This collection comprises twenty-seven autograph letters from various family members, three autograph documents written by Joel Crawford, additional unsigned correspondence, fout vintage photographs, five black and white photograph reprints, thirteen mailing envelopes, and a number of other address panels on the letters, some with quite scarce postal stamps from small towns in Georgia and Florida. Short excerpts of some letters are included in the description listing.

The collection also includes biographical information on the Crawford family, a photocopy of a marriage certificate for Charles P. Crawford's marriage to Anna Ripley Orme, and a page from the estate of Joel P. Crawford, signed by his executors James Buchanan and Charles P. Crawford admitting it into the record.

Postal history envelopes contained throughout the correspondence: cancellation stamps from La Grange, Fort Gaines (1855), Bainbridge (1855), Blakely (1855), and Macon (1858), Georgia, Orange Mills (1858), Florida, and Richmond (1862), Virginia. There are also five additional undated envelopes from members of the Crawford family.

This collection consists of cost reports, blueprints, financial statements, and correspondence.

This collection pertains to Ernesto Mejia-Sanchez, who was a major Nicaraguan diplomat, poet, scholar, and critic whose papers are primarily in Spanish. Materials include photographs, correspondence, writings, publications, newspapers, course writings, and research materials from archives and libraries around the world.

These two volumes documents feature the personal and political reminiscences of journalist William S. Robinson and were edited and published by his wife in 1877. In the first edition, the first volume was expanded to two with extra illustrations (142 portraits and 53 autograph letters from prominent Americans of the time). Writing as “Warrington,” the journalist was especially noted for his reform positions and radical anti-slavery voice. The portraits and views represent a wide range of 19th-century American historic events, sites, and public figures.

This collection was intentionally developed, pulling together political documentation and radical writings of people of African descent from around the country.

This collection is UNPROCESSED.

The collection covers the personal, academic, and professional life of Jeff Stumpo and his founding of the Java Shock slam poetry event held initially in College Station, but now based in Bryan, TX.

The collection contains a letter written by J. B. Rayner announcing a forthcoming visit to Edna, Texas, dated October 19, 1900 (envelope included), and a handbill announcing Rayner's talk on October 27, 1900.

This collection contains over 100 items, primarily books that are cataloged and available via the Libcat system. The manuscript and drawings are also cataloged and available via the Libcat system.

This collection was part of a gift given to the library by the Anthropology Department.  The collection documents the work and writings of Professor Dolores Richter. The collection includes photographs, negatives, writings, and news clippings related to Prof. Richter’s research in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, and Oceania and the publication of her book “Arts, Economics and Change: the Kulebele of Northern Ivory Coast” published in 1980.

The collection documents the life of Reverend William M. Taylor and his pursuit of education in various cities in Texas. A biography provides details about his education, religious vocation, and family life in Texas that provide a glimpse into the trials and tribulations Blacks faced in attaining any type of progress. This small collection is also rich in the history of the Guadalupe Baptist Association, Guadalupe College, and the community life for African Americans in Texas.

This collection consists of an illustrated mailer postmarked New Orleans, and hand-addressed to Toledo OH, containing 18 accordion-folded 6in x 4in color photos purporting to show (stereotypical happy variety) black life in the south, with two songs, "Dixie Land" and "Dixieland for M" printed on the inside of the mailer with a cypress tree on one side of the fold and a photo of a black man and woman next to the address label.

These were reproduced from hand-tinted black and white originals. Postcard-size images, but double-sided without space for messages.

This collection includes over 11 different groupings of approximately 1 to 10 issues in each grouping. The latter half of the collection includes illustrations of African and African Americans in European periodicals.

The Mercurio Martinez Papers (1797-1963 (bulk: 1910-1963)) include correspondence, copies of legal documents such as wills, deeds, affidavits and courtroom briefs, maps, a few photographs, field notes for land surveys, genealogical charts, accounts of family and regional history by Mercurio Martinez, and historical accounts from other sources, principally newspapers. There are also financial records of various kinds including tax records, bills and receipts, books of check stubs and account sheets.

The vast majority of the papers relate to families, places and events in Zapata County. Webb County is also well represented, as is the region surrounding the town of Guerrero, Tamaulipas located on the south bank of the Rio Grande opposite Zapata County, Texas. A few papers deal with families, places and events in Starr County and further south in the Rio Grande Valley and a few files deal with Mexican, United States and world affairs. Unless otherwise noted in the inventory, files deal with Zapata or Webb County matters.

The oldest original papers date from the latter part of the nineteenth century and include such documents as Mercurio Martinez's Texas Teachers Certificate, 1898 (Series 1-3/4); a General Land Office map of Zapata County, 1885, (Series 3-14/25); and a certificate appointing Proceso Martinez, Sr., Mercurio's father, to the Zapata County Board of Appeals, 1870, (Series 3-25/23). There are also copies and translations of nineteenth-century documents including partition deeds, deeds of sale, birth records, and maps. Accounts of family and local history written by Martinez in the 1950s and early 1960s deal with events dating back to the Spanish settlements along the lower Rio Grande in the 1750s. Genealogies are generally traced back to the first colonists to arrive in the region. Family records, therefore, cover a time span of more than 200 years, from the settlers who arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande in about 1750 to their descendants in the early 1960s. Each decade from 1900 onward is represented in the papers. There are more files from the 1950s than any other single decade.

Among the most important files in the collection are those on the relocation of the town of Zapata due to the construction of Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande in the early 1950s, the salvation of the community of San Ygnacio from destruction during this period, the accounts of family history and genealogy from Zapata County, and the papers related to the division of lands between descendants of original holders of Spanish grants and sales of family lands. Maps, genealogies, and legal documents provide a clear picture of the rapidity with which even extensive landholdings can be reduced to tracts hardly adequate to support the families of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original owners. Reconsolidation of holdings through the purchase of interest from siblings and through cousin marriage are also documented. It is also possible to trace shifts in settlement and land-use patterns. For example, the original grantees of porciones along the Rio Grande held land in long narrow blocks extending inland from the river. Over the generations, these blocks were subdivided among heirs and parts of them were sold outside the families. Through separate inheritance from parents, through marriage, and through purchase, individuals came to own small pieces of land located in widely separated tracts. This pattern of dispersed holdings, each of economically inefficient size and too far apart to be worked as units, has been noted for many peasant societies. These papers clearly reveal the processes whereby such a land-holding pattern developed out of the more economically efficient block holdings within a few generations. The most completely documented tract of land is the vast Jose Vasquez Borrego Grant made in 1750. It was later divided into the Dolores, Corralitos, and San Ygnacio Subdivisions. The first settlement was made at the Hacienda de Dolores on August 22, 1750. This settlement was abandoned, apparently during Indian troubles in the early 19th century. A settlement or Rancho of Dolores was founded nearby in the Dolores subdivision of the Borrego Grant by Cosme Martinez in 1859. Meanwhile, the town of San Ygnacio had been founded in the San Ygnacio subdivision in 1830. Until the early 20th century, an hacienda in the Corralitos subdivision was occupied by members of the Vidaurri family, who were descendants of the original grantee's daughter, Alejandra Vasquez Borrego de Vidaurri.

Also of interest are the Corridos, or ballads, composed by Mercurio Martinez and dealing with dramatic events in Zapata County history such as an escape from prison, a contested election and the destruction of Zapata by the rising waters of Falcon Reservoir.

These comics were created in countries that were ruled by colonial powers in Africa, namely Italy, France, Belgium, and Spain. The comics are both individual copies and bound volumes with numerous copies. They date from around 1926 to 1973.

This collection documents Criner's professional and personal life as an artist and educator. The collection includes correspondence, original works of art, prints, drawings, exhibition photos, postcards, writings, photographs, publicity, news clippings, interviews with Criner, and thank you letters and cards from students and visitors who have been taught the art of printmaking and provided tours of the Museum of Printing History in Houston by Criner. The collection includes a number of Criner's prints and copies of his art reproduced as advertisements, exhibits, and prints. Of particular note are the significant examples of Criner’s various cartoons, Johnny Jones, The Job Crowd, The Dogs, and a few others. These were all produced from his stint in the Army, his work with the Houston Post, Houston Chronicle, HUD, and his collaboration with William Henry Hygh. 

A listing of Criner’s artwork and cartoons is included at the end of the finding guide. The collection includes examples of each of these works either in print, photos, or exhibit material.

This collection encompasses a number of resources obtained with the support of A&M's Africana Studies Program.

Box 1, Teaching Aids, consists of chromo card albums that were published in continental Europe by various companies to garner support for the continuation of the control over colonies across Africa and Asia. Also, many of these albums intend to educate on the natural resources of the colonies and their indigenous inhabitants.

Box 2, Cards and Chromo Albums, consists of cards produced by various European companies that depict the African lifestyle and diaspora. Some cards also depict many stereotypes widely held by mainland European society. Also included are albums that may have been intended to educate the collector on topics such as the fauna of Africa, and the practice of hunting.

Box 3, Oversize Items, consists of more Chromo trade albums, teaching aids, ballots, and posters.

This collection was developed for Africana Studies scholars interested in research on the continent of Africa. The materials consist of African publications between circa 1959-1965 from countries that include Zambia and parts of East Africa.

This collection includes an exchange of letters between Berenice Napper and an official of Connecticut's Commission on Civil Rights, six items concerning Napper's membership in the National Council of Negro Women, eight printed ephemeral items including a photograph of Berenice Napper with three other individuals looking over a copy of Walter White's book How Far the Promised Land?, and a small group of newspaper clippings concerning her work as a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

This collection consists of a photo scrapbook with six small charcoal images that depict African-American life in the rural south with an unrelated pictorial on-lay on the upper cover, all tied together with string.

Original black students' association charter. Authored by Ken Lewallen and Antwine Jefferson in Fall 1967-68.

The collection contains over 100 rare letters, autograph quotations, and photographs from 50 major figures in the American antislavery struggle, including several rare autographs from key British abolitionists. Many of the individuals noted provided selfless support, financially, morally, and wrote on behalf of the abolishment of the 'peculiar' institution of slavery. Some of the well-known abolitionists include Henry Ward Beecher, Blanche K. Bruce, William Channing, William Lloyd Garrison, Joshua R. Giddings, the Grimke sisters, Gerrit Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Lewis Tappan, one of the leading financial supporters of the Amistad Africans.

The collection contains photographs and newspaper clippings of these 50 prominent abolitionists.

This collection consists of volumes of correspondence (bulk 2005-2014), video and audiotapes of Dr. Fortune's classical music performances, writings, business ventures, and research material for her published books.

This collection consists of a number of action figures, statues, and Funko POP figures, almost all of whom depict Marvel or DC superheroes. There are several other items that depict other figures from pop culture.

This collection consists of "Durka Returns", a script for Episode 15, Season 1 of the joint Australian-American television series Farscape (1999-2003). The episode, originally released in 1999, is notable for introducing the character Chiana, played by Gigi Edgley. It was written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Grant McAloon.

The script was originally the property of Edgley's, and has been heavily marked up with her acting notes and edits. It is inscribed to Jeremy Brett, to whom it was given in early 2023.

This collection consists of several apazines to which Prentiss Riddle contributed individual zines. The APAs represented are Argos and Myriad, which take as their subject science fiction, and Lingua (later titled Linguica), which involves explorations of language and languages. The collection contains a few additional materials, including individual zines.

Fanlore.org defines an "apa" (or "amateur press association") as "a kind of fan publication in which all the materials, generally letters, would be sent to a central person, who would simply copy the entire packet in the cheapest possible way (e.g. mimeograph, spirit duplicating, xerography, offset printing; APAs far predate the photocopy machine.) Sometimes each of the contributors sends as many copies of their submission as there are subscribers to the central mailer of the zine, who then collates and mails these, and does not have to take care of the printing.

APAs were, and are, important media for fannish conversation, discussion, and interaction: sort of a fannish mailing list or LiveJournal in print sent by snail mail. "

Apa members were expected to make regular or at least periodic contributions to the mailings (called "minac", or MINimum Activity). The role of the Central Mailer, sometimes called an Official Editor or Central Editor, often rotates between members of the apa. In addition, apa participants often change the title and/or format of their apazines from time period to time period. For example, Prentiss Riddle changed the title of his contributions almost monthly between issues of the apas of which he was a member.

This collection consists of a large and varied amount of memorabilia, artifacts, and ephemera depicting or concerning the famous character Tarzan, first introduced by Edgar Rice Burroughs in the 1912 serialTarzan of the Apes. All items in the collection depict Tarzan, unless otherwise noted.

Materials include objects such as candy and gum, pocket knives, statues, action figures, mugs, metal signs, and other pieces of ephemera. Tarzan, an intensely popular character, was the first fictional character to be heavily merchandised. Because of this, and because Tarzan appeared in so many different forms of media, including films, television, comic books, and works of animation, it is no surprise that his image and name can be found on a dizzying variety of materials.

Tarzan is often regarded as one of the best-known literary characters in history. He was first introduced by creator Edgar Rice Burroughs in the serialized story "Tarzan of the Apes" (in the pulp All-Story in 1912, book form in 1914), and went on to star in 23 additional novels from Burroughs and published by A.C. McClurg between 1912-1966. Tarzan is a feral white child named John Clayton, marooned somewhere on the African coast with his parents, British aristocrats Lord and Lady Greystoke. The two die soon after their arrival in Africa, leaving young Clayton to be found and raised by a tribe of great apes (who give him the ape-name 'Tarzan').

Tarzan's upbringing brings him heightened strength, agility, speed, climbing ability, and stamina, all of which he uses to defend his loved ones and his beloved jungle from various threats. These include wild animals, rival tribes of apes, lost races that dwell in hidden cities, German troops, strange monsters, and other hazards. In addition to Burroughs' novels, Tarzan has also been featured in numerous unauthorized literary works, multiple films (most notably the franchise starring Johnny Weissmuller between 1932-1948), radio shows, comic books and comic strips, and television programs (particularly the 1966-1968 NBC series starring Ron Ely).

This collection consists of 38 dismantled scrapbooks, one intact scrapbook, and a book that provides extravagant detail and insight into Don Kelly’s life. The contents of this collection cover a wide range from 1932-2016 including numerous and various materials such as photographs of his close ones and from places traveled, letters to and from Don, postcards, receipts and bills from restaurants and hotels, memorial cards and obituaries, brochures, pamphlets, and tickets from different attractions all over the world, and family members death certificates as well as the allocation of funds for his father. There is a series for every aspect of life; his childhood, family, friends, famous people he met and knew, places he has lived, his career and retirement, and international travel trips.

This collection contains letters, postcards, and artwork sent to Drake by his friends and his fans that he compiled over the years.

This collection contains materials to the business and fannish career of Houston-area fan and con organizer Larry Taylor. Included in the collection are numerous fanzines, most of them from fans and fan associations in Texas in general and the Houston area in particular; program books, flyers, advertisements, and other documentation relating to genre conventions, including Collegecon '80 and Collegecon 2, cons at the University of Houston that Taylor helped run as a UH student; materials relating to Taylor's media company; and miscellaneous other materials.