The C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department is located on the sixth floor of the UTEP Library. Book collections include the Chicano Collection, the Judaica Collection, the S. L. A. Marshall Military History Collection, and the Southwest and Border Studies Collection. Special Collections also contains maps, art, an oral history collection, and rare books. In addition to printed sources, the Department has over 750 archival collections related to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Please email Abbie Weiser or Claudia Rivers for an appointment.
Special Collections on the Portal to Texas History
Special Collections on ScholarWorks@UTEP
Kohlberg family papers, MS369. The Kohlbergs were a pioneer Jewish family in El Paso. They were successful business entrepreneurs and civic leaders in El Paso. The Kohlberg family papers include materials about the Taft-Díaz meeting, the International Cigar Factory, various members of the Kohlberg family, and early El Paso. The papers date 1875 – 1995.
Rabbi Floyd Fierman collection, MS266. Rabbi Floyd Fierman (1916 – 1989) was an El Paso rabbi, teacher, and prolific writer of southwestern Jewish history. The collection dates circa 1920 – 1989. Primarily consists of topical files (photocopied material) with correspondence, articles, and notes about subjects, organizations, families, and individuals in southwestern and southwestern Jewish history.
The Popular Dry Goods Company records, MS317. The Popular Dry Goods Department Store was organized in 1902 by Adolph Schwartz. The Popular remained the largest locally-owned retail enterprise in El Paso until its closure in September 1995. The Popular Dry Goods Company records consist of 296 boxes, 63 volumes of newspapers and 5 drawers of oversized materials, which detail the officers, stores, finances, operations, and employees of El Paso’s largest locally-owned retail enterprise. The records include correspondence, letters of incorporation, photographs, memos, newsletters, general and journal ledgers, merchandising printouts, and other financial documents.
Stout-Feldman Studio photographs, PH074. In 1895, California native Fred J. Feldman leased and later purchased the photographic business of the Bushong Studio in downtown El Paso, Texas. The Fred J. Feldman Studio thrived during the 1910s and 1920s and became the premier photographic business in El Paso. Feldman was particularly well known for his skill in portraiture. He photographed many prominent businessmen, bankers, judges, mayors, and attorneys as well as society women and community groups. The collection contains glass plate and film negatives from about 1900 through the early 1950s. The UTEP Library purchased the collection from Achilles Studio after the negatives had been stored in the Studio’s basement for many years.
Fanny Zlabovsky – National Council of Jewish Women case files, MS508. The Fanny Zlabovsky-National Council of Jewish Women case files consist of 239 case files that include correspondence in English and Yiddish with immigrants and their families as well as with officials at the national office of the NCJW, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and other national and international organizations that assisted immigrants in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. In addition to these case files, there are other items of general correspondence and reports spanning from 1922 to 1941. This collection is online via ScholarWorks@UTEP. The Border Heritage Center of the El Paso Public Library has the records of the National Council of Jewish Women - El Paso chapter.
Berman (Bruce) photographs of Holocaust survivors, PH073. Consists of seven color photographs of local Holocaust survivors.
The Judaica book collection includes books about Jews in Latin America, Jewish Latinos/as, and Jewish history of the American Southwest.
| 500 W. University Avenue : El Paso, TX, 79968-0582 : (915) 747-5672 |