San Antonio’s past will soon have more room to breathe. After years of delays and a $4.55 million renovation, the Texana Resource Center will reopen on the sixth floor of downtown’s Central Library on November 16.
The center is the home of the Texana/Genealogy Unit, the San Antonio Public Library's special collections division. Its holdings range from San Antonio and South Texas history to regional and international genealogy, backed by a massive local newspaper archive on microfilm and online.
The department boasts 75,000 books, 60,000 microforms, and 300 cubic feet of archival collections. Among its most intriguing treasures are 500 World War I recruitment posters, Sanborn Map Company street plans, and local Black funeral programs being digitized with the University of North Texas.
Vintage flags and a map of Monte Vista decorate a new reading room.Photo courtesy of the San Antonio Public Library
Visitors can peruse the documents in the comfort of several new areas, including a new classroom, a listening station, new study areas, and individual research spaces. The center also houses the Memory Preservation Lab, which lets visitors book time to digitize obsolete media.
More practical upgrades include sturdy shelving and improvements to the Texana vault, which shields Texana’s rarest and most fragile materials. The overhaul is the central branch’s first full-scale overhaul of the department since it moved into Ricardo Legorreta’s Enchilada Red landmark in 1995.
The renovation has been a long time coming. A 2017 bond only provided $700,000 of the $2 million the library originally requested. Rising costs and an expanded scope stalled the project for years before the City Council approved a contractor in 2024.
Texana’s reopening coincides with the gallery's first historical exhibition. "Hassett Ranch: A Tejano Family Story" traces the history of a South Texas ranch through photographs, ranch artifacts, and the family who lived there. The show runs through November 13, 2027.
