By Digitization and Curation Assistant, Abigail Moon During these past few months, I curated an exhibit about the origins of Texas folk music at a small coffeehouse in Dallas in the early 1960s. It was called the Rubaiyat, which can be found in the Avenida gallery. The source materials for the exhibit are from the …
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By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin. The newest collection available online features photographs of musicians from the rock and punk scenes in the San Antonio and Austin areas. Donated by Clyde Kimsey, this collection spans the years 1978–1982 and includes backstage shots, headshots, and live performance photos. Many of these images appeared in the indie music …
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By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin The Soap Creek Saloon calendars created by artist Kerry Awn are now available online to researchers at The Wittliff Collections website. These calendars were used to promote the music venue that served as an unofficial hub of Austin’s counterculture and progressive country music scene from 1974 until its closure in …
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By part-time photo archive assistant Zade Williamson. When I was asked to return to the Wittliff this Summer for a project, the answer was an immediate yes. I had previously interned at the Wittliff as a student and was excited to return for the task of rehousing and creating a preliminary inventory of archival materials …
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This post is by guest researcher and Texas State University Alumni Hector Aguayo. A year ago, I embarked on a long-awaited road trip through Texas, retracing the footsteps of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer whose survival story stands apart from the conventional narratives of European conquest. As a proud graduate of Texas …
Continue reading "We Matter, We’ve Always Been Here: How a 500-Year-Old Manuscript Helped Me Find Closure"
By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin Before the musical influence of Motown, there was Duke-Peacock, a Black-owned record label located in Houston, Texas, that recorded some of the biggest names in blues, funk, and gospel music. Part of the Doug Hanners collection, these publicity photographs feature incredible artists, including Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Willie Mae “Big Mama” …
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The Wittliff Collections have acquired the archive of literary legend Charles Portis, whose personal papers were discovered in a hidden cache two years after the author’s death. The self-effacing Portis, an Arkansas native who died in 2020 at age 86, avoided publicity and kept a low profile during his lifetime. Yet his five acclaimed novels, …
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Light seemed to follow Connie Todd everywhere. She had a natural stage presence, a gift she’d cultivated from an early age. Connie was only fourteen when she joined a prominent Austin orchestra as its lead vocalist in the 1950s. Her voice remained unforgettable to all who knew her. It flowed like a crystalline Hill Country …
Continue reading "The Remarkable Connie Todd (1941-2024) Wittliff Director 1997-2010"
Tesoros: Treasures of Mexican Photography is a new gallery at The Wittliff that highlights treasures from our extensive collection of Mexican photography. The inaugural exhibition was curated by two student interns, Deandra Lee and Blanca Luna Nuñez, working alongside Carla Ellard, photo-archivist. Deandra, BFA in Photography ‘24, interned at The Wittliff for course credit with …
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Continuing our series of blog written by our student employees, Alie Dowell writes about her experiences working as a metadata assistant. Alie assisted with The Wittliff’s metadata and archival description initiatives focusing on the migration of Microsoft Word and PDF collection inventories into ArchivesSpace to enhance online discovery and access. The Wittliff’s ArchivesSpace site can …
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