University of Texas at San Antonio. Institute of Texan Cultures. Office of Communications and Marketing

The Office of Communications and Marketing at UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures was responsible for the publication of the ITC's newsletter The Texican as well as the creation of press releases reporting on news of the Institute of Texan Cultures museum. The office additionally produced two other newsletters: Passages and ITC Happenings . As of April 2009, the office is known as the Office of Marketing and Community Relations.

The Institute of Texan Cultures was established by the Fifty-ninth Texas 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.

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 Folklife Festival, the Asian Festival, and other events.

Source for Office of Communications and Marketing history: Telephone conversation with Carolyn Kellner, Institute of Texan Cultures Office of Marketing and Community Relations, 1 April 2009.

Source for Institute of Texan Cultures history: 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 1 April 2009).

From the guide to the University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Office of Communications and Marketing Records UA 15. 01. 04., 1979-2004, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)