Special Collections & University Archives: Research Guides

Special Collections & Archives
An insightful portrait of contemporary Brownsville, Texas written by two faculty members in the History Department of the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Special Collections & Archives
The history of Brownsville, Texas is presented here from the nineteenth century to the year 1940 through this fascinating collection of more than 300 photographs received from local families. Each photograph is accompanied by a descriptive caption in both English and Spanish. Published by the Brownsville Herald newspaper.

Special Collections & Archives
This pictorial history of Brownsville, Texas provides an intimate look at the city through hundreds of images taken during the 1940s through the year 1965. Each photograph is accompanied by text in English and Spanish. Published by the Brownsville Herald newspaper.

Special Collections & Archives
This fascinating collection of letters written by Helen Chapman, a U.S. Army officer's wife stationed at Fort Brown and covering the years 1848-1852, chronicles their experience on the frontier and provides her comments on social conditions along the Rio Grande.

Special Collections & Archives
A colorful account is given of the Charro Days festivities, a tradition in Brownsville, Texas, located on the Rio Grande, since 1938. The annual Charro Days serves to honor the culture heritage of Mexico and celebrates the friendly relations between Brownsville and its sister city across the river, Matamoros, Mexico.

Special Collections & Archives

The city of Brownsville, Texas is located strategically near the mouth of the Rio Grande where this international river reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Brownsville's position at the southern tip of Texas has been referred to as "the crossroads of the hemisphere".
Transportation has always been of great importance to the economic life of this crossroads since its very beginning. The construction of a municipal airport in Brownsville which opened in 1929 ranked among the most important developments for the city during the 1920s. This book provides a history of today's Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport and includes notable events such as the flight testing of the first American jet engine.

Special Collections & Archives
This book provides an account of a controversial incident which took place near midnight on August 13, 1906 when shots were heard on the road between Brownsville, Texas and Fort Brown. As a result, one civilian was dead and many angry white residents swarmed the streets, convinced that their homes had been attacked by newly arrived black infantrymen of the segregated Twenty-fifth Infantry Regiment stationed at Fort Brown.
As a result, the 167 black infantrymen of the segregated Twenty-fifth Infantry Regiment, who still proclaimed their innocence, were dismissed without honor and without trial by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Upon a reexamination of this case in 1972, honorable discharges were finally granted but all were posthumous except for that of