Related Collections

Kenedy Family Collection
The Kenedy family contributed in the settling of South Texas and introducing large scale ranching to the coastal plains. Mifflin Kenedy, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, ferried supplies up the Rio Grande in a steamboat to the Texas troops during the Mexican-American and Civil Wars. Captain Mifflin Kenedy and Captain Richard King became friends and partners in acquiring huge tracts of land in South Texas where immense herds of wild horses roamed the plains. In 1875 Kenedy and King became chief supporters and financial backers of Colonel Uriah Lott in building a railroad from Corpus Christi to Laredo which became known as the Corpus Christi, San Diego & Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad Company. During the last half of the 19th century Mifflin Kenedy created a huge fortune and left a legacy to his family and South Texas.

Bruno Wolf Jr. Family Collection
The documents span the reigns of five Spanish kings: King Charles II; King Philip V; King Louis I; King Ferdinand VI; and King Charles III. The earliest documents are primarily court records and transcripts. Later documents include materials to support the family’s claim to disputed land holdings in South Texas.

Floyd Elton & Jewell Griffith Rees Collection
The Floyd Elton & Jewell Griffith Rees Collection consists of over 650 books and journals, approximately 2 cubic feet of manuscript material, and over 1000 railroad related photographs. The collection of books focuses on the Civil War and the Confederacy, Texas and Mexican History, and Railroad History. The photographs document every type of railroad activity (especially accidents), objects (like rolling stock and locomotives) and locals (depots and train yards) related to railroads in Texas, and especially in South Texas from the late 1800’s through the 1970's. The manuscript materials deal mostly with railroad activities and history.

James Lewellyn Allhands Collection
J.L. Allhands was a railroad contractor and author of railroad history. The collection includes correspondence, diaries, railroad construction contracts, financial papers, manuscripts, and research notes for books and articles, printed materials, maps and broadsides, and scrapbooks pertaining to the history of several railroad lines in South Texas.

Manuel Castro Baseball Collection
Manuel Castro was a King Ranch semi-pro baseball player and umpire. The team called the King Ranch Cowboys began as a semi-pro team of ranch employees in the 1940s. They were better than most teams in South Texas and became known in the region. Castro collected baseball publications in the 1960s and 1970s which his niece, Cynthia S. Castro donated to the John E. Conner Museum in November 1999. The museum transferred the documents to the South Texas Archives in 2000.

Simons Family Collection
From England to Nova Scotia to New Orleans and eventually Texas the Simons family kept their history intact by correspondence, diaries, financial reports and ledgers. Their story began in 1794 when Captain Thomas Simons left Liverpool, England and headed for the new world. The family settled in Goliad County, Texas, fought in the Texas Revolution, Mexican-American War and the United States Civil War. They lived in a volatile place and time. Documenting many events and family histories this collection spans over 200 years history of South Texas.

Senator Carlos F. Truan Papers
Carlos F. Truan played an instrumental role in shaping the destiny of the Lone Star State, serving the citizens of South Texas with dedication and vision over the course of an impressive, and indeed unprecedented, career as a member of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senator Truan came from a humble, single parent home and worked hard to earn his college degree from a small South Texas college. He entered the work world in the early 1960s, before the Civil Rights movement had even hinted at including Mexican Americans in the quest for equality and justice. Through the legislation he authored and/or sponsored he worked to make government more responsive to the people it served.

Buckner Papers
D.U. "Buck" Buckner donated his memoirs and personal papers to South Texas Archives to document his family history. He spent his childhood years in Pharr, Texas. Buckner was an alumnus of Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville.) He worked as a Real Estate Appraiser and Consultant. His papers and writings tell the story of his family in the Rio Grande Valley in the middle and late years of the twentieth century.

Lon C. Hill Collection
Lon C. (Leonidas Carrington) Hill, Jr. was an early developer in the South Texas region. He was extremely instrumental in the growth and development of Corpus Christi and is known as the pioneer of irrigation in South Texas.

Joe Stanley Graham Jr. Collection
Joe Stanley Graham, professor of Anthropology and folklore at Texas A&M University-Kingsville from 1988 until shortly before his death in 1999 lived and worked on ranches in southwest Texas ultimately studying at the University of Texas, Austin with Dr. Amerigo Paredes, a leading folklorist from south Texas. Dr. Graham continued Dr. Paredes work of collecting materials about the rural Mexican and Mexican American communities, the people and their folkways. Hundreds of photographs, interviews, student term papers, and research materials used for museum exhibits have been saved for future researchers of his favored topic.