The UHV Library is one of twenty five depositories established by the Regional Historical Resource Depository program of the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
The RHRD depositories operate under Chapter 441.153, Subchapter J, Government Code to "provide for an orderly, uniform state-wide system for the professional retention and preservation of historical resources in the region of their origin or interest". Records in the depositories have fulfilled their administrative and legal value, but are still of historical importance. The RHRD collects, preserves, and makes these resources available for public use. The use of records is available free of charge; however, records may not be loaned or removed from the library.
List of Depositories (RHRDs)
On deposit in the UHV Library are the non-current, historically valuable records of Victoria, Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Gonzales, and Jackson counties. Inventories and other finding aids for the paper RHRD holdings of our library are available at the Victoria Regional History Center.
Through an agreement with the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library, microfilmed county records were placed at the Division. Subsequently, each RHRD received copies of the filmed records of its particular region.
In the UHV Library, the following reels of film are available to search (copying is available):
The microfilm is no longer available via Interlibrary Loan.
The VRHC currently holds records from the Office of the County Superintendent of Schools in paper format for three counties: Dewitt, Lavaca, and Victoria. These records include:
Browse the index to County School Records:
Dewitt County (Rural) School Records
Victoria County (Rural) School Records
The UHV Library's offsite storage houses Victoria County court records filed by the justice of peace, county clerk, and district clerk in the periods from mid 19th century to late 20th century.
Although some records of Texas courts, such as naturalization and probate records, have been microfilmed, others, including criminal and civil case papers are available only in paper format. In an effort to enhance accessibility to these records, VRHC staff volunteers have prepared indexes to the files of the various county court offices. Court cases are searchable by case name or case date.
These indexes have been uploaded into the University Archives and Manuscripts Portal .