Texas Research



1927-Houston soccer teamAs big as the State of Texas is about how much is in the collections amassed for the online Portal of Texas History. If you have any ancestors who were ever in Texas over the decades this would be a site to investigate. The various collections come from genealogical societies, historical archives, libraries, numerous counties, private collections and museums. It is great to have such a massive set of collections to explore more about Texas.

Just a few of the varied collections include photos from Aubrey, Texas at the turn of the 20th century; 10,000 photos covering Abilene during most of the 20th century; Bell County Democrat newspaper from late 1800s into early 1910s; Cherokeean Herald newspaper in Rusk is Texas’ oldest first published in 1850; city directories; German Immigration to Texas; Dallas & the Assassination of President Kennedy with 404 images; map collections; Gulf Coast of Texas in postcards; college and school yearbooks; newspapers covering the state; and many more.

There are different methods for searching. They have at the top, tabs titled ‘Subjects, Dates, Locations and Types’ which can help narrow the search. With location you select a county to explore what is available in the numerous collections. Harris County has 8,798 items to view, everything from photos, journals, records, letters, maps, anything related to Harris Co.

For newspapers when an item is located, it will highlight where the keyword you searched in located on the page. Very helpful! All scanned images can be saved to your computer.

With such a series of collections of all types and covering over a hundred years, quite a bit of new information and possible photos can really add to the family collection.

Photo: The Houston soccer team in 1927. The listing has all the players named. Where else could such a rare and priceless image be located – what a treasure.

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