University of Texas at San Antonio. Institute of Texan Cultures.

The Institute of Texan Cultures was established by the Fifty-ninth Legislature on May 27, 1965. The agency was directed to develop and implement an appropriate plan for the state's participation in HemisFair '68 to plan exhibits related to the history of Texas, its development, resources, and contributions; and to design and erect a building suited to housing these exhibits, giving due consideration to its utility for state purposes after the fair. The institute, a permanent state agency located on HemisFair grounds in San Antonio, was designed to study the ethnic groups that settled in Texas. While not a museum, the institute displayed relics, artifacts, and personal memorabilia, but only those that had a direct connection with telling the story of the people in each ethnic group. The exhibits made use of sound, color, movement, and atmospheric design. R. Henderson Shuffler guided the research projects and formed the original staff. (Source: Tiller, David C. "University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures," Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/UU/kcu25.html. Accessed 17 September 2008.)

The Institute of Texan Cultures Library was established in 1965 as a repository for books and images of artifacts being collected by researchers preparing exhibits for the Texas Pavilion.

From the guide to the Institute of Texan Cultures Vertical File collection MS 366., (The University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.)

The Institute of Texan Cultures Oral History Collection originated from a regional meeting of the Texas Historical Commission held in Bandera, TX in 1973 calling for the creation of an oral history program to document the history of San Antonio and Bexar County. Two years later under the auspices of the state’s 1976 Bicentennial Committee, the Bicentennial Oral History Committee was formed. The oral history program gained the support of the Bexar County Historical Commission and secured $2,000 in initial funding. With the support of the commissioners, the program reached an agreement with the University of Texas at San Antonio to use the lower level of the Institute of Texan Cultures. Two Sony tape recorders were also donated to the project by Joe G. Carinhas, President of the Longhorn Specialty Company.

Bicentennial Oral History Committee members included Glory Felder as Chairwoman, Betty Orth as Vice Chairwoman, Esther MacMillan, Mary Ester Hernandez, Clyde Ellis, Ann Maria Watson, Lasca Fortassain, Mrs. Douglas F. Dupre, Mrs. Robert R. Ferguson, Lupe Young, Charles Myler, Ruth White, Mrs. Bill Buerkle, Sid Langhart, and Jo Hestand. Carmela Leal, Ella Stumpf, and Don Freidkin served the committee as advisors. The Bicentennial Oral History Program conducted interviews with individuals who had made significant contributions to the development of San Antonio and Bexar County. Committee members such as Esther MacMillan participated actively in the program and conducted many of interviews. At the close of the Bicentennial the taped interviews and transcriptions were to be maintained by Bexar County Historical Commission.

The Bexar County Historical Commission sponsored the program for two years following the Bicentennial until it was transferred to the Institute of Texan Cultures. Esther MacMillan assisted with moving the program to the ITC and served as its first unpaid director. In the late 1970s the scope of the program was expanded to include series in Texas history such as Sterling Holmesly's interviews with San Antonio jazz musicians conducted during the spring and summer of 1980; San Antonio’s military history collected by James Sweeney between 1983 and 1985; Small Town Texas series made up of interviews conducted by ITC staff in the late 1980s; and interviews with performers who participated at the Texas Folklife Festival during the 1980s and 1990s. Also included in the collection are a series of oral history interviews conducted in 1979 by Thomas K. Walls with Japanese Texans in preparation for his book The Japanese Texans .

After Esther MacMillan passed away in the 1990s, volunteers continued to manage and conduct interviews until 2007, when an ITC staff member, J. Rhett Rushing, was appointed to supervise the program and to revitalize the effort of recording and preserving oral histories. The ITC Oral History Program continues to collect and transcribe interviews that are used in support of museum exhibits.

From the guide to the University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Oral History Collection UA 15. 01., 1967-2011, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)

The Institute of Texan Cultures was established by the Fifty-ninth Legislature on May 27, 1965. The agency was directed to develop and implement an appropriate plan for the state's participation in HemisFair '68 to plan exhibits related to the history of Texas, its development, resources, and contributions; and to design and erect a building suited to housing these exhibits, giving due consideration to its utility for state purposes after the fair. The importance of this project was indicated by the allocation of additional revenues by the Sixtieth Legislature, bringing the total investment to $10 million. The institute, a permanent state agency located on HemisFair grounds in San Antonio, was designed to study the ethnic groups that settled in Texas. While not a museum, the institute displayed relics, artifacts, and personal memorabilia, but only those that had a direct connection with telling the story of the people in each ethnic group. The exhibits made use of sound, color, movement, and atmospheric design. R. Henderson Shuffler guided the research projects and formed the original staff.

The institute's continued function is to bring together, on loan, fragments of Texas history collections from museums and archives throughout the state, to produce filmstrips and slide shows on segments of Texas history, and to publish historical pamphlets and books. The Institute of Texan Cultures was put under the University of Texas System effective June 5, 1969, and its official title became the University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio. In February 1973 the institute became, more specifically, a part of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Upon the death of Shuffler in 1975, Jack R. Maguire was named director. Rex H. Ball was director of the institute in 1995. He was advised by the institute's development board and reported directly to the president of UTSA, Samuel A. Kirkpatrick. In 1995 there were 100 regular staff members and 450 volunteer workers. The institute was funded by biennial legislative appropriations, grants, contributions, and funds generated by the sale of publications, audiovisuals, other products, and the rental of the institute's facilities. In addition to maintaining 50,000 square feet of exhibits featuring twenty-seven cultures and ethnic groups, the institute hosts the Texas Children's Festival, Pioneer Sunday, the Texas Folklife Festival, and other events.

Source: Tiller, David C. University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures, Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/UU/kcu25.html (Accessed June 25, 2009).

From the guide to the University of Texas at San Antonio. Institute of Texan Cultures Records UA 15. 01., 1941-2003, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)