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School Land Registers are oversized volumes that record the disposition of school land.
Throughout Texas’ history, land has been a plentiful public asset used to encourage immigration, pay and reward soldiers, raise money for public works, and encourage the building of railroads all through various land grant programs. Public education was also a major beneficiary of the state’s abundant land resources. In the late 1830s, Republic of Texas President Mirabeau Lamar made some of the first overtures towards establishing an endowment of land to be set aside for a public system of schools and a public university. By 1840, the Texas Legislature passed various acts granting four leagues of land to each county for the purposes of generating revenue for public schools within the counties through the parceling and sale of these lands. An initial grant of 50 leagues was also made to help fund a state university.
After the Republic era ended with statehood, Texas continued its program of using land to fund education. To this day, one of the biggest boons to education was the establishment of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) and the Permanent University Fund (PUF), which were accounts set up to receive proceeds of various state land sales and leases. Money generated by sales and leases of state land was deposited into these accounts and, with very few exceptions, was left there to grow. The interest generated by these accounts would then be spent on public schools and the public university system.[3] As the nineteenth century progressed, numerous land grant programs were established by the Texas Legislature. Additionally, various iterations of the Texas Constitution allocated certain percentages of the public domain for the PSF and PUF, and money generated by sale and lease of public lands was directed into the relevant education funds.
--taken from The Public School Lands and University Lands Bound Volumes
After the Republic era ended with statehood, Texas continued its program of using land to fund education. To this day, one of the biggest boons to education was the establishment of the Permanent School Fund (PSF) and the Permanent University Fund (PUF), which were accounts set up to receive proceeds of various state land sales and leases. Money generated by sales and leases of state land was deposited into these accounts and, with very few exceptions, was left there to grow. The interest generated by these accounts would then be spent on public schools and the public university system.[3] As the nineteenth century progressed, numerous land grant programs were established by the Texas Legislature. Additionally, various iterations of the Texas Constitution allocated certain percentages of the public domain for the PSF and PUF, and money generated by sale and lease of public lands was directed into the relevant education funds.
--taken from The Public School Lands and University Lands Bound Volumes
The nature of the information captured in these volumes makes pinpointing a date range for each volume difficult. All but one of these volumes was copied from older, deteriorating books at an unknown time. Likewise, it would take a page by page search to determine the date of the last entry. What is known is that the bulk of the information was captured when school land sales were at their peak, roughly, 1890-1910.
Volume 8 (OS 98) is the only ledger book left from an older set of School Land Registers. The volume is missing the back and is in poor condition overall.
Each volume page records the following information:
1. Part/Section
2. Section Block
3. Township
4. Certificate Scrip Number
5. Original Grantee
6. Classification
7. Acres
8. Price per Acre
9. Purchaser
10. Date of Purchase
11. File Number
12. Date of Forfeiture
13. Lessee
14. Number of Lease
15. Date of Lease
16. Term of Lease
Volume 8 (OS 98) is the only ledger book left from an older set of School Land Registers. The volume is missing the back and is in poor condition overall.
Each volume page records the following information:
1. Part/Section
2. Section Block
3. Township
4. Certificate Scrip Number
5. Original Grantee
6. Classification
7. Acres
8. Price per Acre
9. Purchaser
10. Date of Purchase
11. File Number
12. Date of Forfeiture
13. Lessee
14. Number of Lease
15. Date of Lease
16. Term of Lease
1890-1910
40 volumes
English
The volumes are loosely arranged in alphabetical order by county with a key providing exact page ranges for each county. Each county is organized by Block and Section.
[Short title of Document], [Date: Day-Month-Year]. Box [#], Folder [#], p. [#]. School Land Registers (SLR). Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin.
Unrestricted access.
Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
