Explore digitized primary sources that document Texas history through newspapers, letters, oral histories, photographs and more. Most of these databases require UT affiliation to access. For openly available resources, see the Digital Collections page.
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Digitized copies and content of Texas newspapers, including The Austin Daily Texan (1900-2019), Galveston Daily News (1865-2017), San Antonio Express (1865-1977), San Antonio Light (1883-1977)and hundreds of other Texas newspapers.
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Provides full text and full image articles with digital reproductions of every page, every article and every issue in PDF format. As the leading newspaper in the capital of Texas, the Historical Austin American Statesman provides researchers with unique insights into the political, economic, cultural, and social life of this important state, as well as the southwest U.S. from the late 19th through the 20th century. The paper has strong central Texas coverage, especially for political reporting.
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From 1717 through 1836 the governments of Spain and Mexico collected in San Antonio de Bexar (when that city was the capital of Texas under Spanish and Mexican rule) an amazing series of official documents detailing the military, civilian, and political life of the Spanish province of Texas and the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas. These records, which have become known as the Bexar Archives, constitute the most complete and detailed primary source in existence for the study of colonial Texas. The Archives, housed at the University of Texas at Austin, consist of 250,000 pages of manuscript documentation and more than 4,000 pages of printed material on colonial and regional history.
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Digitized copies and content of the Daily Texan.
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Provides comprehensive coverage for one of the largest daily newspapers in Texas. Accessible by keyword and date searching. Documents major events in Texas, the United States, and the world, providing valuable primary source information. Includes classified and display advertising, photos and graphics.
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Includes all the articles published since the first issue of the paper in 1881. Provides full text and full image articles with digital reproductions of every page, every article and every issue in PDF format. In addition to news stories, includes editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, photos, and advertisements.
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Research Houston history through the Houston Chronicle Historical Collection. Study trends, issues, events, advertisements, companies and more through historical and current full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device. Includes full newspaper pages. Additional coverage may be available for 2018-present.
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A newspaper database with over 200 Texas newspapers ranging from 1842-2024.
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Full text of publications from Texas counties.
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Stories of Latinos in US history.
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Collection of African American newspapers that contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s, first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements all of which embody the African-American experience.
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Updated regularly (until completed). When completed, will provide online access to approximately 270 African American U.S. newspapers. Features papers from more than 35 states. The newspapers were scanned from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress.
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Updated regularly (until completed). When completed, will provide online access to approximately 270 African American U.S. newspapers. Features papers from more than 35 states. The newspapers were scanned from the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress.
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African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
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Provide access to source materials on the development of the American West. Contains a wide range of documents, including original manuscripts, ephemeral material (trade cards, wanted posters, photos, claim certificates, news-sheets etc), maps, and rare printed works. Topics covered include Native Americans, pioneers and homesteaders, mining, the Mormon Exodus, transportation, outlaws, the environment, and border issues.
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Artemis Primary Sources is an integrated research environment that allows users to search across Gale primary source collections. Artemis Primary Sources takes users beyond a simple search and retrieve workflow, allowing them to analyze content using frequency and term-relationship tools. Currently, Artemis Primary Sources includes Eighteenth Century Collections Online and Nineteenth Century Collections Online. Other resources are being added.
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Research Houston history through the Houston Post Historical Collection with coverage from 1886 – 1995. Primary source information to examine events, issues and daily life in the context of the historical period, featuring archived full newspaper pages. Available remotely 24/7 on any device. Includes full newspaper pages.
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Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives
As Mexican soldiers fought the mostly Anglo-American colonists and volunteers at the Alamo in 1836, San Antonio's Tejano population was caught in the crossfire, both literally and symbolically. Though their origins were in Mexico, the Tejanos had put down lasting roots in Texas and did not automatically identify with the Mexican cause. Indeed, as the accounts in this new collection demonstrate, their strongest allegiance was to their fellow San Antonians, with whom they shared a common history and a common plight as war raged in their hometown. Timothy M. Matovina here gathers all known Tejano accounts of the Battle of the Alamo. These accounts consist of first reports of the battle, including Juan N. Seguín's funeral oration at the interment ceremony of the Alamo defenders, conversations with local Tejanos, unpublished petitions and depositions, and published accounts from newspapers and other sources. This communal response to the legendary battle deepens our understanding of the formation of Mexican American consciousness and identity.
Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas
Citizens at Last is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of the suffrage movement in Texas. Richly illustrated and featuring over thirty primary documents, it reveals what it took to win the vote.
The Laws of Slavery in Texas: Historical Documents and Essays
The laws that governed the institution of slavery in early Texas were enacted over a fifty-year period in which Texas moved through incarnations as a Spanish colony, a Mexican state, an independent republic, a part of the United States, and a Confederate state. This unusual legal heritage sets Texas apart from the other slave-holding states and provides a unique opportunity to examine how slave laws were enacted and upheld as political and legal structures changed. The Laws of Slavery in Texas makes that examination possible by combining seminal historical essays with excerpts from key legal documents from the slave period and tying them together with interpretive commentary by the foremost scholar on the subject, Randolph B. Campbell. Campbell's commentary focuses on an aspect of slave law that was particularly evident in the evolving legal system of early Texas: the dilemma that arose when human beings were treated as property. As Campbell points out, defining slaves as moveable property, or chattel, presented a serious difficulty to those who wrote and interpreted the law because, unlike any other form of property, slaves were sentient beings. They were held responsible for their crimes, and in numerous other ways statute and case law dealing with slavery recognized the humanness of the enslaved. Attempts to protect the property rights of slave owners led to increasingly restrictive laws--including laws concerning free blacks--that were difficult to uphold. The documents in this collection reveal both the roots of the dilemma and its inevitable outcome.
A Life among the Texas Flora: Ferdinand Lindheimer's Letters to George Engelmann
His comments in his letters to Engelmann about the personalities and practices of the Texas German immigrants and their leaders are at times witty and biting. His wealth of experiences and pointed observations make this a story that will intrigue botanists, Germanists, historians, and Texans everywhere.
Life in Laredo: A Documentary History from the Laredo Archives
Based on documents from the Laredo Archives, this work shows the evolution and development of daily life in a town under the flags of Spain, Mexico, and the United States.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.
