Notable Collections

The Peggy Kokernot Kaplan 1977 National Women’s Conference Collection
Peggy Kokernot Kaplan was one of the original torch relay runners to run the last mile during the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston and who was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. The collection contains, photographs, conference ephemera, news clippings, and letters documenting her involvement during the conference.

New Music America Records
In 1986, Houston hosted the New Music America festival that connected local audiences to 20th century compositions and creations, a seminal event for local and national new music creators and performers. The New Music America Records at UH Libraries document the Houston festival and scene as well as the event’s national significance.

Lawndale Art and Performance Center Records
Begun as a gallery space for the UH Department of Art graduate students, the Lawndale Art and Performance Center has a long history supporting and presenting national and local visual and performance artists well-documented in its nearly 50 linear feet of historic archives.

William Sherrill Papers
UH alumnus Bill Sherrill was a World War II veteran and president of his class at the university. He earned an MBA from Harvard and went on to be Executive Vice President of real estate development firm Jamaica Corp., served on the Board of directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, all the while remaining engaged with UH where he founded the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Nicolás Kanellos Hispanic Theater Collection
Noted UH historian Nicolás Kanellos amassed some 150 posters, photographs, and playbills documenting the origins and renaissance of contemporary Latino theatre, literature, poetry, and scholarship.

Ray Hill Papers
More than 60 boxes of documents were donated by Ray Hill, Houston’s LGBT-rights, prisoners-rights, police reform activist, and “citizen provocateur.” Among the archive’s many treasures are correspondence from incarcerated persons to Hill from “The Prison Show” on community radio station KPFT-FM, a sign to “Elect Ray Hill your friendly neighborhood justice of the peace, Precinct 1” and other political materials, as well as an original script for Hill’s show.

Women’s Institute of Houston Records
Founded by Rebecca Petway Richardson in 1951, the Women’s Institute was one of the first institutions established to provide continuing educational opportunities for women within the Houston community. The first classes offered by the Women’s Institute were focused in the field of psychology due to the founder’s interest in the subject.

Anthony “Fat Tony” Obi Papers
The papers of award-winning rapper Anthony “Fat Tony” Obi document the artist’s career in and beyond his Houston roots.

Jack Ogg Papers
The personal papers of the late Texas Senator Jack C. Ogg document the life of the UH alumnus and long-time political leader who served in the Texas House of Representatives starting in 1966 and the Texas Senate from 1973 to 1983.

Gene Green Papers
UH Libraries partnered with the Hobby School of Public Affairs to bring to UH the legislative papers of Congressman Gene Green, who retired in 2018 after 13 terms as U.S. Representative for Texas’s 29th Congressional District and almost 46 years in elected office. More than 65 linear feet of records document Green’s career in public service and leadership on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and as Chair of the House Ethics Committee among many other legislative and community accomplishments.

Marion Knox Barthelme Fort Papers
Marion Knox Barthelme Fort was a writer and long-time leader of Houston’s visual and literary arts community whose archive documents her writing career and leadership with the Houston Seminar, Inprint, and the Menil Collection, among many other things.