Texas Music Office Scope and Content
Scope and Contents of the Texas Music Office Records
The Texas Music Office (TMO) of the Texas Governor’s Office is a state-funded business promotion office and information clearinghouse for the Texas music industry. These records document the TMO’s activities primarily during the terms of office of governors George W. Bush (1995-2000) and Rick Perry (2000-2015), but also include a small amount of materials from the terms of Ann Richards, Bill Clements, and Mark White. Dates range from 1985 to 2015 and undated, with the bulk dating 1993-2012. Records in this series involve both analog and electronic record types including incoming and outgoing correspondence, memoranda, reports, presentations, speeches, invitations, drafts, meeting minutes, spreadsheets, organization charts, press releases, notes, clippings, floppy discs, audiocassettes, compact discs, DVDs, and videocassettes.
Publication development files document the process of conceiving, cultivating, and writing a number of TMO-published informational resources, including the Texas Music Industry Directory, The Texas Recording and Production Guide, and The Musicians and Retailers Guide to the Internet, dating 1993-2007, undated. Proposed legislation documents the development and advocacy of several legislative initiatives pertaining to TMO interests, such as facility upgrade incentives, mixed beverage taxes, a prospective Texas State Music History Museum, and various legislation related to the Texas recorded and live music industries, dating 1990-2014, undated. Project files comprise several subseries of general files, including general incoming correspondence, subject files, files documenting the attendance or sponsorship of industry events such as the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference or the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and the personal files of director Casey Monahan and publications coordinator Marc Fort. Also included is a collection of audiocassette, compact disc, and CD-ROM recordings of music submitted to the TMO by musicians, musician representatives, and record companies for promotional purposes. The series dates 1985-2015, undated.
Invitations comprise both analog and electronic invitations to various music-related events, particularly the annual Capitol Salute to Texas Music, dating 1992-2012, undated. Strategic plans comprise a small collection of long-range planning materials and work plans, dating 1990-2000. Public Relations records consists of a small collection of TMO press releases dating 1996-1998. Staff reports consists of a small grouping of weekly or monthly reports detailing projects and activities of key staff members, dating 2002-2007. Texas Music Industry survey data consists of anonymous individual responses to a TMO survey questionnaire provided to a members of the Texas musician and musical business communities, dating 1998, 2010. The responses are split into musician and industry sections, with the corresponding questionnaire for each. Meeting materials consists of agenda, minutes, and notes for meetings attended by TMO staff, as well as 25 audiocassette recordings of meetings of the TMO predecessor agency, the Texas Music Commission, from 1986 to 1987. The series dates 1986-2002.
State publications consists of multiple editions of several informational publications released by the TMO: the Texas Recording and Production Guide, the Texas Music Education Primer, the Texas Talent Register, and the Texas Music Industry Directory. The series dates 1991-2006. Speeches consists of prepared remarks on music-related topics intended for Casey Monahan, office manager Stephen Ray, and Governor Perry, dating 2001-2014. The intended speakers for several of the speeches are unidentified. The Photographs series documents performances, award ceremonies, conferences, group portraits, and portraits of TMO staff members and members of the Texas music community, such as Ornette Coleman and Billy Joe Shaver. A substantial portion appear to document a TMO staff visit to George Strait at his ranch in La Salle County, though the location is unclear. The series dates 2004-2011.
The extent of the electronic records is provided by the file size, and the number of files and folders. The inventory does not list every single electronic file or folder.
Electronic records described in this finding aid that are part of the Texas Digital Archive are indicated as such in the inventory. Restrictions on access to the content of records are applicable to paper and electronic records.
Formats of the original electronic files include word processing or plain text files (.doc, .docx, .txt), spreadsheets (.xls., .xlsm, xlsx), photographs and graphic images (.jpg, .tif, .gif, .psd), emails, PDFs, and PowerPoint files. Digital files presented for public use will generally be PDF for text documents or spreadsheets, .jpg for photographic or graphic images, and .mp3 for audio files. Files in their original format are available on request, restrictions may apply.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
