The Texas Jewish Historical Society collects, preserves, publishes, and disseminates materials having relevance to the settlement and history of Jews in Texas and their participation in its social, economic, religious, political, professional, and cultural growth. Established in 1980, the society was created as a response to an open letter by Rabbi Jimmy Kessler of Galveston calling for a historical society to preserve the Texas Jewish Experience. With over 750 members, the society fosters interest in Jewish history by publishing a quarterly newsletter, contributing articles to the The Handbook of Texas, and sponsoring awards for essays written for the Texas State Historical Commission. The TJHS also contributed to Shalom Y'all - The Jewish Experience in Texas and published the book Deep in the Heart: Lives and Legends of Texas Jews .
From the guide to the Texas Jewish Historical Society Records AR 80-052 through 99-157, 2000-112, 2000-210, 2000-262, 2001-020, 2001-125, 2002-160, 2002-161, 2003-102, 2003-185, 2004-007, 2004-187, 2005-074, 2005-206, 2006-172, 2006-175; 2006-220, 2007-019, 2007-052, 2007-063, 2007-081; 2008-215; 2008-301; 2009-004; 2009-194; 2009-276; 2009-357; 2010-223; 2010-295; 2011-185; 2011-234; 2011-295; 2011-317; 2011-321; 2011-394; 2012-057; 2012-067; 2012-193., 1824-2012, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.)
