The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Border Studies Archive
BSA Welcome
Welcome to The Border Studies Archive (BSA). In addition to interacting with our materials on this website, come visit the BSA in person, or via our social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We want to meet with you, hear your stories and learn your opinion of the BSA. Our goal is to enable scholarly research and community engagement. The BSA provides a scholarly resource in the traditional meaning of archive: we house and make available original primary source materials for the purpose of writing theses, books and journal articles. We welcome you to visit our archive, and consider working together with us to build it. Residents of the borderlands, we invite you to work together with us as we continue building a state of the art preservation-grade digital collection, that traces the vibrant and important place that you call home as you construct it through your stories, photographs, art, jokes, and civic engagement. Contact us at bsa@utrgv.edu with queries and comments.
About Us / Collection Highlights
The Border Studies Archive, a part of the University Library, houses collections focused on the folklore, histories and lives of people living along the U.S.-Mexican border in South Texas. Our collections include aural, material and visual documentation related to (1) Border Music, (2) construction of the Border Wall and Border Security more generally, (3) Latinas and Politics, (4) Spanish Land Grants, (5) Traditional Mexican American Folklore and (6) Visual Border Studies. In addition to these six areas, we have a growing list of Border Oral History Interviews. Feel welcome to visit us on the third floor of the library at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Consultation
In an effort to keep our patrons and staff members safe from the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Border Studies Archive will be closed to the public until further notice.
During this time, our staff will still be hard at work and will be happy to assist you by phone, 956-665-2909, or email, bsa@utrgv.edu.
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When you visit, a Curatorial Assistant will ask you to sign in and complete visitor paperwork. You will then have the opportunity to discuss your research interests to ensure that we are providing the fullest use of our collections. The staff of the Border Studies Archives are happy to answer questions pertaining to the history of the collections, our holdings, and plans for future acquisition. Border Studies Archive staff may not be able to perform extensive research for patrons unable to visit personally.