The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is pleased to announce that it was awarded the inaugural Advocacy for Archives award by the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board (THRAB). THRAB established the Advocacy for Archives Award to recognize significant contributions made by individuals or organizations toward ensuring the preservation and availability of Texas’s historical records. The Hogg Foundation accepted the award at THRAB’s meeting on October 23, 2020.
As an 80-year old organization, the Hogg Foundation recognizes the importance of creating, maintaining, and providing access to its organizational archives, which provide a window into the history of mental health in Texas. Over the last several years the foundation has hired Elizabeth Stauber, the foundation’s first in-house archivist and records manager, and employed several graduate interns—all of whom contributed to the foundation’s understanding of its archival holdings and devised groundbreaking uses for them consistent with the foundation’s mission.
“While our mission is to transform how communities promote mental health in everyday life, we recognize the impact of history on the communities we serve, and use the archive to provide that historical context,” said Elizabeth Stauber. “Identifying the health disparities and societal inequities of the past helps us to recognize and confront how our institutions handle care and recovery today.”
Because of these efforts, the foundation has not only become a trendsetter in the world of foundation archives, but has been able to mine its archive for consistent storytelling about the Hogg Foundation’s history.
“Thanks in large measure to the work of Ms. Stauber, we’re in an enviable position with respect to our archives,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation. “We can all take immense pride in the fact that our archives have become integral enough to merit this recognition from the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board.”
For those who wish to make use of the Hogg Foundation archives, research questions and appointments can be made by contacting the archivist at hogg-archives@austin.utexas.edu.