Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library - Austin, TX
Posted by: 
Raven
N 30° 16.439 W 097° 44.315
14R E 621330 N 3349818
The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library actually consists of four separate libraries and contains a treasure trove of historic state documents -- but only a few small segments are open to the public for general research.
Waymark Code: WMMJ0R
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/25/2014
Views: 10
The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library, located at 1201 Brazos St. in Austin TX, is home to a treasure of invaluable historic state documents and related artifacts. It is a 5-story building made of Texas pink granite, the same stone used for the Texas State Capitol located just across the street.
The 114,000-square-foot library facility actually four separate library sections, as well as offices and storage areas for library and archive materials maintained by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. While it does cater to the general public at large, it is primarily geared towards state government entities and other state libraries throughout Texas: many of the archives can only be viewed (or "touched") with special permission.
The 3 library sections open to the general public are:
1) The Texas Family Heritage Research Center: located on the 2nd floor, it contains a collection of Texas and non-Texas genealogy documents as well as computers for additional information available only online.
2) The Texas State Original Documents Reading Room: located on the 1st floor, this room is obviously primarily used for viewing original documents (which are hard to get hold of), but it also includes a large set of reference books as well as computers allowing for viewing most the same information online.
3) The Reference and Information Center: also located on the 1st floor, this room includes a treasure trove of Texas-related documents available on microfiches.
The library resources available to the general public are: (
visit link)
Entrance into these rooms is quite restrictive. Per the library's instructions:
"We do require all visitors to sign in at our lobby welcome desk. We request that visitors to our three public service areas place belongings in lockers located in the reception area or in the Original Documents Reading Room. These free lockers are secured by individual keys for the privacy and safety of your belongings. The interior dimensions of the lockers are 17.5” deep and 10.5” wide and can accommodate items of up to 5’ in length. You may use your laptop computer and our free WiFi, or sign on to the desktop computers provided for your free use."
Address:
1201 Brazos St.
Austin, TX 78701
Hours:
The hours differ, it is requested that you call (512) 463-5455 beforehand to make sure they are indeed open that day... but generally they are open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm.
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