- Texas State Library and Archives Commission
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The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) refers to the agency in the state of Texas that is charged with overseeing and assisting with state-wide library programs, meeting the reading-related needs of Texans with disabilities, and finally preserving and providing access to significant Texas documents.
The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives & Library Building, located at 1201 Brazos Street in the Capitol Complex in Downtown Austin, houses the Archives, the Genealogy collection, a reference collection, the Talking Books offices, and the main administrative offices.[1][2]
The State Records Center and Talking Book Circulation Department, located elsewhere in Austin, which houses the State and Local Records Management Division and the Talking Book Program's circulation department; and the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, located near Liberty, Texas, which serves as a museum focusing on Southeastern Texas and also houses a portion of the State Library's collection.
Contents
History
The Texas State Library was originally established as the National Library of the Republic of Texas on 24 January 1839 by a joint resolution of the Third Congress of the Republic of Texas.[3] $10,000 was designated for its use, though the ongoing bankruptcy of the Republic meant that no more than $250, spent on a set of encyclopedias, was used during this initial phase of development.[3]
After the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1848, legislation was passed requiring copies of all important state-related documents to be transported to the Library of Congress, other US state seats, or foreign powers, as deemed necessary. During this time, the Secretary of the State of Texas was to act as the state librarian. In 1854 an act was passed creating a separate library for the Supreme Court of Texas, and in 1855 $5000 was appropriated for the purchase of books for the State Library, though any major work done on the library was postponed until after the American Civil War.[3]
The office of State Librarian was officially established after the Civil War, and Robert Josselyn was the first appointment. The expenses pertaining to running or more fully establishing the library were seen as detrimental to the project of Reconstruction, however, and the library was again placed at the hands of the state department until 1876, when The Department of Insurance, Statistics, and History was established.[3]
The commissioner of this department was in charge of the State Library, and from 1877 to 1880 a large number of documents, including the Nacogdoches Archives, were transferred to the State Library. On 9 November 1881 a massive fire destroyed the Texas Capitol Building, where the library was housed, and ruined much of the collection.[3]
In 1891 construction of the present Capitol building was completed, and Governor James S. Hogg created the office of historical clerk, adding a Spanish translator and an archivist were added to the staff two years later. In 1902 a Texas Library Association was organized, aided by the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, and in 1909 legislation was obtained for the organization of the Texas State Library and Historical Commission (now the Texas State Library and Archives Commission).[3]
Not until 1957, when Gov. Marion Price Daniel, Sr. went before the Fifty-fifth Legislature and recommended that a building specifically for the State Library be erected, was there adequate housing for the growing collection.[3]
Present day
The present building, named for Lorenzo de Zavala, was dedicated on April 10, 1962. Built of granite from the same quarry that supplied materials for the Capitol, the outer walls are made of sunset red granite. The building is 257 feet long, 77 feet wide, and 60 feet tall. It has five main floors and seven stack floors (the stacks are not open to the public). The three main collections open to public use are the Genealogy collection and Archives, both housed on the first floor, and the Reference collection, housed on the third. The library is scheduled to undergo a significant renovation beginning early 2007.
See also
- Austin Public Library
- Houston Public Library
- Dallas Public Library
- San Antonio Public Library
- Harris County Public Library
- Fort Worth Library
- Alamo Area Library System
References
- ^ "Visit the Texas State Library." Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Accessed August 31, 2008.
- ^ "Contact Us." Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Accessed August 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g "TEXAS STATE LIBRARY". Handbook of Texas Online. October 12, 2006. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/lct2.html.
Further reading
- Cummings, Jennifer, “‘How Can We Fail?’ The Texas State Library’s Traveling Libraries and Bookmobiles, 1916–1966,” Libraries and the Cultural Record, 44 (no. 3, 2009), 299–325.
External links
Categories:- State agencies of Texas
- Research libraries
- Libraries in Texas
- State libraries of the United States
- State archives of the United States
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