Date of Award
2-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts - History
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Perky Beisel
Second Advisor
Dr. M. Scott Sosebee
Third Advisor
Dr. Brook Poston
Fourth Advisor
Linda Reynolds
Abstract
Congressman Charlie Wilson served Texas and the United States with distinction throughout his political career, leaving a profound impact on East Texas and the global stage. Known for his progressive policies in the Texas Legislature and his influential role in U.S. foreign policy during his tenure in Congress, Wilson’s pragmatic political career and legacy is preserved in the Charlie Wilson Congressional Papers collection at the East Texas Research Center (ETRC). Despite its historical significance, the collection faced decades of delayed processing, disorganization, and neglect of archival best practices. This public history thesis confronts these challenges by detailing the efforts to process, preserve, digitize, and finally make the entire collection of documents, audio-visual items, photographs, and artifacts accessible to the public. The author examines the application of archival best practices, analyzes the intersection of archival work and public history, and reflects on the importance of preserving political archival collections.
Repository Citation
Coleman, Jordan, "A Pragmatic Legacy: Charles Wilson’s Politics and the Battle for His Archival Heritage" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 612.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/612
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
American Material Culture Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Military History Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Photography Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, United States History Commons
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