American South

The University of Texas began collecting materials on the history of Texas and of the American South soon after it opened in 1883. In 1914, Major George W. Littlefield, a Confederate veteran and University Regent, donated funds to the University to promote those efforts. Over the years, the Littlefield Fund for Southern History enabled the University to assemble a major collection on the history of the South to support research, teaching, and publications. Today, manuscript materials, maps, newspapers, rare and fragile books, pamphlets, and serials purchased by the Fund are housed in the Briscoe Center's George W. Littlefield Southern History Collections, where they join other primary sources relating to the history of the South that have been acquired independently of this fund through gift and purchase.