Lone Star Family Trails: Recent Episodes
Texas State Genealogical Society
The goal of the podcast is to introduce our membership to resources, records, and the historical context of the Lone Star State: Texas.
Are you unfamiliar with the history of the Texas Rangers throughout the years? Are you wondering why this repository is a must for anyone with a Texas Ranger Relative? Do you need additional information for your applicaiton for the TxSGS Texas Ranger Certificate? Then this podcast is one you should make the time to listen to.
The goal of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society is "to preserve and protect collections of written, visual, and audible materials thaat documen the history of the Dallas Jewish Community." (website https://djhs.org/#). With information available online and in-person, they hold cemetery information, city directories, photographs, and congregational history, the Dallas Jewish Historical Society is a must for anyone researching their Jewish ancestors who lived in Dallas.
The Digital PV Panther Project: Reclaiming Black Rural History Through Archival Justice, was formed in 2022 by Prairie View A&M University. Their mission is to "Eliminate historical silences through digital storytelling and prevent the erasure of African American history through historic preservation at PVAMU." (Website: https://pvpantherproject.com). DeWayne with the help of students and grants is working to digitize the collections held by PVAMU, as well as local collections given to the univeristy. Here about this project that is growing and providing resources for genealogists about black rural communities in Texas.
The Portal to Texas History was first introduced in our podcast in August 2022. We are back now learning about the updates that are happening. Today they have expanded to over 2,500,000 total items containing about 23,000,000 files. They typically see 1 million users each month. The partners have expanded to 549. Listen and learn more about this critical Texas resource.
Do you have someone who came to Texas through Galveston? Or, do yo have smoeone who lived in Galveston after statehood? Then this is the place to visit! Kaitlin Eckmann, the archivist for the Galveston & Texas History Center did a wonderful job talking about the resources for genealogists and family historians that are housed at their facility.
This special podcast includes interviews of each of the 10 speakers for TxSGS Live! days (November 7-8) for the 2025 TxSGS Family History Conference "Deep[ in the Heart Discovering Family Roots."
This episode includes Ari Wilkins and Andrew Redfern. The speakers were asked about what their talk entails, why you should attend their lecture and what they hope that attendees at the conference will gain by listening in.
This special pcast includes intereview of each of the 10 speakers for TxSGS Live! days (November 7-8) for the 2025 TxSGS Family History Conference "Deep the Heart Discovering Family Roots."
This episode includes Deborah A. Abbott and Craig R. Scott. The speakers are asked about what their talk entails, why you should attend their lecture and what they hope that attendees at the conference will gain by listening in.
This special podcast includes interview of each of the 10 speakers for TxSGS Live! days (November 7-8) for the 2025 TxSGS Family History Conference "Deep in the Heart Discovering Family Roots."
This episode includes Diana Elder and Diane Richard. The speakers are asked about what their talk entails, why you should attend their lecture and what they hope that attendees at the conference will gain by listening in.
This special podcast includes interview of each of the 10 speakers for TxSGS Live! days (November 7-8) for the 2025 TxSGS Family History Conference "Deep in the Heart Discovering Family Roots."
This episode includdes J. Mark Lowe and Kelvin Meyers. The speakesr are asked about what their talk entails, why you should attend their lecture and what they hope that attendees at the conference will gain by listening in.
This special podcast includes interviews of two of the 10 speakers for TxSGS Live! days (November 7-8) for the 2025 TxSGS Family History Conference "Deep in the Heart Discovering Family Roots."
This session includes Julia A. Anderson and Katy Rowe-Schurwanz. The speakers were asked about what their talk entails, why you should attend their lecture and what they hope that attendees at the conference will gain by listening in.
This was a special edition podcast, interviewing the author, Garyy Pinkerton of Trammel's Trace The First Road To Texas From the North. Although the book was published in 2015, it continues to garner interest amongst historians, genealogists and East Texas history buffs interested in this first road to Texas. Gary offers insight into his research, the meandering road of Trammel's Trace and the hstorical background of Nicholas Trammel.
This episode gives insight into the Harrison County Historical Museum and the Inez Hatley Hughes Historical Research Center located in Marshall TX. It provides essential insights into the region's rich historical narrative, facilitating education and research for historians, genealogists and the general public. This will become a "must visit" if you have family from Harrison County Texas.
This episode is designed to offer the audience a glimpse of the topics and speakers that are schedule for November 1-2, as part of TxSGS Live!, an integral piece of the 2024 TxSGS Annual Conference: Navigating Your Family Tree. Each speaker has been interviewed, learning about the title of their presentation and the content that they will discuss. In addition, the audience learns aout some of the other pre-recorded sessions that these speakers will be ofering as part of the 50 total sessions available for the conference.
Information on registration and packages is offered at the end of the podcast.
The Genealogy and Local History Department of Fort Bend County Libraries offers a wide array of information for those interested in the southeastern United States and surrounding Areas to Fort Bend. As part of the George Memorial Library and Rgional Historical Resource Depository (RHRD) the Genealogy and Local History Department has many items available that can aid genealogy researchers. Daniel Sample, the Genealogy Manager has increased the holdins, and has also helped to prioritze the Obituary Database, a searchable, online database compiled from selected reional newspapers including the Houston Chronicle.
The Archives and Information ervices Division (ARIS) of the Texas Sate Library and Archives Comission preserves documents and important records of Texas. They have over 200 million pages of archival documents in their collection, but only about 10 million are available digitally. So, this library becomes a place to visit for genealogists with roots in Texas. This podcast was produced in front of both a live and a zoom audience, thanks to the help of the Waco-McLennan Library. Questions were asked by participants at the end of the podcast, and answers provided by Jelain Chubb, The Texas State Archivist and Director of ARIS.
Located in Austin, Texas near the state capital building, individuals can use both the open source reading room and request materials held by the archives.
The National Archives located at Ft. Worth, TX holds records created by Federal agencies and courts encompassing the states of Arkansas, Louisana, Oklahoma and Texas. Jenny Sweeney, Archivist, gave a sens of the records that could be found in Ft.Worth for genealogists and historians.
The East Texas Research Center is Located in theh Ralph W. Steen Library on the Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches Texas. Their mission is to preserve hisotry through donations of manuscript materials, photographs, books and other items. These are then made avilable to researchers by appiontment in their collection. Their focus is on archival materials from the East TExas geographical region from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Red River and east of the Trinity River in Western Louisiana.
This podcast focuses on a smaller local library, the West Waco-McLennan County Library & Genenalogy Center that boasts a collection over 34,000 items, covering 34 states with a strong emphasis on Texas and the Sourthesatern United States. In addition, the center's collection includes published family histories, immigration and passenger lists and Native America resoures, to names just a few gems. Bill Buckner the Genealogy Supervisor gives a great overview of their resources and most importantly the emphasis they have on customer service.
The Texas Heritage Museum has three separate divisions, the Texas Heritage Museum Galleries & Collection, the Historical REsearch Center, and the Hill College Press. Dean John Verslius announced that the Texas Heritage Mseum just received accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest recognition afforded the nation's museums. The focus for this Lone Star Family Trails Podcast is on the Historical Research Center located in the musum. That area is focsued specifically on military history with a primary focus on the Civil War. The recources include an extensive collection of maps, photographic collections, microfilm and an archival repository and is considered by many to be one of the top five civil war rpositories in the nation.
Dallas is home to one of the Top 10 Public Libraries in the United States for genealogy research, according to Family Tree Magazine. That library is the Dallas Public Library, specifically the Genealogy & History Division, the topic of this month's podcast. Ari Wilkins who serves as a public service specialist discusses not just why someone should come and do research at the library, but the vast array of books that are part of the Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck Genealogy Collection. They encompass resources from every US state and many countries worldwide; and in some cases, are the only copy of that book in a library in the United States.
At 110 East Main Street in Mt. Vernon, Texas, as part of the city square, the Franklin County Genealogical Society (FCGS) has two store fronts. One i s devoted to meeting space (The Crescent Building); the other becomes the treasure trove of information for any genealogist. This second storefront holds the maps, family filesbooks, land records, probates and many other articles that tell the story of our ancestors in Franklin County, Texas. Both Jana Capps, the current president of FCGS and Don Easterling, one of the volunteers talk about their holdings during the podcast this month.
The African American History Research Center is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and culture of African Americans. It sits in the former elementary school building, The Gregory School, in the 4th Ward of Houston. The school includes a restored classroom, as well as several gallery exhibits that show the history of the Houston African American community. The African American Research Center is truly an archive and that is different than a genealogy library, as discussed in detail on the podcast by Miquell Ceasar, the manager. The center provides one with the ability to gain information about their ancestors and their culture through letters, photos, funeral cards, newspapers, yearbooks, and vertical files of family history that have been donated.
This episode introduces the listeners to the seven (7) courses that re being held during the Texas Institute for Genealogical Research (TIGR) being held from June 12 - 16, 2023. Kelvin Myers discusses the courses and the instructors, and offers information on registration which is currently open.
In this interview with James Harkins, the director of public services for the Texas General Land Office, the wonderful history that is held by the Texas General Land Office, containing 45,000 maps and 35 million documents is highlighted. The maps become the finding aids for many of the land documents. The office has been open since 1836, when the Republic of Texas formed thefice to manage the public domain. Many of the items have been digitized and palced online, but a visit to the office may allow you to hold the original documents in your hands.
This episode introduces the listener to the collection at the Family History Research Center at the Clayton Library Campus, part of the Houston Public Library System. Clayton holds an international collection of Family history research including books microfilm, and online sources. Their typical patron is the genealogist or family historian who is looking for help in finding their relatives. A quick introduction to the TXSGS conference beginning on November 4th is also discussed.
Founded in 2004, the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is working to discover preserve, and provide access to the community about the history of Texas' film. The collection includes home movies, amateur films, advertisements, local television and corporate productions, to name just a few. Elizabeth Hansen, their managing director was interviewed for Episode #106 and talked about the wide variety of films that have been curated for their website. Social history of Texas dating back to the 1900's is displayed in the films.
The Texas Baptist Historical Collection located in Waco, Texas is featured during this podcast. Their goal, as presented on their website is "collecting, preserving and communicating the history of Baptists in Texas." Alan LeFever, the director of the Texas Baptist Collection was interviewed and offered how their collection has correspondence, minutes, and membership lists from Baptists churches throughout Texas.
Episode #104 - This episode features The Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. Jae Magnum is the Program Development Librarian and works directly with The Portal to Texas History and he was interviewed by Randy Whited. The Portal to Texas History includes not just newspapers, but 732 unique collections that have been digitized and can be searched on their website.
Episode 103 - This episode features the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Ron Barnett, our host for the month, interviewed Dr. Monte L. Monroe, the archivist for the Collection. As an archivist, Dr. Monroe works to extend their collection to include manuscripts of family history that provide "unique, tangible evidence of a person's existence; how they lived, how they thought, and how we all remember them.
Episode #102 - This episode features the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society and the library that they operate. The society was chartered in 1959. Their library contains more than 15,000 books and close to 700 maps as well as a multitude of online resources that you can use when visiting the library.
This episode features the Texas Collection and University Archives at Baylor University in Waco. Ron Barnett, our host for the month, interviewed Amie Oliver, the interim director of the Texas Collection. Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023, this large privately-held collection is used by historians, filmmakers, journalists, students, and genealogists from across the world.