University Archives

Hours: Mon - Fri, 8:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Room 400, fourth floor northwest corner, Newton Gresham Library (see floormap)
Contact: Barbara Kievit-Mason, 936-294-3699, lib_bak@shsu.edu

Mission and Collection Description

The mission of the University Archives is to collect, preserve, and maintain materials related to the history of the past and present of Sam Houston State University. The archives collections is made up of historical and recent items, including but not limited to: yearbooks from 1910 on, the school newspaper, The Houstonian, bulletins and catalogs for undergraduate and graduate students, presidential papers from the various Sam Houston State University presidents, historian and professor, J. L. Clark Collection of Texas materials, student handbooks and directories, newsletters, Alumni Association related materials, university reports, Texas State University System Board of Regents reports, historic photographs from across the years, commencement videos and commencement programs, blue prints, the C. C. Springfield negatives collection and many more items.

Online Materials

A sampling of items from the University Archives is available in the Library's Digital Collections.

Additionally, the University Archives and the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, along with the City of Huntsville and Walker County, participated in an online historical photograph database called WalkerCountyTreasures.com. This website features photograph collections and other genealogical materials relating to Walker County and Huntsville from various years and sources.

University Records Retention Schedule

The University Records Retention Schedule provides details about how long various types of university records must be maintained. The most current Schedule may be accessed online.

Collection-Building and Donations

The University Archives is always searching for materials relating to the history of the University. If you would like to donate materials, please contact Barbara Kievit-Mason, Staff Associate in the University Archives, at 936-294-3699 or lib_bak@shsu.edu. Consult the University Records Retention Schedule.

Role of the University Archives

From the local standpoint, the most important role of both Special Collections and University Archives is that they represent the university's most concentrated effort to collect, preserve, and make available the materials recording historical development of the institution, the city of Huntsville, the Walker County area of East Texas, and the individuals who have played important roles in this development. It was this commitment that led the Texas State Library and Archives to designate the Newton Gresham Library as the Regional Historical Resource Depository for a nine-county region including Anderson, Freestone, Grimes, Houston, Leon, Madison, Trinity, and Walker counties.