Introduction to The Wittliff Collections
The Wittliff is the nationally renowned research center, archive, and museum at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
The Wittliff Collections collect, preserve and present the cultural heritage of Texas, the Southwest & Mexico through works of the region’s storytellers—writers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers and other artists—to educate, engage and inspire.
Digital Resources
The collections listed below are selected highlights. Please visit The Wittliff's Digital Collections page to see all of the collections currently available for online access.
Austin Film Festival Onstory Archive
The Austin Film Festival, a non-profit organization founded in 1994 and based in Austin, Texas, hosts an annual Austin Film Festival & Conference, a gathering of professional and amateur screenwriters and filmmakers to participate in panel presentations, parties, Screenplay and Teleplay Competitions, and screenings. The collection consists of audio and video of recordings of Austin Film Festival & Conference panel presentations from 1994-2008. One example from the 200+ recordings available:
Should Hollywood Movies Reflect the Real World? 2009
Panel discussion with filmmakers talking about how movies today address history and social issues. The panelists discuss why attempting to create 100% accurate history on film doesn't work, providing examples of how specific films address real-life issues in a more subversive way. Using specific films as examples, they discuss how filmmakers' tools can use movies to address real life issues such as war, race, and class. The Q&A session at the end of the interview is worth a listen as well.
How to cite: Austin Film Festival Recordings, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.
Action Magazine - part of the Sam Kindrick Papers
Clarence Samuel Kindrick (November 3, 1934 - ) is a Texas journalist, author and publisher. The longtime newspaper reporter and columnist is best known as the founder of Action Magazine in March 1975, and for his wild and wooly chronicling of the outlaw country music movement of the 1970s from his home base of San Antonio and Bulverde.
Action Magazine Records, 1975-2018
This series contains a near-complete run of the newspaper from 1975-2018. This publication documented the music scene in and around San Antonio, Texas. Cover stories included musicians such as Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kinky Friedman, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Dolly Parton, and later expanded to include events such as Chilympiad, professional football in San Antonio, and local politics.
How to cite: Action Magazine Records, 1975-2018. Sam Kindrick Papers, SWWC-134. The Wittliff Collections.
The Russell Lee Collection came to The Wittliff Collections through donations since 1986 by Jean Lee, Bill Wittliff, Dow Chapman and Wally Ellinger. This collection of photographs, correspondence, personal and legal documents, artifacts, paintings and publications ranges in date from 1901-1991, the bulk of the material dates from 1936-1942. Two examples of his Depression-era photographs in this collection:
How to cite: Russell Lee Collection, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.
In July, 1991, a team of photographers and oral historians from Texas State University set out to retrace the steps of Farm Security Administration photographer, Russell Lee (1903-1986). Fifty years after Lee visited and photo-documented the living and working conditions of the Depression era communities of San Augustine, Texas, and Pie Town, New Mexico, this group was inspired by Lee’s FSA images held at Texas State’s Wittliff Collections. The digitized portion of the collection includes photographs, audio oral histories, and video recordings.
Russell Lee Interview, Undated
In this 25-minute videotaped interview, likely recorded in the mid-1970s, Lee talks about his job as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration. He also talks about his experiences in WWII.
How to cite: "Retracing Russell Lee" Project Collection, The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University.
Coming Soon - Fall 2024
Borderland postcards, featuring cities on the border between Mexico and the United States
Over 2,000 postcards (dating from 1907-1980s) in the Daniel D. Arreola Collection are being prepared for digitization this fall (2024). Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora are represented, documented through time using real photograph post cards as well as commercially printed cards designed for tourists. Topics include border crossings, customs/inspection stations, bars and nightclubs, city streets, residential areas, migrant camps, shops and markets, and documentation of some damaged caused during the 1911 revolution. One of the more unique aspects of this collection is that the handwritten messages on the postcards have been transcribed; tourists comment on the country, the food, and the people.
