Research Collections on Domestic Violence
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. This post is contributed by UH Libraries Special Collections processing archivist Kevin Kinney, featuring related research collections.
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections is home to several important archival collections documenting the work of individuals and organizations dedicated to eliminating domestic and sexual violence through direct action, community organizing, fundraising, and legislation on the local, state, and national levels. Below is more information about some of these collections:
The Houston Area Women’s Center (HAWC) Records contain administrative, historical, and publicity materials documenting HAWC’s work to end domestic and sexual violence in the greater Houston area dating back to its founding in 1977. This collection is complemented by the Houston Area Women’s Center Photographs and Houston Area Women’s Center Videos collections. Totaling at just over seventy linear feet, these three collections are further enhanced by two of HAWC’s newsletters that are also available for research: Centerline and Catalyst. Also available are the papers of one of HAWC’s co-founders and executive directors, Nikki Van Hightower, former City of Houston Women’s Advocate and Harris County Treasurer.
Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla and Houston Area Women’s Center outreach coordinator Betty Swinners holding up a HAWC shirt during a rally in front of Houston City Hall in 1994. Houston Area Women’s Center Photographs, 1996-005-b, Box 10, Folder 110. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries.
The Toby M. Myers, Deborah D. Tucker, and Maria Jose Angelelli Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) Records contain written materials, ephemera, and photographic media from TCFV dating back to its founding in 1978. Highlights include printed matter and photographs documenting conferences such as TCFV’s annual Statewide Family Violence Conference; TCFV’s extensive lobbying of state legislators to pass bills addressing family violence and abuse; and members gathering at political events such as former Governor Ann Richards’ 1991 inauguration and the 1994 passage of the Violence Against Women Act. Also available are the Toby M. Myers Papers. Known as “the Mother of the Texas Battered Women’s Movement,” Dr. Myers is an experienced social worker, speaker, and advocate who helped found HAWC and TCFV.
Texas Council on Family Violence members at a rally during former Texas Governor Ann Richards’ 1991 inauguration. Toby M. Myers, Deborah D. Tucker, and Maria Jose Angelelli Texas Council on Family Violence Records, 1998-005, Box 10, Folder 7. University of Houston Libraries Special Collections.
Flyer for “One Voice 2013: Say No to Domestic Violence!” Daya, Inc. Records, 2019-043, Box 1, Folder 37. University of Houston Libraries Special Collections.
The Daya, Inc. Records contain printed materials broadly documenting Daya’s outreach to Houston’s South Asian women and families affected by domestic violence. Materials of note include select issues of Daya’s newsletter; publicity items for Daya’s annual fundraiser programs and “One Voice,” an annual domestic violence awareness event co-sponsored with the Houston Police Department; and awards issued by various leaders and organizations for services to the community, including a Certificate of Congressional Recognition by former U. S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee. UH Libraries also holds a collection of administrative and publicity records from another Houston-based organization that supports Asian families affected by abuse, Asians Against Domestic Abuse.
These collections are highlights of UH Libraries Special Collections’ Carey C. Shuart Women’s Research Collection, which contains records that broadly document women’s issues, but these collections are an abundant resource for researchers in sociology, psychology, political science, public policy, education, history, law, and media/communication studies. They will be of special interest to researchers studying past and present efforts to combat family violence and abuse in its many guises, including physical, sexual, psychological, spousal, and financial; the history of establishing shelters and providing social services for women and families, especially in historically underrepresented communities; efforts to advocate for and enact legislation to protect survivors of domestic violence; and the rise of the broader women’s movement on the local, state, and national level.
Learn more about these and other collections at UH Libraries Special Collections.
UH Libraries OPEN Program: Advancing Affordable and Open Education
This post is part of a week-long series contributed by UH Libraries Research Services in recognition of International Open Access Week 2026.
Rising textbook costs can create barriers to student success, making course affordability an important consideration for both students and instructors. University of Houston Libraries addresses this challenge through the Open Education Incentive (OPEN) Program, an initiative that supports the adoption of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices across the University.
Texas OER Core Elements Course: OER is for Sharing by Guila Forsythe
Originally launched as the Alternative Textbook Incentive Program, the OPEN Program has expanded to provide multiple pathways for faculty to engage with open education. The program helps instructors replace costly commercial textbooks with free or low-cost alternatives, develop openly licensed learning materials, and explore innovative teaching practices that enhance student learning.
One component of the program is the Textbook Affordability Incentive, which provides funding for instructors who replace required commercial textbooks with OER, library-licensed materials, or other freely available resources. Awards are based on factors such as projected student impact, textbook costs, and project feasibility.
The program also includes an Open Educational Practices Incentive, which supports faculty who create openly licensed learning objects or implement renewable assignments that allow students to contribute to openly shared knowledge. These projects encourage collaboration, creativity, and engagement while producing resources that can be reused and adapted by other educators.
For instructors new to open education, the OER Professional Development Incentive offers guided training through self-paced learning modules focused on understanding and implementing OER. Participants who complete the program receive a certificate and a financial incentive from UH Libraries.
The impact of the OPEN Program extends beyond faculty development. Recent award-winning projects have removed tens of thousands of dollars in textbook costs for students while expanding access to high-quality educational materials. By supporting affordability, innovation, and open sharing of knowledge, UH Libraries helps create a more accessible learning environment for the UH community.
Open Access Publishing Support at UH Libraries
This post is part of a week-long series contributed by UH Libraries Research Services in recognition of International Open Access Week 2026.
Open access publishing allows research to be freely available to readers worldwide, but publication fees can sometimes present challenges. University of Houston Libraries helps support authors by providing information about publisher agreements that offer discounts or waivers for article processing charges (APCs).
IGI Global: Article Processing Charges: What They Are and Why They Exist
APCs are fees that authors may pay to publish articles as open access. Through agreements negotiated by UH Libraries, UH researchers may be eligible for reduced publishing costs with selected publishers. For example, eligible primary research articles published with the American Physiological Society (APS) may receive APC-free open access publication, while discounts are also available through BioMed Central and SpringerOpen.
These agreements help lower financial barriers that can prevent researchers from making their work openly available. Because open access articles can be read without subscription restrictions, they have the potential to reach broader audiences across academia, industry, education, and the public.
UH Libraries encourages authors to verify eligibility requirements and available discounts during the publishing process. Through these support services, UH Libraries helps researchers navigate the publishing landscape while promoting greater access to scholarship.
Research Visibility Starts with Open Access and Altmetric Explorer
This post is part of a week-long series contributed by UH Libraries Research Services in recognition of International Open Access Week 2026.
Getting research published is a big accomplishment, but what happens next? If people can’t find your work, its impact may be limited. That’s why open access and research visibility go hand in hand. University of Houston Libraries provides tools and services that help researchers share their work widely and better understand who is engaging with it.
One of the easiest ways to increase visibility is through Cougar ROAR, the University’s open repository platform. Faculty and students can make articles, presentations, posters, datasets, and other research outputs freely available online at no cost. When research is openly accessible, it can reach people far beyond a university campus, including educators, practitioners, policymakers, and community members.
But visibility is about more than simply posting research online. Researchers also want to know whether people are reading, sharing, and discussing their work. That’s where Altmetric Explorer comes in.
The Altmetric attention score and donut
Altmetric Explorer helps track attention to research across news sites, blogs, policy documents, and social media. Instead of focusing only on citations, it offers a broader picture of how scholarship is being used and talked about in the real world. Combined with the research impact support services provided by UH Libraries, it can help researchers showcase the reach of their work and identify new audiences.
Open access increases the chances that research will be discovered, while tools like Altmetric Explorer help reveal the conversations happening around it. Together, they give researchers a powerful way to expand their reach, demonstrate impact, and ensure their work connects with the people who can benefit from it most.
Learn more about research visibility and impact at UH Libraries
New Episode of Cougar Collections
In University of Houston Libraries’ second episode of Cougar Collections, coordinator for instruction and curator Julie Grob discusses a special addition to the Rare Books Collections, a 1540 copy of Magna Carta.
UH is the fifth U.S. entity to acquire a 1540 copy of Magna Carta, made possible by a gift in honor of a longtime benefactor.
The new acquisition, which is a pocket-size printed version of the original scribed Latin charter, was made possible by a generous gift from Howard Holsenbeck, who donated in honor of a longtime benefactor. UH Libraries is the most recent US institution to own a copy, bringing the national total to five.
Special collections and archives preserve and promote primary source materials, the ingredients of original scholarship. The new Cougar Collections series brings archives alive, surfacing the stories and voices that illuminate our history and inform our future.
Watch Cougar Collections: Magna Carta.
Learn more about visiting Special Collections.
Access digitized materials at UH Digital Collections and the Audio/Video Repository.
Open Access Beyond Articles
This post is part of a week-long series contributed by UH Libraries Research Services in recognition of International Open Access Week 2026.
Open access includes much more than journal articles. University of Houston Libraries supports a variety of resources that make scholarship, research data, and historical materials freely available online.
UH Libraries provides a variety of open access resources for UH faculty and scholars.
One example is the open publication of theses and dissertations. All approved theses and dissertations at the University of Houston are submitted through Vireo for open access publication, increasing the visibility and discoverability of graduate research.
UH Libraries also supports open research data through the UH Dataverse Repository, part of Cougar ROAR. Researchers can share datasets, research projects, codebooks, and test instruments, allowing others to discover and build upon existing work.
Beyond scholarly research, UH Libraries offers Digital Collections featuring rare and unique materials related to UH, Houston history, and other culturally significant topics. The A/V Repository provides free online access to historical audio and video materials from UH Libraries and archives.
Together, these resources demonstrate how open access broadens the availability of knowledge. By providing access to scholarship, data, and historical collections, UH Libraries helps ensure that information remains accessible for research, teaching, and lifelong learning.
Making Your Research Open Access with Cougar ROAR
This post is part of a week-long series contributed by UH Libraries Research Services in recognition of International Open Access Week 2026.
Cougar ROAR is the University’s open access repository platform.
Open access helps research reach a wider audience by removing barriers to access. University of Houston Libraries supports open scholarship through Cougar ROAR, the University’s open access repository platform.
Cougar ROAR allows UH faculty, students, and researchers to share scholarship online at no cost. The platform includes an institutional repository for articles, presentations, posters, course materials, electronic theses and dissertations, and other scholarly works. It also includes the UH Dataverse Repository, where researchers can make datasets and research materials publicly available.
One of the biggest benefits of open access is increased visibility. When research is freely available online, it can be discovered by scholars, students, professionals, and community members around the world. Open repositories help ensure that valuable research is not limited to those with subscription access.
Cougar ROAR also supports long-term preservation of scholarly work, making research easier to find and use over time. Because the service is free for UH community members with a valid CougarNet account, it provides an accessible way for researchers to expand the reach of their scholarship.
By supporting the open dissemination of research and data, UH Libraries helps researchers increase the accessibility and impact of their work while contributing to a more open scholarly community.
UH Libraries Announces Acquisition of the Lawrence Welsh Archive
University of Houston Libraries is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Lawrence Welsh Archive, an extensive collection of Welsh’s papers, which include photographs, drafts, ephemera, journals, correspondence, and much more.
Poet, punk musician, journalist, and professor Lawrence Welsh is a first-generation Irish-American from Los Angeles whose work is deeply rooted in the American Southwest. His collection captures the scope of his travels throughout California, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as the music, poetry, reporting, and other writings those travels inspired.
UH Libraries reached out to Lawrence Welsh to ask him about his papers being added to the library’s special collections.
What inspired you to make your papers available to UH Libraries?
Mary Catherine Kinniburgh from Granary Books called in early 2026 to say the University of Houston showed interest in buying my papers. She asked if I’d be up for the development. My answer arrived immediately.
“Yes,” I said, since I had lived in Texas for 31 straight years. But my answer encompassed more than just time and geography.
In 1989, looking for a new direction in life, I hitchhiked to Texas from Los Angeles, California, where I was born and raised. After spending time in El Paso and San Antonio, I settled down in Houston and became a waiter at the On the Border Café in Montrose. Those days changed and rearranged my life.
Back then, I was already a veteran newspaper reporter and editor, but I was living a dead-end life and knew I needed to go searching for new experiences and openings.
And that’s exactly what occurred in Houston.
Decades later, I married a native Texan, Lisa McNiel, who took classes at the University of Houston in the 1980s and holds degrees from Trinity University in San Antonio and the University of Texas at El Paso.
In the final analysis, we realized we both lived in Houston at the same time, but, of course, we never met back then. That occurred six years later in El Paso, while we were both in graduate school.
In the end, Houston served as ground zero for the unrivaled possibilities of a new life. Nowadays, on the eve of my 14th book being published, I’m still thankful for entering this new world.
What stories/themes emerge from the collection?
The main theme of the collection is the story of a poet, writer, and musician who was burning to create and has kept the fire going for more than 50 years.
Another theme is the power of letter writing, since the collection houses 30,000 letters and 150 personal journals. The letters dive into the power of “the moment and the day,” and I’m grateful for every writer, editor, poet, publisher, musician, artist, friend, and family member who took the time to join in an epistolary relationship with me.
Another theme that emerges is the almost unquantifiable magic and grit of the Southwest, including Texas, Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona. California and its promises and failures also emerge as a theme, especially the 34 years I lived in Los Angeles. In the end, California shapes up in the papers as a true but problematic lover.
What do you hope future researchers will learn from the papers?
When I pick up a letter from 10, 20, 30, or 40 years ago, that writer or person immediately comes to life, and he or she lives again in words that are on the page.
Since I corresponded with hundreds of significant writers, poets, journalists, musicians, artists, friends, and family members, their lives live again in these pages. Many of the folks in the papers are dead now, but they shared their lives, worlds, and dreams with me. In turn, I did the same.
I remain grateful to every person who let me into his or her life because each person has worth and commands respect.
I also hope researchers see a writer and poet who only wanted to become himself; one who embodied the journey and relentless push to get to some essence of the human condition.
The Lawrence Welsh Archive is currently being processed and is not yet available for viewing. For more information, contact Associate Dean for Special Collections and Preservation Lauren Gottlieb-Miller.
UH Libraries to Host Oct. 7 Reception for “We the People” Exhibit
University of Houston Libraries will host a special exhibit reception celebrating “We the People: Exploring the American Experience through the UH Libraries LGBT History Research Collection” at MD Anderson Library on Wednesday, October 7 at 5:30 p.m.
The compelling exhibit, curated by archivist Joyce Gabiola and on view through December, highlights personal stories and shared history through a rich selection of photographs, handwritten letters, artwork, newspaper clippings, and other primary sources drawn from the Libraries’ nationally significant LGBT History Research Collection. Presented with support from The Hollyfield Foundation, the exhibit and reception offer visitors a unique opportunity to engage with lived experiences spanning the 1940s through the 2000s.
Collections represented include the Botts Collection of LGBT History, Diana Foundation Records, Arden Eversmeyer Papers, Fundación Latinoamericana de Acción Social Records, Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History, and PFLAG Houston Records. The exhibit also incorporates perspectives from recent UH graduates, demonstrating the enduring academic and creative value of archival research.
The UH community and the public are warmly invited to attend. Guests will have the opportunity to discover the collections available for research at UH Libraries and enjoy a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception. The event will be held at the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion and is co-hosted by UH Libraries and UH Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies (WGSS).
The program will feature a conversation with Linda Morales, co-facilitated by Joyce Gabiola and WGSS program staff director Anneliese Bustillo. Associate professor and associate director of WGSS Dr. Rachel Afi Quinn will speak to the importance of the LGBT History Research Collection and how connecting students to the exhibition and collection supports their research and creative inquiry. Attendees will also hear a reading by Adrián Pachuca, a UH alumnus who earned an MFA in Poetry. Pachuca’s featured poem was inspired by materials from the archives and reflects the impact of research collections on scholarship and creative expression. A curator-led tour of the exhibit will follow.
Call for Applications: OER Professional Development Incentive
University of Houston Libraries is now accepting applications for the OER Professional Development Incentive. This incentive is part of the Open Education Incentive (OPEN) Program, which includes a variety of funding opportunities to support engagement with open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices.
For this incentive, instructors can receive funds for participating in a guided professional development program in which they explore and better understand OER through a series of self-paced online learning modules. Participants will attend a required introductory meeting (in-person) and may attend an optional virtual discussion. Instructors who complete the program will receive a certificate from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and a $250 incentive from UH Libraries.
The deadline to apply for the program is Friday, September 25, 2026. Registration is capped at 30 participants and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Learn more about Open Education Services and email [email protected] with any questions.