The Aransas County Historical Society selectively acquires, records, and preserves items pertaining to Aransas County History.
The collection consists of photographs, postcards, books and research reports. Most exist in digital and print format for viewing at the Aransas County lab. In most cases, permission to reproduce these photos must be obtained from the owners of the images.
Use these links to access additional research collection assets.
Aransas County Oral Histories, Pam Stranahan
Over the years the Aransas County Historical Commission (ACHC) and the Aransas County Historical Society (ACHS) have recorded oral interviews with local folks. The project was especially active in the 1990s when Kathryn Winkelman, Genieve Hunt, Raulie Irwin and Sue Hastings were gathering stories. These interviews were recorded on cassette tapes had become fragile so they were transferred to CDs by Jim Reynolds, Scott Wagert and Phil Stranahan and recently put on a digital flash drive as technology in recording is ever changing.
In 2018 the ACHC and ACHS approved a proposal to give the original cassette tapes (70) and transcripts (24) to TAMU Kingsville, South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library upon the recommendation by the Texas State Archives and Library system. There they will be in a safe environment and available to future generations.
These same interviews were given to the Aransas County Historical Commission, the Aransas County Historical Society and the History Center where both the digital recording on a flash drive and the hard copy transcripts are available. Lists of the 70 interviews and 24 transcripts may be viewed at those organizations. Some of the people for whom the transcripts were made are Bissett, Bowles, Covarrubi, Dickey, Domingues, Pina, Frandolig, Kleypas, Mitchell, Gibson, Goff, Irwin, Harrell, Heinsohn, Johnson, Rouquette, Silberisen, Sorenson, Guynes, and Wendell.
Webmaster note: The digital recordings for most of the interviews mentioned by Pam Stranahan in the paragraphs above have now been uploaded to this web site as well as having been given to TAMUK. You may now listen to these recordings on the Recorded Interviews page.
The Aransas County Historical Society library is not currently available to the public due to the impact of hurricane Harvey on the area. The materials have been temporarily moved to a safe area. Once the library is reestablished in a new space, we will again be taking requests for appointments.