Inventory of the University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Exhibit Floor Task Group Records, 1993-1998

Historical Note

The Exhibit Floor Task Group formed circa 1993 and was a long range, cross-departmental planning committee charged with developing a master plan for the renovation of the ITC's Exhibit Floor. Their work involved benchmarking, developing a philosophy of exhibits, conducting research and user surveys, and visiting other museum sites.

The ITC 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 ITC, 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 ITC 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 ITC'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 ITC 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 1986 the ITC 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 ITC in 1995. He was advised by the ITC'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 ITC was funded by biennial legislative appropriations, grants, contributions, and funds generated by the sale of publications, audiovisuals, other products, and the rental of the ITC's facilities. In addition to maintaining 50,000 square feet of exhibits featuring twenty-seven cultures and ethnic groups, the ITC hosts the Texas Folklife Festival, the Asian Festival, and other events.

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).

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Scope and Content Note

The collection spans the years 1993 through 1998 and includes meeting minutes, reports, correspondence, notes, and electronic documents of the Institute of Texan Cultures Exhibit Floor Task Group. Also included are blueprints of the Institute of Texan Cultures exhibit floor and exhibits, as well as exhibits of other museums.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.

Usage Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Exhibit Floor Task Group Records, UA 15.01.05, Archives and Special Collections, University of Texas at San Antonio Library.

Acquisition Information

Transferred to the University Archives from Dave Garrison of the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures Exhibit Floor Task Group in July 2006 (Acc. 2006-038).

Processing Information

The collection is in one accession, 2006-038, and has been encoded by Angela McClendon Ossar, University Archivist. More detailed processing is not anticipated at this time.

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Inventory of the University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Exhibit Floor Task Group Records

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