STEPHENVILLE — Dr. Deborah Liles, Tarleton State University Associate Professor and the W. K. Gordon Endowed Chair in Texas History, has been unanimously elected to the board of the nonprofit Texas Library and Archives Foundation.
TxLAF supports the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in promoting learning, literacy and the preservation of Texas history. The volunteer TxLAF board works with museums, schools, universities and fundraisers to share TSLAC resources and make them available for teaching, research and public exhibits.
“As someone who spends a great deal of time conducting research all over Texas, I am thrilled to be working with the foundation to promote the diverse history housed in our state archives,” said Dr. Liles. “TSLAC is one of the very best archives in our region, and being chosen as a board member is truly an honor.”
From founding documents and maps to films, photographs and more, the archive preserves the rich history of the Lone Star State. It contains more than 750,000 photos dating to the earliest days of photography in the 1800s. The architectural drawing collections include plans for the State Capitol, Governor’s Mansion, Texas state parks and the renovation of the Battleship Texas.
The flag collection features 40 flags and banners of three Mexican battalions captured at the battle of San Jacinto, as well as a rare 28-star U.S. flag reflecting the annexation of Texas as the 28th state in the Union. More than 9,000 maps document the historic boundaries, topography, railroad lines, military forts, rivers and mountains, and other significant aspects of Texas. Genealogical collections contain ship manifests, census figures, vital statistics indexes, county tax records, newspapers and access to popular databases.
Formed in 1909, TSLAC enables access to information by enhancing Texas public, academic and school libraries with a variety of programs and resources, in addition to preserving the state’s archival record. TSLAC also assists other public agencies with records management and advocates for the reading needs of Texans with visual impairments.
Because of limitations on state and federal funding, TSLAC’s programs frequently require additional capital. TxLAF supports those critical and often restricted components like awareness campaigns that enable services such as the Talking Book Program to reach additional communities.
To find out more about TxLAF, visit https://www.txlaf.org/. Learn more about TSLAC at https://www.tsl.texas.gov/.
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