Statement of Purpose
The Victoria Regional History Center serves as a repository for institutional records and other material that document the history of the University of Houston-Victoria, Victoria College,
and the greater Victoria area. Through its collections and services, the Victoria Regional History Center strives to collect, preserve, and provide equal access to material of historical value for use by
students, faculty, staff, and the general public in support of administrative service, instruction, and research.
Scope of Collections
Archival records from the University of Houston-Victoria and Victoria College, along with historically significant materials relating to Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Gonzales, Jackson, Lavaca, and Victoria counties will be accessioned into the collection. Any item selected for any VRHC collection must undergo assessment to determine whether or not it is appropriate for inclusion. The collections represent the social, political, cultural, and economic history of the greater Victoria area.
The archival component of the VRHC collections will emphasize the records of the University of Houston-Victoria and Victoria College that have had an impact on the institution. Selection of archival materials is assigned to the VRHC librarian. It is at the discretion of the VRHC staff whether or not materials will be added to the collections.
VRHC collects non-current records of area community and civic organizations, religious institutions, and other public or private groups that have influenced Victoria's development.
The manuscript component consists of the private papers and records of persons who helped shape regions history. On deposit are the collections of civic leaders, businessmen, educators, politicians, and professional people.
In addition to traditional manuscript and archival records, the collection includes non-textual materials documenting the area such as maps, photographs, films and tapes, and architectural drawings.
The VRHC is a member of the Regional Historical Resource Depository (RHRD) system. The RHRD program collects, preserves, and makes available for public use historical records of local governments of Texas. The VRHC houses the records for the following counties: Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Gonzales, Jackson, Lavaca, and Victoria.
Collection Criteria
In general, the collection will be limited to images and documentary materials (published, manuscript, and audiovisual) that support the study of the history of Victoria and the surrounding areas. Artifacts and other objects will only be retained if they are deemed to have a significant relationship to other items in the collection, or are deemed integral to the study of the history of Victoria, the University of Houston-Victoria, or Victoria College.
The types of materials that the VRHC is most interested in obtaining are:
- Institutional Records (budget reports, meeting minutes, departmental reports, etc.)
- Manuscripts (correspondence, diaries, notebooks, etc.)
- Architectural Plans
- Maps
- Photographs
- Oral Histories
The VRHC does not collect materials that are outside the scope of this collection development policy, materials that are in such poor condition as to be unusable, photocopies of documents from other repositories, duplicates of current holdings (unless in better condition that then VRHC’s copy), donations with “conditions,” and material that is considered non-archival or has no research value (see Appendix A).
Deaccessioning
The VRHC collecting abilities are limited by space considerations. If at any time donated material is deemed to be outside the scope of the VRHC collection development policy, it may be considered for deaccession. The VRHC will consider several options for deaccession: return of the material to the donor or the donor’s family, transfer of the material to another repository, or destruction of the material.
Appendix A
The materials listed below are non-archival or have no research value. These materials will not be accepted into the collection and should be considered for deaccession or weeding. These items lack inherent value.
All items should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and should only be deaccessioned or weeded by the VRHC Librarian. The VHRC staff should also consult the donation form to ensure that no clauses restricting the weeding or removal of items exists
- Applications [blank forms]
- Ballots
- Bank statements
- Bills, personal
- Budgets
- Canceled checks
- Carbon copies (only if original is included)
- Copies of original materials held in other repositories
- Duplicate copies (keep 2, at the most)
- Duplicate copies of clippings or unorganized clippings
- Duplicate copies of memos
- Financial files for the office
- Form letters
- Forms [blank]
- Greeting cards (only if undated and unsigned)
- Invoices
- Job applications
- Letters of solicitation
- Library of Congress loan division files
- Magazines (unless inherently related to collection or collection creator)
- Manuals
- Medical records [confidentiality issues]
- Newspaper clippings, general or undated
- Newspapers (unless inherently related to collection or collection creator)
- Office space and office equipment files
- Order forms
- Paper copies of press mailing lists
- Parking files
- Payroll records
- Phone messages
- Postcards [blank]
- Purchase orders
- Receipts
- Requisitions
- Research notes (unless directly related to collection items)
- Routine travel files
- Sales literature/ brochures/ catalogues
- Security clearance files
- Stationary [blank] **(not to be confused with letterhead)
- Student papers
- Supplies
- Tax returns [confidentiality issues]
- Tickets
- “Tickler” files
- Travel brochures
- Unidentified audio and video tapes and films
- Unidentified photographs
- Vouchers
- Work orders
- Worksheets