The Briscoe Center’s Texas history archives have no peer in size, quality, and diversity. Within its collections, the Briscoe Center has primary sources—documents, records, newspapers, photographs, maps, and oral histories—of great breadth and depth on almost all subjects related to the story of Texas. The Briscoe Center’s Texana library of rare and scarce books on the history of Texas is the largest and most valuable collection of its kind. The Briscoe Center is also one of the nation’s leading research centers for Southern history. Its Southern history holdings include the Littlefield Southern History Collection, the Natchez Trace Collection, the Parsons Collection on the Louisiana Purchase, and the Pugh Plantation (Louisiana) Archive.
 

The Briscoe Center’s photography holdings include the largest collection of photographs of the United States presidency outside Washington, D.C., as well as the largest existing collection of photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Briscoe Center owns more than eight million photographic images from the late 1840s to the present, including the Alamo daguerreotype, the oldest datable photograph taken in Texas. The collections place special emphasis on the archives of leading photojournalists.

 

When researching, you fill out a request and the staff will bring the item to your table.  To help with research of our materials, unlimited scratch paper and pencils are available for researchers to use. They also have magnifying glasses, loupes, weights, book cradles, a camera stand, and a light box. A digital camera and USB drive are available to check out as well. Secure lockers are available to store your personal belongings while you’re in the reading room.

 

We look forward to seeing you there!