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Texas Local Government

Texas Local Government

Local Government records in the Texas Digital Archive are part of the Regional Historical Resource Depository program (RHRD). The RHRD program collects, preserves, and makes available for public use historical records of local governments of Texas. The majority of the record series found at the depositories have fulfilled their administrative, legal, and fiscal values and are permanent only because of their historical value. TSLAC is not actively pursuing records from local government entities for digitization or for preservation of born-digital materials. RHRD records held in the TDA are the result of digitization of bound volumes by FamilySearch and an Ancestry.com project to digitize microfilmed records deposited at TSLAC by RHRDs. The Ancestry.com digitization project focused on probate records and does not reflect all of the records on microfilm deposited at TSLAC. A full listing of County records microfilm deposited at TSLAC is available at https://www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/local/index.

The Sam Houston Center (SHC) acts as an RHRD for Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, and Tyler counties. As it is also a direct extension the State Archives and houses more than just local records it is listed within the TDA separately. A cross-reference has been placed within the SHC section of the TDA to link RHRD-based record holdings.

Due to the complex history and geography of RHRD responsibilities, Local Government records are organized in the TDA strictly by county. Within each county, records are organized based on the known organizational structure of the local government or the general structure typical of local government. For access to modern records, users should contact their local government agencies.


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Texas State Library and Archives Commission | 1201 Brazos St., Austin TX 78701 | 512-463-5455 | ref@tsl.texas.gov | P.O. Box 12927, Austin TX 78711-2927