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Internal Research

The University Archives holds resources that can assist with documenting the history of units, departments, and the university itself.  We will be happy to assist with identifying materials and making them available for use but departments are expected to provide staff or students to perform the actual research.

Faculty and Staff Photographs

In many (but not all) cases, we can provide a photographs of individuals who worked at Texas State prior to 1990.  Images are filed alphabetically by last name, and are usually black-and-white portraits.  Please request photographs using the Ask an Archivist form.

Departmental Histories

Few department histories exist in summary form.  Histories of Computer Science (1983), English (1979), Theatre (1972) and the departments within the School of Applied Arts & Technology (1999) are available online in Digital Collections; additional histories will be added as they are discovered and/or received. 

Departments and programs that plan to incorporate historical research into celebrations of milestones and anniversaries are encouraged to start researching well before the date of the event because the process can be time-consuming.  University Archives staff will be happy to assist with identifying materials and making them available for use, but departments are expected to provide staff or students to perform the actual research.

  • Course catalogs are a great place to start, as they contain information about faculty members and departmental organization. 
  • Pedagogs are a rich source of information about the school, and often include photographs of faculty and staff by department.
  • The student newspaper, commonly referred to as "the Star," may include stories about significant events in department/program history. Issues listed below are online; remaining issues are available on microfilm.  To make efficient use of research time, it is helpful to have specific milestones with dates in mind to narrow your search.

University Celebrations and Commemorations

The University Archives has assisted with events such as Lyndon B. Johnson's 100th birthday celebration, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act, and the 25th anniversary of the Alkek Library.  We also contributed to the housing timeline mural in the common room of Chautauqua and Gaillardia Halls.

Help Us Preserve Your History

Since the creation of the Archives is still fairly recent in Texas State history, resources are often limited to materials that were transferred by the News Service (circa 1950s-1980s).  To ensure the preservation of your own unit, department, school, etc., please work with the archivists to transfer materials that can be preserved for future generations.