Acosta-Winegarten Collection on Tejana History

This collection documents the research, writing, and publication of Las Tejanas, a groundbreaking and award-winning historical survey authored by Teresa Palomo Acosta and Ruthe Winegarten. It includes extensive biographical, topical, and visual materials collected during the research and writing of the book, correspondence and documentation of Acosta and Winegarten's collaboration and writing process, and materials related to the publication of the book. The collection is arranged into four series: 1) Research Materials, 2) Manuscript Preparation Materials, 3) Post-Publication Materials, and 4) Personal Materials.

Research Materials provides information on the research process and evidence that became Las Tejanas. It has five subseries. Biography and Subject Files includes the exhaustive set of primary and secondary documents used to recreate the historical trajectory of Mexican American women in Texas. The files in this subseries include articles, newspaper clippings, ephemera, transcripts of interviews, sections of academic theses, correspondence, photocopies of archival materials, and typed and handwritten notes. The Biography and Subject Files subseries is complemented by another eponymously titled subseries, Excerpts Files, which contains scholarly materials consulted by the authors. These works informed the structuring of Las Tejanas into three broad eras, pre-1900s, 1900-1940s, and post 1940s, as well as its depiction of the evolution of Mexican American women from mestizas and colonists to revolutionaries to participants in a wide range of professional, social and community activities. A majority of the documents in the subseries are photocopies of book chapters or articles, along with library finding aids, collections pamphlets, materials documenting a museum exhibit on Las Tejanas, correspondence, news articles, and typewritten notes. Additional Texas and Latinx Material includes research materials that the authors collected but later determined to be outside the scope of the book. Indices includes subject, bibliographic, and chronological card files that they created as part of their writing process. Audiovisual Materials contains the art images, published photographs and outtakes, and other audiovisual materials collected for this project, including black-and-white and color prints, art slides, image photocopies, VHS tapes, and audio cassettes. The materials depict a wide range of subjects and time periods in Mexican-American history along with the authors' annotations. Highlights of this subseries include Acosta's family photographs, featured in the ''Life in Rural Texas'' and ''Arts and Culture'' chapters of Las Tejanas, and photographs of Acosta conducting interviews for the book in Crystal City, Texas.

Manuscript Preparation Materials contains materials related to the conceptualization, writing and publication of Las Tejanas. It is comprised of four subseries. Correspondence includes correspondence between the authors, between Winegarten and other potential collaborators, most notably the historian Yolanda Chávez Leyva, and between the authors and potential informants. Grants and Fellowships includes applications and supporting materials submitted between 1998 and 2002 to funders including the Austin Writers' League, the Center for the Study of Women and Gender (UT-San Antonio), and Texas Woman's University, documenting the evolution of the project through Winegarten's descriptions and budget documents. Writing Process is made up of documents that provide snapshots of the project at stages from conceptualization to completed manuscript, including early notes and brainstorming, parts of drafts, readers' reports, and the authors' responses. Publication Process contains documents related to the publication of Las Tejanas with the University of Texas Press. This subseries includes a large amount of material related to the photographs used in the book, including permissions forms and correspondence with rightsholders.

Post-Publication Materials contains materials related to the recognition, promotion, and publicity of Las Tejanas. It has three subseries. Promotion and Publicity contains materials pertaining to the University of Texas Press' marketing of the book, book signing events, and its press coverage. Scholarly Recognition contains awards, conference papers and symposia, and reviews. Public Reception includes book reviews, author responses, and news coverage of book signings.

Personal Materials includes a small group of items that are tangentially connected to the book. It contains materials obtained by Winegarten for Acosta regarding a relative, Teresa Lozano, notes from Ann Richards, Teresa Long, and Judith Zaffirini responding to the publication of Las Tejanas, and a program from Ruthe Winegarten's funeral.