UTSA Libraries named an official partner of San Antonio Tricentennial Celebration

Art collector donates contemporary prints to UTSA Libraries

The John Peace Library on the UTSA Main Campus


(Jan. 27, 2017) -- When San Antonio commemorates its 300th anniversary next year, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will play an historic role in the celebration. UTSA Libraries has been named a Tricentennial partner, joining the ranks of other distinguished organizations like AT&T, Bank of America and KSAT-12 in honoring this significant milestone.

San Antonio's tricentennial anniversary will be recognized through a series of events and initiatives celebrating the Alamo City's distinct culture and rich heritage. UTSA Libraries will host two events to take place in 2018 and create a digital portal to San Antonio history, which will feature archival materials held by UTSA Libraries Special Collections.

"We are delighted to be named as Tricentennial partners," said Dean Hendrix, dean of UTSA Libraries. "As one of the primary stewards of San Antonio history, we are happy that our historic collections will have the chance to shine and really enhance the celebration of our city's rich heritage."

The first event, A Culinary History of San Antonio: TexMex will showcase the evolution of Mexican cuisine in San Antonio and South Texas through UTSA Libraries' Mexican Cookbook Collection, one of the largest in the nation with more than 1,650 titles. The event will feature a meal inspired by the historical recipes in the Mexican Cookbook Collection, as well as a talk on the evolution of Mexican cuisine in San Antonio.

The second event, A History of San Antonio Activism, will highlight the various activist communities that have, over the years, defined San Antonio. The talk will draw inspiration from primary sources housed in UTSA Libraries Special Collections that provide first-hand documentation and evidence of the events, decisions, ideas, and actions that have shaped the development of San Antonio. These primary sources include papers from the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, as well as San Antonio's African-American and LGBTQ communities.

Dates and locations for both events will be announced later this year.

As a companion resource to all the Tricentennial events, UTSA Libraries will create a Portal to San Antonio History serving as a gateway to the university's rare, historical and primary source materials. The website will provide visitors with a launching point to explore UTSA Libraries' 125+ collections related to the development of the Alamo City, which include the papers of prominent San Antonio families, corporate archives from local businesses, and photographs from the San Antonio Express-News and San Antonio Light dating back to 1938. The portal is expected to launch in late 2017.

UTSA is ranked among the top 400 universities in the world and among the top 100 in the nation, according to Times Higher Education.

- Ryan Schoensee

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