-1932. A 1912 Newton County tax roll is in digital format and is part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Newton County District Clerk Records
https://tsl.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/so_c31846f2-9651-4654-b576-c4c7303ba8b6/
District courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in law and equity, which includes criminal cases of the grade of felony and misdemeanors involving official misconduct, divorce, cases of title to liens on land, election contests, and civil actions where the amount in controversy is at least $200. The district clerk serves as the clerk and custodian of all records for the district courts, indexes and secures all court records, and collects filing fees. These Newton County (Tex.) District Clerk records consist of civil and criminal docket books of the district court, a fee book, a district court minute book, and a record of jurors for the district court. Records date 1847-1898, with the bulk dating 1860-1879. The last two items listed are in digital format and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
Texas State Archives Broadsides and Printed Ephemera Collection
https://tsl.access.preservica.com/tda/special-collections/#broadsides
The Broadsides and printed ephemera collection is an artificial collection assembled by Texas State Archives staff beginning in the early 20th century. It consists of approximately 700 documents related to Texas and United States history. Printed ephemera was produced to distribute information as events unfolded, and it offers unique snapshots of Texas’s and the nation’s past. The ephemera in this collection includes both originals and copies of various formats, dating 1645-1999, bulk 1835-1930s. The original documents in this collection have been digitized and are part of the Texas Digital Archive.
For information about access to TSLAC collections please contact our reference staff at ref@tsl.texas.gov or 512-463-5455.