The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University holds archives of national and international significance. It is one of the one of the top academic research repositories in the country. The marquee unit of the institution is the Southwest Collection, which encompasses millions leaves of documents, over a hundred thousand books, millions of photographs, thousands of oral histories, reels of microfilm, and films and videos relating to the history, economy, politics, military, environment, and cultures of the U.S. Through an active field program the Southwest Collection acquires and preserves many important collections. For example, it houses the largest collection of historic ranching related materials in the United States and undoubtedly the world. In addition, there are numerous important collections relating to: military affairs (including 19th and 20th century); architecture, religion (Jewish Archives and Protestant denominations), sports, farming, Archives for the History of Financial Planning, oil production, water resources, politics (including legislative, gubernatorial, and congressional collections), radio broadcasting, advertising, urban development, commercial and business growth, waste disposal, industrial development, science and technology [including, wind and atmospheric sciences (Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita Papers), federal solar power projects, the Mohole Project, and nuclear waste disposal project, NASA records (Colombia Commander Rick Husband, Dr. Sherman Vinograd collections, and others)], immigration, minority studies, genealogy, and the environment. We hold records from various organizations such as the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, the Southwest Athletic and Big Twelve Conferences, Cooperative Communicators of America, Disabled American Veterans: Texas Division, and the WWII Glider Pilots Association. The modern facilities at the archive encompass the Holden Reading Room, an attractive open research environment with microfilm reader/copiers, independent study carrels, online catalogue database access, and security lockers. The Marshall Formby conference room can seat a hundred people for symposia and meetings. The Governor Preston Smith conference room has wireless and white-board screen capabilities. We house the Hoblitzelle Conservation Lab and an Exhibits and Outreach department that works with regional organizations and campus departments to create exhibits advertising the holdings of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.
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