San Marcos and
Hays County Local History Resources
Digitized
by the San Marcos Public Library
:
An
Annotated Bibliography
Pathfinder for Local History
Research
The San
Marcos-Hays County Collection of local history at the San Marcos Public Library
originated with a gift of files from Tula Townsend Wyatt. It has been augmented
with gifts from other historians, notably Frances Stovall. These remain
“vertical files” in physical filing cabinets. They consist mainly of newspaper
clippings, photographs, and some genealogical narratives contributed from the
families themselves.
In the
digital age, however, the San Marcos Public Library has endeavored to scan the
most useful documents and mount them on a webserver to provide Internet access
to researchers.
Below,
you will find links and a brief description of our online local history
resources:
ResCarta
is a powerful local history research tool aggregating several of our
collections: photography, early telephone directories, selected obituaries,
cemetery inscriptions, and other seminal history documents. Use a keyword
or phrase to search family names and place names.
http://rescarta.sanmarcostx.gov/
Historical Photographs
The San Marcos-Hays
County Collection includes many photographs of historical interest. The Library
has worked to digitize the most important and rare photographs, but this
project is ongoing. Each of these images is accessible through our online
catalogue, using subject search terms and keywords. Every identifiable address
has also been traced with subject headings.
A high-definition version of this
image is available for scholarly or personal use by request from the library.
It should be cited as "Photo reproduced from the San Marcos-Hays County
Collection at the San Marcos Public Library."
There are two ways to
browse the historical collection.
2)
Using our older online catalogue with this link:
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/TLCScripts/interpac.dll?Search&SearchField=16777216&Config=pac&Branch=,0,&startindex=0&SearchData=SMHC%20photo%20collection
A listing of
all the physical historical files, known affectionately as the TTWC files (for
Tula Townsend Wyatt Collection, our first historian benefactor) may be found at
the link, below. It includes a list of file names, and also an index of some
of the contents of the individual files.
The files
themselves are not available online, but each has been catalogued. Please
search the library online catalogue. Use family names and street names.
Digitized Hays
County Newspapers
This is a
fully keyword-searchable archive digitized from our microfilm collection using
OCR (optical character recognition). Keep in mind that the search terms
will find whole pages that contain the terms. (And in these results the terms
may only be on the same page, not the same article.)
It also
includes many other local newspapers, dating from 1873.
http://ttwc.advantage-preservation.com/
A Brief History of Hays County and San Marcos
This very
careful history of Hays County was written
in serial form and published in The San Marcos Record by Dudley R. Dobie
(brother of J. Frank) in 1948. It covers our local history through 1900.
It was originally published in the
local newspaper as a serial in 1948, to celebrate the centennial of the
creation of Hays County. It was reprinted shortly afterward in a 68 page
booklet; however, it never has been indexed. Below, you will find a link to a
searchable PDF of the reprint. Use your browser’s Search command to find
keywords of interest to your research.
Hays County Cemetery Inscriptions
In 1990
the Hays County Historical Commission examined every tombstone they could find
in Hays County. They noted what was legible on each marker into a spreadsheet.
This spreadsheet (made with the latest DOS-based technology, Lotus 1-2-3) was
then printed in two volumes. Volume One has all the inscriptions found in Hays
County—except for those at the San Marcos Cemetery; Volume Two has only the San
Marcos Cemetery.
This has
proved a valuable genealogical resource for the last quarter-century; however,
it was always clunky to use because you had to search both volumes to make sure
you found all the dead from one family.
Both
volumes have now been scanned as a single, searchable PDF:
Obituaries clipped from local newspapers, dating from the 20th century
From the
early years of the Public Library through the mid-eighties, the library was
blessed with a corps of volunteers who carefully clipped the obituaries from
the local papers and filed them in little wax envelopes. These were clipped
from the San Marcos News, the San Marcos Record—later known as
the Daily Record, the Hays County Citizen, the Kyle News,
the Wimberley View, and the Free Press, among other newspapers.
In this
century, we organized the rapidly deteriorating, yellowed individual newspaper
clippings in alphabetical order and made digital scans. Below, please find
links to the obituaries sorted by initial letter:
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/Docs/History/Obits.htm
This
publication may also be found in our ResCarta
archive.
Early San Marcos Telephone directories
The earliest local telephone directory dates from 1899--and it is just a sheet
of paper. Beginning in 1905 two separate telephone companies serving San Marcos
began reguraly publishing directories. The library has scanned the directories
up to 1954 and they may
be found in our ResCarta
archive.
Hays County
Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly
From
1967-1978 the local historical society published a fine house organ, chiefly
composed of individual family genealogies, relevant indices of the U.S. Census,
and articles concerning Hays County heritage and lore. This publication has
been digitized and may be found in our ResCarta
archive.
Also of Interest…
C.W. Wimberley’s
charming biography, My River of Innocence.
Deborah
Galbreath’s 1919 School Report on San Marcos.
Earliest
descriptions of the Springs.
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/SMHC/DOCUMENTS/Early%20description%20of%20Springs.pdf
A short article
on Street Names
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/SMHC/DOCUMENTS/Short%20Article%20on%20Street%20Names.pdf
The archaeology of Hays County
Riddles of the Past, a 1993 publication of the Hays County Historical
Commission by Dee Ann Story detailing the Native Americans who lived in Hays
County
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/SMHC/DOCUMENTS/Archeology of Hays County.pdf
WPA index to the Hays County archives
Inventory of the county archives of Texas : Hays County, no. 105.
An exhaustive catalogue of the records at the Hays County Courthouse, as of
1937.
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/SMHC/DOCUMENTS/Hays County Archives.pdf
Mill Tract history
Three files digitally scanned from the TTWC Historic Markers--San Marcos Mill
Tract file
The River Reflects on Pepper's Past
Mill Tract marker documents from Scott McGehee
Mark D. Cowan timeline on Mill Tract
Hays County ghost towns
A 1978 report by Maude M. Walling for the Sorosis Club on extinct cities and
towns in Hays County.
Ghost towns in Hays County, Texas
Share
Your Local History...
The San Marcos Public Library wants to include your
family in our San Marcos-Hays County Local History Collection.
This form is for individuals and families to document
their history within the San Marcos and Hays County community. The library is
creating a digital history center based on submissions from community members.
Submissions should be descriptions of families with ties to Hays County. Using
information submitted on this form, the librarian will make a record of the
submission in the library’s catalog, and scan the accompanying documents (up to
five pages) to our webserver. Your virtual histories will be accessible on the
Internet through our library catalog—and ultimately through a Google search.
http://www.hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us/SMHC/DOCUMENTS/Digital
Biography Form.pdf