Open 10-4 Tuesday through Friday by appointment only  We are a public archives of Smith County, Texas History only, if the information you desire relates to an event, place, person, building etc. that is outside of Smith County, Texas we can help you to find the proper organization to fit your inquiry request. If you are local and are able to visit in person please call or email first to set up an appointment. This way we can make sure we are prepared for your visit with space reserved and materials pulled.

Rules of use:

• Visitors must sign in on arrival and provide at least one method of contact information.
• Only use of pencils is allowed for taking notes.
• NO photography or scanning of anything by the public.
• NO browsing, please tell us what your topic of interest is with as much detail as possible and we will find the materials to fit the inquiry.

Available Research Materials

Below is a list of our most commonly used research materials.

(We do use the Dewey Decimal System)

• Chronicles of Smith County – Index to Volume 1 to 48 and an Index to Volume 48 only.
• “Criss Cross” Tyler City Directories (various years from 1882-1999)
• East Texas Family Records from East Texas Genealogical Society
• Tyler Courier Times bound newspapers (1913-1984)
• Yearbooks (various schools/years 1909-2005)
• Books on subjects of local churches, schools, families, general county history, etc. many out of print and not available online
• Local Magazines – Tyler Today, BScene, Chamber of Commerce, Tyler Life and more coming soon..
• Corporate records and resources like the Index to the Cotton Belt News
• African American Resources and Records

(Organized by subject or collection)

• Goodman Collection (1880-1920)
• York Collection (1908-1916)
• Albertson Collection (1890-1940)
• Tyler Star Collection (1945-1965)
• Chamber of Commerce Collection (1930-1970)
• R. L. Falkner Collection (1945-1975)
• Linda and Bob Delk Negative Collection (1980-2010)
• Nicks Negative Collection
• Nichols Negative Collection

(Families, Organizations, Businesses)

• Goodman Family
• Albertson Family
• Wadel Connally
• People’s Bank
• Tyler ISD
• James Wilkins Research
• Tomas Pollard Papers
• Tyler Woman’s Forum

• Buildings (organized by location)
• Business (Industry, Retail, Service)
• Churches (by denomination)
• Clubs and Organizations (by service)
• Family (surname)
• Houses (street name)
• Miscellaneous (Events, Things, Hobbies, etc.)
• Places (Cemeteries, Lakes, Parks, Towns)
• Public Service (Military, Medical, Agencies, City, County)

• Street
• Highway
• Topographical
• Survey
• Historical (Sites, Events)
• Sanborn

• Buildings (organized by location)
• Business (Industry, Retail, Service)
• Churches (by denomination)
• Clubs and Organizations (by service)
• Family (surname)
• Houses (street name)
• Miscellaneous (Events, Things, Hobbies, etc.)
• Photographers (Research on Photographers’ Arrival in Smith County, Timeline of their business and family research.)
• Places (Cemeteries, Lakes, Parks, Towns)
• Public Service (Military, Medical, Agencies, City, County)

For purchase or use:

Most anything in our collection can be reproduced for private use—via copies and prints.  See fee schedule below. (This pricing does not include handling, packaging and postage)

COPIES

.25 per page one sided, items that are not fragile, 8.5”x11” or smaller, and can be laid on the copier

$1 per page one sided, items that are fragile, 11”x17” or smaller, need to be scanned via the “wand” or on the large format scanner, and materials printed directly to the laser jet from the computer

$5 per square foot one sided, oversized items to be scanned and printed on large format printer (may be other handling fees as well)

PRINTS

$5 per page, 8.5”x11” inkjet photo paper

$10 per page, 11”x17” inkjet photo paper

$12 per square foot, up to 24”x72” inkjet photo paper (special pricing for standard sizes on form—may be other handling fees as well)

We use all professional grade equipment in house and can provide references of work done and installed inside Smith County.  A list of a few businesses in Tyler, Texas where our images can be seen below:

Texas Bank and Trust

White-Shaver Law Firm

Corner Bakery

Heritage Land Bank

Chamblee Ryan, PC

The Diner

Loggins Restaurant

Billings Tire & Service

Martin Walker, PC

Republic Icehouse

Texas Farm Credit

Trinity Capital Management

COMMERCIAL USE

If your needs from our photo collection are publishing related please speak to us about an Archive Image Commercial Use Agreement.  This agreement can allow the one time use of an image from our collection for a book, pamphlet, brochure, website, newspaper, fine art, television, etc.

Thank you for your interest in and support of Smith County, Texas history.   Our organization has been serving the community through the public use of their archives since 1959.  During this time our collection has grown from one filing cabinet to over 2000 square feet of books, maps, photos and numerous other one of a kind documents that cannot be found online anywhere.

Contact us by phone 903-592-5993 or online https://smithcountyhistoricalsociety.org/contact-us/

Start your research today!