Contact Information
University Archives
Alkek Library, Room 580
Research by appointment
Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm
The University Archives is physically located on the 5th floor of the Alkek Library. In-person and virtual research assistance is generally available Monday through Friday between 8:30am and 4:30pm (excluding holidays and energy conservation days).
Research appointments are required for in-person research to allow time for retrieval of offsite materials, to reserve research space, and to allow staff to sanitize the space between researchers. Walk-in assistance is dependent on staff and space availability, as researchers with appointments are given priority. Masks are encouraged.
To request virtual or in-person assistance, please Ask an Archivist.
Sources for basic information about TxState
Looking for basic information about campus? Start here! There are a wide variety of resources that provide information about overall University history - many of which are available online.
The links below provide an overview of the history and culture of Texas State University.
- History & TraditionsAnother page dedicated to links about campus history, including landmarks and traditions.
- Fifty Years of Teacher Education: A Brief History of Southwest Texas State Teachers College, San Marcos, Texas, 1901-1951The first of three official published histories about Texas State, written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the date that the City of San Marcos donated the land upon which the school was built.
- Beacon on the Hill: Southwest Texas State University, 1903-1978The second official history was written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the opening of the school in the fall of 1903.
- Up the Hill, Down the Years: A Century in the Life of the College in San Marcos, Southwest Texas State University, 1899-1999The third and most recent official history of the university was written to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Texas Legislature's Senate Bill 260 that allowed for the creation of the school. Links to most of the photos used in the book are also available at this site.
- Article on the history of Old MainOriginally published in Hillviews [alumni magazine], Vol. 25, no. 1, Winter 1995, pp. 8-9, & 24
Article focuses on the history of the university's first building and its importance to the campus. - Southwest Texas State Teachers College: A Documentary History, Volume 1This is a 1939 thesis by Ruby Henderson. Topics include early history of teacher training in Texas, establishing the normal school, faculty listing, the laboratory school, management of the college, and matters regarding enrollment and graduates.
- Our Texas State World (video)View Margaret Vaverek's (Reference/Faculty Outreach Librarian and alumna) "Our Texas State World," a history of the University on the hill and how it relates to the very important topic of sustainability. (For a PDF transcript, see link at the bottom of this column.)
- Our Texas State World transcriptPDF document
Things Other People Wrote About Texas State
- The history and growth of the Southwest Texas State Teachers College.A thesis done by University of Texas student John Marvin Smith, 1930.
Historical course descriptions
University course catalogs are available online through Digital Collections.
Other Historical Resources
There are a number of other historical resources available beyond the Texas State campus that may be useful when conducting research. This is a short list of select sites that have information related to Hays County, San Marcos, and our campus.