Special Collections

There are more than 1,000 manuscript (MS) collections in the Woodson Research Center that focus on the history of Texas and the Greater Houston area, politics, entrepreneurship, oil and gas, architecture, women’s history, and fine and performing arts. Formats in these primary source collections include photographs, letters, diaries, reports, financial records, memorabilia, land deeds, computer disks, email, maps, and many others. 

Each special collection has a finding aid, which is a descriptive guide designed to assist researchers in understanding the contents of each collection. The finding aid often includes a collection inventory along with important context, such as biographical information. Some collection materials are available for viewing in our reading room; others have been digitized in our institutional repository or other places online.

Service Description

Would you like to search finding aids/collection inventories from institutions all over Texas? View our finding aids and others at Texas Archival Resources Online.