Community Archival Collections
Everybody has that special box of memories: baby books, wedding albums, school pictures, business records, wills, deeds, and church baptisms. However accidents occur and the items can be damaged or destroyed. Family members move or dies and oftentimes the information about the individuals, places, and events documented by these personal collections is lost - or worse, the collections themselves are gone forever. As part of the Voices from Small Places approach, we document and preserve these community collections in two approaches. First we digitize when possible all materials and provide the owner with the digital copies. Of the items digitized, we select those which have broader social, cultural, or economic connections business records or photographs of community events or well-known structures and make them available online. Secondly when the materials are returned to the owner, they are returned in archival quality sleeves, boxes, or other holders to prevent future damage from the environment or handling.
Because community members have been extremely generous in allowing access to their personal materials, it is not practical for us to post all of the items on this website. However, you can peruse all of the digitized materials through the Voices from Small Places digital collection in the East Texas Research Center's Digital Archives where the original scans are maintained.
Because community members have been extremely generous in allowing access to their personal materials, it is not practical for us to post all of the items on this website. However, you can peruse all of the digitized materials through the Voices from Small Places digital collection in the East Texas Research Center's Digital Archives where the original scans are maintained.
East Texas Digital Archives
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East Texas Digital Archives’ mission is to provide virtual access to archival material that supports the educational and research goals of Stephen F. Austin State University through the collaborative efforts of East Texas community members and other institutions. The East Texas Research Center at SFASU, which maintains Digital Archives & Collections, provide digital copies of photographs, documents, maps, books and other archival materials associated with the East Texas geographical region from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Red River and east of the Trinity River to Western Louisiana, which was once part of Texas. The digitized material is freely available to students, teachers and the general public for their historical and genealogical research.
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