Texas History

Use this guide to find primary and secondary sources for the study of Texas history.

Selected Books on the Texas Republic

Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas by Sam W. Haynes
Publication Date: 2022

E-book
Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the Texas Borderlands, 1800-1850 by Andrew J. Torget
Publication Date: 2015

E-book
Six Constitutions over Texas: Texas' Political Identity, 1830-1900 by William J. Chriss
Call Number: KFT1601.5 .C47 2024

Publication Date: 2024
Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836-1845 by Kenneth W. Howell; Charles Swanlund (Editors)
Publication Date: 2017
The Texas Legation Papers, 1836-1844 by Kenneth R. Stevens
Publication Date: 2013

A volume of letters and documents from the early turbulent years of the Republic of Texas. During those years, Texas's diplomatic representatives communicated with the officials of the United States, and informed Texas leaders about the United States' views on critical issues concerning recognition of Texas and eventual annexation, relations with Mexico, boundary issues, and troubles with Native Americans. The diplomats were also tasked with raising funds for the financially strapped republic. The papers contain the detailed accounts of this time period.
An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821-1865 by Randolph B. Campbell
Call Number: E445.T47 C35 1989

Publication Date: 1989

Available as an e-book and in print
The Laws of Slavery in Texas: Historical Documents and Essays by Randolph B. Campbell
Call Number: KFT1601.6.S55 L39 2010

Available in print and as an e-book
Primary source material

Selected Documents

Texas Constitution Digitization Project
Twelve versions of Texas Constitutions dating from 1824-1876. Includes search engine.
Texas 175: A Dozen Documents That Made a Difference
Includes the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence, an 1836 map of Coahuila and Texas, and other documents. From the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Texas 1835 Map
From Comprehensive Atlas, Geographical, Historical and Commercial by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford, 1835. First issue of the first separate map of Texas to appear in an atlas. Courtesy Dorothy Sloan-Rare Books, Austin, Texas.