Check it out
by CELESTE ZYGMONT
The city of Kyle has blossomed in the last ten years, having increased its population five hundred percent. This influx has brought residents and businesses from afar that are unfamiliar with the area’s history. Among the hustle and bustle of establishing a new life here, they may ask, “What is this land we call home? What has this land seen and its people known?”
The Kyle Public Library would like to take this opportunity to promote a possibly overlooked resource: Its local historical and cultural special collection.
The items in this collection are varied, including microfilm, books, maps, school year books, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, DVDs, oral histories on CD, and cemetery records.
A book specifically on Kyle’s history is called “The Prairie City: A History of Kyle, Texas 1880-1980.” Another called “Clear Springs and Limestone Ledges: A History of San Marcos and Hays County” written for the Texas Sesquicentennial, is an enjoyable read. Both contain many photographs.
Local newspapers dating to 1930 are available on microfilm. Cemetery records provide gravestone inscriptions and grave locations in area cemeteries. There are books and articles on writer Katherine Anne Porter, who lived in a house at 508 Center Street in Kyle.
DVDs and CDs created by the Hays County Historical Commission to document our history are also part of the collection. A DVD on Captain Jack Hays lets you step back into the 19th century and experience the Texas frontier. Another DVD is on Buck Winn, an area artist and architect. A series of interviews of local long-term residents lets you hear the stories of our area as it appeared to them.
Please feel free to use the resources of your library to understand the land and people of which you are a part.
