The Top Shelf

The Women’s Overseas Service League (WOSL) designated the UTSA Archives for Research on Women and Gender, now the UTSA Archives and Special Collections Department, the official repository for the organization in the mid-1990s and began donating materials to UTSA in 1995. The project was organized by the direction of Jill Jackson, Archivist for UTSA, and Doris Cobb, WOSL Liason to the UTSA Library. Over the years, UTSA has received more than 100 donations of archival material from WOSL units all over the county, not to mention the numerous monetary donations that help fund the preservation and processing of the WOSL materials.

Gerrianne Schaad and Doris M. Cobb, UTSA Archives Reading Room, 2001

While the Women’s Overseas Service League Records contain materials that document the organization on a national, regional and local level, it should be no great surprise that Archvies’ staff has had the most contact with the San Antonio Unit. Begun as the Lone Star Unit in 1927, it was the first WOSL group to form in Texas.

“Texas Unit on Way to Organization,” Carry On, August 1927

One of the first activities the San Antonio WOSL women organized was the delivery of Easter lillies to two wards at Fort Sam Houston hospital on Easter Sunday 1927. Over the years the women have supported local halfway houses through their volunteer work and the donation of American flags. They have organized numerous USO events, including the preparation and serving of Thanksgiving dinners. San Antonio unit has been the gracious hosts of several national and regional WOSL Conventions as well as participating in and organizing fundraising efforts for veterans, war memorials and orphans.

Happy Veteran’s Day from the Women’s Overseas Service League and UTSA Archives.

San Antonio WOSL unit participates in Ft. Worth Veteran’s Day Parade, 1965

I’m excited to be joining the UTSA Archives and Special Collections staff as the university’s second university archivist. I hope to continue the work started by Angela McClendon Ossar, UTSA’s first university archivist, building a historical records program to document and support the activities of the university community.

My interest working with archives started while I was a graduate student in American Studies at the University of Wyoming, where I performed research at the American Heritage Center for work on my master’s thesis. After a short interlude teaching 8th grade mathematics at Grulla Middle School in the Rio Grande Valley (Go Cranes!), I returned to school to work on a M.L.I.S. in archival administration at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the staff at UTSA, I worked as a student archival intern at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History as part of the Archives of American Mathematics and as assistant archivist at the City of San Antonio, helping to develop their first archival program with a grant from the National Historical Records and Publications Commission.

As university archivist at UTSA, I am responsible for coordinating and promoting the university archives program, which seeks to collect, preserve, and provide access to the records created by the university’s faculty, staff, and student body that are of enduring, historical value.

by Mark Shelstad

UTSA Archives and Special Collections is among the growing number of archives to create an online presence for every one of its collections. Starting in August of 2008, the year-long project to address the backlog of uncataloged collections was headed by Manuscripts Curator Nikki Lynn Thomas and former University Archivist Angela McClendon Ossar. We were able to utilize inventories generated by former and current collection assistants to create guides to the collection with folder-level and box-level descriptions. The project resulted in access to more than 130 collections and 2000 linear feet of materials.

Creating MARC records in the UTSA catalog or EAD records in Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO) has resulted in greater access to collection, and is of interest to anyone – students, scholars, and citizens – who might find the historical materials at UTSA of benefit.

To search UTSA’s collections, visit http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Archives/Manuscripts/ where users can search by keyword, or browse by collection title. Users will also find some pre-defined frequent searches, such as San Antonio History, or Women’s groups.

Rosie Villarreal and Fred Wick unpacking and shelving the first books to arrive at the Library Auxiliary Building, April 1974, Gil Barrera Photographs of the University of Texas at San Antonio, 1972-1978, MS 27

San Antonio author, journalist, and activist Barbara Renaud Gonzalez has donated her papers to the UTSA Libraries, Archives and Special Collections. Gonzalez, an independent journalist, has written for The Nation, The Progressive, and The Los Angeles Times. She has also provided commentary on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and LatinoUSA. Her novel, Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?, published in 2009, is the first novel in the Chicana Matters Series published by the University of Texas Press. Golondrina follows the story of Amanda Garcia, a Mexican woman who leaves her husband and young daughter to find love in Texas.

Gonzalez’s papers include hardcopy and electronic files for Golondrina, journals, correspondence, and journalism materials. Access to the initial acquisition will be available via the UTSA Libraries, Archives and Special Collections’ Guide to Collections at http://lib.utsa.edu/Archives/Manuscripts/

Dr. Margarita Calleja of Guadalajara University’s Department of Regional Studies recently visited to use the Gebhardt Mexican Foods Company Records.

Gebhardt Mexican Foods Company, based in San Antonio, was famous for Eagle Brand Chili Powder. The records date from 1896-1988 and consist of correspondence, financial records, newspaper clippings, printed material, film, sound recordings, and photographs.