Mike Miller is the Manager of the Austin History Center, a 14-person, $1.2 million division of the Austin Public Library, with responsibility for personnel, planning, and fiscal aspects. He represents the Austin History Center before library, city, and community groups. Miller writes, speaks and consults about Austin history, managing local history collections, and preservation of historical materials.
December 2020
Programming & Outreach
On November 5, Latinx Community Archivist Marina Islas participated in a virtual panel presentation alongside other Latinx leaders for 125 participants at Garza Independent High School. "Garza LatinX Panel" was one part of a larger Equity & Ethnic Studies project that staff at the school are implementing.
AHC and AHCA co-sponsored a virtual event “History Mysteries: Secrets of the Austin History Center” featuring Harrison Eppright and Neal Spelce. Over 80 people listened to Harrison and Neal swap stories about the people and organizations that had a connection to the site that is now home to the AHC.
Collections
AHC staff finished processing 2 collections, the Dr. Beulah Agnes Curry Jones Papers and the Hamby, Harper and Pettway Families Papers. The finding aids are available online at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/browse/browse_ahc1.html.
AHC received Marc Worob’s blueprints, meeting minutes, correspondence, and other materials documenting the Jewish Federation of Austin and the planning of the Dell Campus in the 1990s and early 2000s.
AHC purchased a scrapbook documenting Anna Latillia Reeves’ life at Samuel Huston College and her life as an African American woman in Austin in the 1930s.
Exhibits
AHC launched new online exhibit, “Perlas ng Austin: The Pearls of Austin: A Celebration of Central Texas Filipino Community.” The exhibit celebrates the history of the local Filipino community in Austin and their impact on the local community. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bbea13af460044a280b3b23b7d4d1074.
Reference
The AHC’s expanded reference and e-document delivery service received 89 requests and completed 114 this month, delivering 2674 scanned items.
During this time AHC staff helped with research on an upcoming book about obsolete objects for Reaktion Books; stories in the Daily Texan, Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly, and Alcalde; videos about Millet Opera House and Dougherty Arts Center; and historical interpretive signs for the Central Texas Mobility Authority. Staff is also working with Watershed on a long-term project to document all the watershed names.