In 2008, District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza launched an important project to identify District Court case files of historical significance and to preserve them in their original form for future use and reference. With the assistance of an archivist, and in collaboration with several notable judges, lawyers, and the District Attorney, case files dating from as early as the 1890s through the present were identified and preserved.

Two cases of particular note include case no. 51,394, R.S. Sterling v. Miriam A. Ferguson, et al., 1932, and case no. 74,945, Heman Marion Sweatt v. Theophilus Shickel Painter, et al., 1946. The District Clerk’s Office has provided for the preservation of both of these cases, and they have also been digitized and made available online.

For more about the Sterling v. Ferguson case, please read the Texas Bar Journal’s article on the topic. Click here to view the digitized case.

For more about the Sweatt v. Painter case, please visit the Handbook of Texas entry. Click here to view the digitized case.

To read more about the District Clerk’s preservation work, please visit http://www.45.55.42.107/index.php/research/district-clerk. Ms. Rodriguez-Mendoza will be retiring at the end of 2014, having served in that office since 1991. Her dedication to the preservation of important Travis County records and history is very much appreciated and will long be remembered.

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