The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. Records include minutes, orders, correspondence, memoranda, and reports. This series is comprised of books of minutes for the years 1920-1945, paper bound minutes books for 1952-1955, and meeting files for the years 1939-1940, 1942-1945 and 1953-1979. Another series in this finding aid contains products of Board meetings for the years 1946-1949. As no minutes are present for this time period, this series - Actions of the Board - should be consulted for documentation of Board activities during the 1946-1949 period. Actions of the board regarding eleemosynary institutions for 1942-1943 are in the series Eleemosynary Division, Administrative files. Copies of some board minutes can be found in the series Board members files.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. These records contain products of the Texas State Board of Control meetings--orders and notices--covering all aspects of its duties, and reports on eleemosynary institutions, dating 1946-1949, 1960-1961. There are two groups of records. The early files, 1946-1949, are bound in seven volumes and are grouped by type of action. An unnumbered volume concerns personnel actions taken by the Board.

Accompanying the volumes for 1946-1949 is a group of meeting files which contain supporting documentation. These files consist primarily of summation sheets on students at the state school with outgoing letters of the Board concerning the disposition of the request for a parole or discharge. A few letters or memoranda concerning other Board action are also present. No minutes are present for this time period. In the Board members files series, copies of the Board's orders are present in several of the Chairman or Board members' files, including orders from 1942-1947 in Weaver Baker's files and from 1942-1952 in T. B. Warden's files. Orders of the Board concerning eleemosynary institutions for 1942-1943 are also in the series Eleemosynary Division, Administrative files.

The later group of records, 1960-1961, contains Board orders concerning leases and rentals for state agencies, and orders involving the Engineering Division of the Board. These are bound in four volumes.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. This series consists of several groups of records of the members of the Texas State Board of Control. Types of materials present include incoming and outgoing correspondence of the Board chair, Board members, or the secretary of the Board; memoranda; monthly or other reports from divisions of the Board; audit and status reports from eleemosynary institutions and state agencies; statistical compilations; parole statements from the state juvenile schools; copies of Board minutes and orders; copies of minutes from other agencies; copies of legislation; press releases; questionnaires and survey results; invoices; brochures and other printed material; photographs; building specifications; plats; and stenographer's shorthand notebooks. Dates covered are 1885-1890, 1917-1953 and undated, with the bulk dating 1920-1953.

The records reflect the routine activities of the Board, with letters concerning administration, appointments, patient admittance, transfers, paroles, and discharges at the state juvenile schools and state eleemosynary institutions; construction and maintenance of state facilities; and purchasing, budget, and appropriation concerns of state institutions and agencies. Other topics include the establishment of the State Department of Public Welfare and the activities of the Board divisions which were later transferred to this Department--the Division of Child Welfare, the Relief Commission Division, and the Old Age Assistance Commission; investigations at eleemosynary institutions; the establishment and early operations of agencies taking over operations of the juvenile schools and other eleemosynary institutions--Board for State Hospitals and Special Schools and the Youth Development Council; the establishment of several eleemosynary institutions, including the Brady State School and several tuberculosis sanatoriums; the establishment and early operations of several state historical parks; projects for the Texas Centennial; and Board actions related to World War II, including transfer of surplus military property after the war.

Two groups of Board member records, those of Senator Tom DeBerry and T. B. Warden, are largely concerned with the purchasing activities of the Board. The various groups of chairmen's files cover a broad spectrum of Board activities. Correspondents include Board members and employees, eleemosynary institutions, state agencies, businesses, federal agencies, and private individuals. Reports of institutions and agencies submitted to the board or prepared by the board for other entities can also be found in the series Reports and the series Contracts and related records,. The latter series also contains correspondence about the contracts, often directed to the chair of the board. Additional instititutional audit reports by the Board are in the series Institutional Accounting Division. Additional orders issued by the board (1946-1949) are in the series Actions of the Board; the series Eleemosynary Division, Administrative files has some Board orders (1942-1943) concerning eleemosynary institutions.

These records are maintained as they were received, as the files of specific chairmen or Board members, although some contain the files of several members. Existing arrangement schemes within each group, when present, were kept. Most chairmen or members tended to segregate the eleemosynary files from those of other state institutions and agencies. Materials were usually foldered by state agency or institution, alphabetically for general correspondence, and by topic or individual correspondents--usually Board members and staff--for general/administrative files.

This series was removed from this finding aid due to the electronic file size limitations imposed by the online finding aid web site (TARO). If you are reading this electronically, click on the following link to access the finding aid, Texas State Board of Control board members files. If you are reading this in paper, the series finding aid can be found in a separate divider within the binder.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. These are correspondence files of James W. Markam, Secretary of the Texas State Board of Control, dating 1943-1945, bulk dating 1944. The files consist of incoming mail to the secretary or to the Board of Control and Markham's outgoing replies. During this time period the Board of Control did not have an executive director, the Secretary handled the duties of the day to day operation of the agency. Correspondents include officials or staff in other state agencies and eleemosynary institutions, private businesses and companies, associations and foundations, and the general public.

Topics concern the routine activities of the Board, including purchasing and requisitions, equipment transfers and acquisitions, building maintenance and repairs, construction projects, job applications and referrals, requests for board publications, general questions about operations of the various Board divisions or eleemosynary institutions, mental hygiene issues and publications, and recyclying of paper, rag goods, or scrap metal from agencies and eleemosynary institutions for the war effort.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Types of records found in these files include incoming and outgoing correspondence, generally to/from the Executive Director, or with a copy directed to him; form letters; budget requests and working papers; leases; deeds; contracts; plans and drawings; studies and reports; surveys; inventories; copies of legislation; minutes of Board staff meetings; photographs; bills and invoices; receipts and disbursements; and brochures and other printed material. Dates covered are 1933-1977, with the bulk dating 1954-1969. These files cover the terms of several directors of the Texas State Board of Control, primarily those of William J. Burke, 1956-1969. Some earlier materials from Walter J. Bell, 1954-1956 are present as are some from Homer A. Foerster, 1970-1977. Some earlier correspondence dating back to 1939 is also present--letters directed to the Board rather than the Executive Director.

There are two groups of files, those of state agencies and those of historic parks. The first group contains files of state agencies, files pertaining to specific state buildings, and topical files. These files date from 1945 to 1977, primarily 1954-1969. Most of the deeds and contracts concern the historic parks. Some also involve centennial-related memorials and buildings. Earlier contracts, both historic parks and buildings, can be found in the series Contracts and related records,.

The latter group consists of files pertaining to the historic parks under control of the Board at this time: Fannin State Park, San Jacinto State Park, and the Battleship Texas. These files date from 1933 to 1965, primarily 1958-1965. Each of the parks had an associated commission (Fannin Battleground Commission, San Jacinto Park Commission) which advised and assisted the Board with the improvement and care of these facilities. The San Jacinto Museum of History Association contracted with the Board for care, custody, and control of the San Jacinto Memorial Monument and Tower, including operation of the elevators, gift shop and concessions (46th Legislature, Concurrent Resolution 21). The Battleship Texas was docked at the San Jacinto State Park and it was operated by the Battleship Texas Commission.

Topics concern the routine activities of the Board, including purchasing and requisitions, building maintenance and repairs, construction projects, office space rentals and assignments, parking and traffic control, and fire inspections. Other topics present are requests for moving the De Zavala family cemetery to the San Jacinto State Park and protests over the inadequate housing of the Texas State Archives. Correspondents include staff in other state agencies, members of the various historic park commissions/associations, prospective bidders, contractors, businesses, and the general public.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. The files consist of incoming and outgoing correspondence, covering the years 1955-1958, mainly 1957-1958. These are the files of Hubert Knight, the Assistant Executive Director of the Texas State Board of Control and primarily concern purchasing and requisition activities and property transfers. Notable topics include a series of complaints against Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company and the sale of surplus state-owned houses for the Texas Highway Department right-of-way program.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery. These are the correspondence files of the Eleemosynary Pay-Patient Collector of the Texas State Board of Control, dating 1933-1935. There are incoming and outgoing letters between the pay-patient collector and officials at the state eleemosynary institutions regarding patients and/or operations at the institutions, correspondence with county officials regarding patients the county wished to admit to the state schools and hospitals, and correspondence with state agencies and private companies regarding construction projects. One file in particular concerns the admission of a youth to the State Juvenile Correction facility.

The Eleemosynary Pay-Patient Collector was appointed by the Board in 1933 to supervise and assist eleemosynary institutions in making collections from inmates in these institutions where such inmates or their heirs, legal representatives, or families had sufficient property to make them legally liable for payment of the care and treatment of said inmates. The Pay-Patient Collector also assisted the Board in handling any general eleemosynary matters assigned, and supervised the construction program of the Board, beginning with Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) contruction projects in the 1930s. During the period covered by these records the Pay-Patient Collector was Clark Wright.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery. These records are correspondence, reports, memorandums, statistical compilations, and a register of the Eleemosynary Divison of the Texas State Board of Control, largely concerned with the population status of the institutions. Dates covered are 1937-1950, with the bulk dating 1937-1946. The loose records (1937-1946) consist of Board orders and inter-office memos to institution superintendents; correspondence; statistical compilations, such as attendance and admission reports; and a set of files concerning the State Psychopathic Hospital in Galveston. Topics covered largely deal with the population status within the various institutions or the reopening of the psychopathic hospital.

The register (1940-1950) lists the officials at state eleemosynary institutions from 1940 through 1950. A brief history of the enabling legislation for each institution is given, then a list of the officials, their respective job titles, and dates appointed. Only the top administrative or supervisory officials are listed for each institution, generally the superintendent or storekeeper-accountant.

A more complete set of orders of the Board of Control concerning eleemosynary issues is in the series Actions of the Board. Additional correspondence with eleemosynary institutions and some board orders can be found in the series Board members files.

One of the functions of the Texas State Board of Control was the administration of relief funds to the unemployed through the efforts of its Relief Commission Division. Types of records are correspondence, reports, bulletins, forms and related materials, dating from 1933 to 1935 and undated. Records are of the Relief Commission Division of the Texas State Board of Control and its predecessor agencies, the Texas Relief Commission and the Texas Rehabilitation and Relief Commission. Subjects include public welfare administration, federal aid to public welfare, and the Emergency Education Program. See the series, Board members files, especially Chairman Claude Teer's files and Board member Tom DeBerry's files, for additional Relief Commission Division correspondence.

One of the primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control was the preparing the budget for the state and serving as the state's chief financial officer. This series contains financial materials used for budget requests of state agencies and historical parks, including correspondence and memoranda, statements of appropriations and expenditures, biennial reports of agencies, reports of agency activities, publications, clippings, spreadsheets, and notes. Dates covered are 1926-1939, bulk dating 1936-1938. These are the files of J.D. Hall, Chief of the Division of Estimates and Appropriations of the Texas State Board of Control, also known as the State Budget Director. He was responsible for preparing budget requests for state agencies as part of the overall biennial budget request for state government submitted to the Governor and the Legislature. The budget director gathered information about and/or from the agencies, prepared statistical compilations, conducted budget inspections, and held hearings for agencies about their budget requests. This division was also responsible, during the period covered by these records, for preparing the biennial appropriation budget for state agencies, the biennial report for the Board of Control, assisting with the collection of pay-patient funds, assisting with the auditing of eleemosynary institutions, and other duties as assigned.

There are two sets of files in this series, those for state agencies and those for historical parks. The agency files contain materials gathered for the state agencies budget hearing process and were used in the preparation of the state's overall biennial appropriation budget. The historical parks files concern budget estimates and/or requests of individual parks, but also provide information about the history of the parks, as many files contain publications and clippings about the parks.

The Centennial Division was created by the Texas State Board of Control to handle duties assigned the Board in connection with the Texas Centennial Celebration. Duties included reviewing and presenting to the Board plans and expenditures for the exposition in Dallas, for buildings to be built or renovated elsewhere in the state, and for the erection of historical markers and memorials. Final approval on such Centennial activities was given by the Board. Records consist of two books of minutes covering the period May 16, 1935, the meeting at which the Board established the Division, through August 15, 1939. Also present is a folder of associated materials containing letters concerning the Division or the Texas Centennial and invitations to the opening of Centennial activities. These items are dated 1938. Correspondence related to the Texas Centennial and the Board's activities for it can be found in the series Board Members files. Contracts and deeds involving centennial-related projects can primarily be found in the Executive Director's files series. A few others are present in the series Contracts and related records,. Specifications for the construction of the State of Texas Building at the Texas Centennial Exposition can be found in the series Specifications and blueprints.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was the control and supervision of the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery. Materials are financial records and audit reports of individual eleemosynary institutions. The audits were prepared by the Institutional Accountant of the Board. Dates covered are 1932-1942, the bulk dating 1936-1939. Types of financial records present include inventories of property, hardware, groceries, dry goods, and narcotics (generally in the state hospitals); statements and/or summaries of accounts (groceries, hardware, employee expenses, etc.); adding machine tapes; expense statements; trial balance sheets; notes; correspondence between the accountant and the institution; occasional correspondence with members of the Board; the original handwritten audit report; typed drafts of the report, often with changes noted; an investigative report of affairs at the Abilene State Hospital; and lists of individual accounts of patients or residents in the institutions. This last item, the lists of individual accounts, have been removed because the names of people in the state hospitals and schools and the children in the state juvenile training or correction facilities are confidential. Additional audit reports and audit files of eleemosynary institutions by the board can be found in the series Board members files, especially in the files of Chairman H.H. Harrington and Chairman Harry Knox.

The Institutional Accountant of the Board of Control was charged with auditing all the state eleemosynary institutions as circumstances permitted and supervising the accounting activities of the various Storekeeper-Accountants at each institution. Efforts were made to audit each institution yearly or as close to yearly as possible. Accountants of the Board during this period were W.J. Womack and Alfred W. Oliphant, Jr.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies. The files consist of copies of minutes of the Texas State Board of Control meetings and may be accompanied by meeting agenda, monthly reports from the Design and Construction Division, reports inspecting the quality of supplies and equipment, incoming and outgoing correspondence and reports re: bid awards and requisitions, minutes from Printing and Purchasing meetings, list of expenditures, a procedure manual for purchasing operations, and other materials related to purchasing activities. Dates of the records are 1953-1962 and undated. These records are the files of Alice Miller, Chief of the Purchasing Division of the State Board of Control during the 1950s and 1960s.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. The series consists of correspondence of the Consulting Engineer of the Texas State Board of Control dating 1928-1940, the bulk dating 1938-1940. The correspondence is between the Consulting Engineer and staff at Rusk State Hospital and concerns engineering work, primarily about the power plant, mechanical operations, or utility units at the hospital.

The Engineering Division began operations in 1921. Duties of the division included studying the equipment, design and operation of all utility units and facilities of the institutions under the management of the Board of Control, including the Capitol power plant and state office buildings. The Division also supervised all the Board's power and utility plant operations and acted in an advisory capacity in the purchasing of supplies, machinery, equipment, and public utility services for said plants. The Division examined and approved the plans and specifications for all utility improvements, equipment and machinery installed in said buildings, both for new utility units or power plants and for repairs or improvements to existing utility units and plants. The Consulting Engineer in charge of this Division during the time period covered by these records was Hood Pitts.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. This series consists of reports concerning the Texas State Board of Control and its overall functions, including the operation of the eleemosynary and juvenile institutions, and some state agencies; and two sets of transcripts. Dates of the records range from 1919 to 1958 with some undated reports.

The reports present consist of survey reports of individual eleemosynary institutions and overall reports of various aspects of all the institutions (most by the Board), late 1930s - early 1940s; annual reports for a few institutions, 1930s - 1940s; rules and regulations of institutions, 1920s - 1940s; yearbooks from the State Orphan's Home and the School for the Deaf, late 1940s; reports of escapes and deaths at eleemosynary institutions (a few reports of discharges also), 1940s; survey reports on state hospitals (not by the Board), 1940s; survey reports on eleemosynary institutions (by Board for State Hospitals and Special Schools), 1950; audit reports of eleemosynary institutions, state agencies, and state teacher's colleges (by the State Auditor's Office), 1941-1950; reports on the financial condition of the Board, mid 1940s; reports on operations of the Board (by the Texas Research League), 1956; a few issues of the Texas Eleemosynary Journal, sponsored by the Board's Eleemosynary Division, 1944-1945; annual report of the Board, 1942; a biennial report of the Board, 1944; and some miscellaneous reports (by the Board and others), 1950s. Annual/biennial reports for the Board of Control are also catalogued in the Texana collection of the Archives and Information Services Division.

There are two transcripts in this series. One transcript is from a meeting of the Texas Training School Code Commission held on November 8, 1947. The other is a transcript of testimony from a doctor at the San Antonio State Hospital (1940), followed by a variety of reports.

The series Contracts and related records, contains a few reports that were filed in the numerical sequence used by the Board to maintain the contracts and deeds of the agency. There is a report of an investigation at Rusk State Hospital re: employee thefts, dating 1923; a report to the 36th Legislature by the Locating Committee of the Board to locate and erect the Northwest Texas Asylum for the Insane (Wichita Falls State Hospital), about 1918; a set of sworn statements of painters working at the Capitol at the time of an accident when a painter fell while working on the dome, dating 1922; and a report of the Iron Ore Committee (composed of legislators) to investigate the iron foundry at Rusk State Hospital, 1926.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. This series contains copies of House and Senate bills and resolutions, committee referrals and summations, correspondence, and notes concerning the bill's progress, suggested changes, etc., dating 1943-1949. These files are present for four legislative sessions--48th (1943), 49th (1945), 50th (1947), and 51st (1949) and have some relationship to the Texas State Board of Control and its responsibilities. These responsibilities include the administration of eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanatoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools); purchasing and requisition activities; construction, remodeling and repairs of state facilities; and budget and appropriation concerns of state institutions and agencies.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. Additional short-term duties have included the administration of child welfare, operation of the Texas Relief Commission, preparation of the state's budget, and operation of the Bureau of Records. These records are press releases covering 1943-1946, many undated, issued by the Texas State Board of Control concerning actions relating to the juvenile and eleemosynary institutions under control of the Board. Other press releases are filed in the Board members files series, within the files of several Board members.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state buildings, including the eleemosynary institutions. This series consists of specifications for construction projects undertaken by the Texas State Board of Control that were sent out on bid (bid proposals), blueprints, beam schedules, and notes on construction projects. Dates covered are 1932-1949 and 1967, and undated. Projects include construction, repairs, or remodeling at several state eleemosynary institutions, mostly state hospitals (1938-1940s and undated); repairs and improvements at the State Capitol Building or grounds (1932-1939); construction of the State of Texas Building for the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas (1935-1936); additions and improvements to the Laboratory and Pasteur Building at the State Department of Health (1939-1944); repairs to the Governor's Mansion (1938); remodeling the State Department of Public Welfare Building at Camp Mabry (about 1940); constructing buildings and other improvements for the Thirty-Sixth Division Aviation, Texas National Guard; and construction of the State Finance Building (1967).

Contracts and some specifications for early construction projects of the Board (mostly before 1933) can be found in the series Contracts and related records.

This series was removed from the overall finding aid due to the electronic file size limitations imposed by the online finding aid web site (TARO) and placed in a finding aid with several building/contruction related series of the Board. If you are reading this electronically, click on the following link to access the finding aid, Texas State Board of Control building records and contracts. If you are reading this in paper, the series finding aid can be found in a separate divider within the binder.

TThe primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. These records are original contracts, specifications, bonds, deeds and easements, reports, and legislative bills, dating 1854, 1885, 1909-1933, 1940, the bulk dating 1920-1928. These are records of the Texas State Board of Control. There are deeds for property acquisition and rights-of-way easements, leases, contracts for remodeling and new construction projects, repairs, installation of plumbing and heating systems, electrical work, utilities, food purchases for state institutions, and other contracts. These records largely concern eleemosynary institutions, with a few items concerning historic parks, the Governor's Mansion, the Texas State Capitol, and other state properties or concerns, such as the State Cemetery. A few of the jackets are empty, a few others have just a piece of paper with a name and a date, generally in the 1940s, likely signifying when the document was removed.

Contracts of particular note that do not concern the construction of or supplies for eleemosynary institutions include item # 436, the contract for the removal of prominent Texans from their burial grounds to the State Cemetery and the erection of monuments for those graves. Several other contracts also concern the erection of monuments at the State Cemetery. There are also several contracts for work done at the Texas State Capitol and the grounds, including one for building a fountain at the mineral well on the grounds (# 272, 1928), installing a temperature control system (# 79, 1916), and rebuilding a lake on the grounds (#206, 1927).

Deeds of particular note include item # 138, a certified copy of the warranty deed for the San Jacinto Battlefield, 1909; item # 262, a copy of the deed purchasing land for the interment of General Edward Burleson, 1854; and item # 215, copy of deeds of land to the San Antonio State Hospital, 1885. A related document is item # 356, a memorandum re: lands supposed to be owned by Rusk State Hospital, dating about 1920. A few maps are also present, being plats of state lands or of easements.

A few reports are present that are worth noting because they are not deeds or contracts, but were filed in this numerical system by the Board, usually because they were related to a deed or contract. Item # 30 is a report of an investigation at Rusk State Hospital re: employee thefts, dating 1923. The report contains the bill by the detective agency hired to do the investigating. Item # 101A is a report to the 36th Legislature by the Locating Committee of the Board to locate and erect the Northwest Texas Asylum for the Insane (Wichita Falls State Hospital), about 1918. The contracts issued to build the hospital follow the report. Item # 271 consists of sworn statements of painters working at the Capitol at the time of an accident when a painter fell while working on the dome, dating 1922. Item # 371 is a report of the Iron Ore Committee (composed of legislators) to investigate the iron foundry at Rusk State Hospital, 1926. Item # 467 is a packet of correspondence between the Board and Rusk State Hospital regarding the hospital's request to sell timber from its lands and it includes an attorney general's opinion, dating 1926. Copies of two legislative bills from 1930 are also present, concerning the custodianship of state property by the Board (House Bill 58) and the lease of state-owned lands for oil and gas and agricultural purposes (Senate Bill 94).

The Executive Director's files series contains deeds and contracts for several Texas Centennial projects and for some of the historic state parks, primarily San Jacinto State Park. The series Records on monuments contains contracts for construction of historical monuments, 1935-1937.

Specifications for a few construction projects dating after 1932 can be found in the series Specifications and blueprints.

This series was removed from the overall finding aid due to the electronic file size limitations imposed by the online finding aid web site (TARO) and placed in a finding aid with several building/contruction related series of the Board. If you are reading this electronically, click on the following link to access the finding aid, Texas State Board of Control building records and contracts. If you are reading this in paper, the series finding aid can be found in a separate divider within the binder.

A primary function of the Texas State Board of Control was having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state buildings and grounds. The Board was also charged with the construction of some monuments, both on the grounds of public buildings and at the State Cemetery in Austin. Types of records include correspondence, contracts, contractor's estimates, receipts, job orders, and photographs. Records date from 1935 to 1937 and relate to the bidding by private contractors and the construction of historical monuments under two contracts for the Texas State Board of Control. One contract from 1935 with the firm of Driscoll and Moritz was for a total of eight monuments: Samuel May Williams and Valentine D. Dalton at Galveston, Captain William Wood at the San Jacinto battleground, and five at the State Cemetery in Austin - James W. Chance, Sterling Clack Robertson, Nestor Clay, William Menefee, and the Reverend William Crawford. There are photographs of the two monuments at Galveston. The second contract, signed in 1937 with Rodriguez Brothers Memorials, was for the Jacob De Cordova and the James A. Sylvester monuments, both at the State Cemetery in Austin. There are photographs of these monuments as well. Contracts for other monuments at the State Cemetery are in the series Contracts and related records,. Contracts for work on the memorials at the historic parks can be found in the series Contracts and related records, and the series Executive Director's files.

This series was removed from the overall finding aid due to the electronic file size limitations imposed by the online finding aid web site (TARO) and placed in a finding aid with several building/contruction related series of the Board. If you are reading this electronically, click on the following link to access the finding aid, Texas State Board of Control building records and contracts. If you are reading this in paper, the series finding aid can be found in a separate divider within the binder.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. These records consist of an index listing surety bonds and receipts of payment of bonds of members of the Texas State Board of Control and some employees of the Board, mostly in the state eleemosynary institutions. Dates covered are 1927-1941. A surety bond is a bond guaranteeing performance of a contract or an obligation. Members of the Board, the secretary, superintendants, and store-keeper accountants, perhaps other board employees who handled financial matters were required to file surety bonds. The index is a volume containing the following information: name of insured employee, institution, position, company issuing the bond, bond number, and date of coverage of the bond. In a few cases, warranty deeds concerning land at eleemosynary instituions were noted. The receipts of payment are loose papers, many in letter form, listing the name of the insured employee, institution, position, company issuing the bond, date issued, policy number, period covered by the bond, and date bond payment was made.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitariums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery; serving as the purchasing agent for state institutions and agencies; having joint supervision and maintenance of certain historical parks; and having charge of the custody and maintenance of the Capitol and other state office buildings and grounds. This series consists of black and white photographs, primarily 8 × 10 inches, some smaller snapshots, and a small number of negatives, dating from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Some correspondence is present concerning the use of the photographs in publications, notes, and publication paste-ups. Some photographs are identified on the reverse, some in accompanying notes, many are not identified at all. The photographs document activities of the Texas State Board of Control and the institutions/buildings it managed during the 1940s through the 1960s.

Beginning the series is a group of 8 × 10 photographs, dating 1950s - early 1960s, of Board members, with the Governor present in some images and the Executive Director of the Board present in most shots. Shown are Governor Price Daniel, Governor John Connally, Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith, Executive Director William J. Burke, and several Board members, not always identified. Also present is an aerial view of the Capitol complex, about 1956, and a color lithograph showing the San Jacinto Monument and Battleship Texas.

Following these is a larger group of photos from the 1940s primarily concerning the eleemosynary institutions under direction of the Board. Most of these photographs were taken for use in various Board publications, including exhibit bulletins from several state fat stock shows and exhibits, 1943-1946, in which students from the eleemosynary and juvenile institutions participated; the bulletin from the Longhorn State Camp, 1945, attended by children from the state orphanages; a brochure, Your Institutions and You, 1945; and a special edition of The Lone Star, 1944, containing the 13th biennial report of the Board. Views shown include adults and children in various institutions at work, in class, doing arts and crafts projects, and playing; group shots of people, such as the Improvement Club from the Gatesville State School for Girls, and class pictures; shots of building exteriors; students showing animals and other items at the fat stock shows and exhibits; and volleyball, fishing and other recreational scenes, primarily from the Longhorn State Camp. Also present are shots taken at the Buchanan Dam Conference, attended by Board members; and a folder of general views.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were controlling and supervising the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery. This series consists of petition forms submitted to the Texas State Board of Control requesting the removal of the superintendent of the Texas School for the Deaf, T.M. Scott, dating about 1938. The petition was signed by parents of children in the Deaf School, members of the Texas Association of the Deaf, and interested parties. Reasons listed on the petition for the removal of Scott included: he was neither an educator of the hearing nor of the deaf; complaints over the business side of the management of the school; he failed to make an accounting of $6,500 stolen from parents of deaf children by a employee of the school; he ignored pleas and requests of the Texas Association of the Deaf and parents of deaf children; by his actions he showed he was not in sympathy with the problems of the deaf; he intended to switch students in the Main Building to the Primary Oral Building, an experimental annex, which the petition stated was contrary to law and would result in many children leaving the school; and he did not fit the requirements of the law under Article 691, Superintendents elected. The law states Each superintendent shall have had special advantages and practical experience in the class of persons committed to his charge. A new superintendant, E.R. Wright, was named in 1939. Whether this was the result of the petition is unknown. No mention of the recall petition is made in the Board of Control report for the 1939-1940 biennium, either in the overall report or the report of the Texas School for the Deaf.

The primary functions of the Texas State Board of Control were the control and supervision of the state eleemosynary institutions (state schools, hospitals and sanitoriums, orphanages, juvenile training schools), the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation, the Confederate Homes, and the State Cemetery. This series consists of commitment papers and other court documents from mental competency hearings in county courts in 1947. The defendants were committed to one of the state mental hospitals or else to the mental ward at the Veterans Hospital in Waco (for veterans only). Types of documents present include statement of facts, giving information about the patient and their family, their mental condition, symptoms, supposed cause, and other data; testimony and affidavits of those filing the commitment papers; judgements and court orders; physicians certificates, certifying the mental status of the patient; property and financial statement of patient at the time of the trial; physician's statement and court orders releasing the patient from the institution; and occasional correspondence with family members, usually requesting payment for services at the hospital.