In today's edition of the Houston Chronicle, I found an article about attempting to preserve old historical records of Texas. A Historical Court Records Task Force to survey the condition of various state district and county courts. The main purpose was to see what records still survive, what condition they are in and how they are being preserved.
The results were startling. While a lot of records were destroyed, stolen or lost, thousands still survive. The conditions of existing records vary from good to poor to disintegrating or eaten by rats.
The Task Force plans a more detailed survey. They will also look at ways to secure and preserve the state history.
I think it's amazing task and great job if they can pull it off. So many characters formed Texas...Judge Roy Bean, Sam Houston, Davey Crocket and Stephen F. Austin to name just a few. An amazing library can be digitized of all document they can find and then store them for save keeping.
On a personal note for me, record gathering and keeping helped my own family research immeasurably. Using census I traced one branch of the family back to South Carolina after the Revolutionary War. I followed a path they blazed from South Carolina to Mississippi before finally settling in Texas.
Although it had a personal reason for me, such records document the events and stories of the Great State of Texas. Private funds and grants need to come in to help pay to preserve and scan all the documents possible and provide for secure storage. All other options don't qualify for ideas or debate.
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