The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 TSLAC Research Fellowship in Texas History: Cecilia N. Sanchez Hill, Angus McLeod and Halee Robinson. The fellowship includes a $2,000 stipend and is awarded for the best research proposal utilizing the collections of the State Archives in Austin.

Hill is a PhD candidate at Texas Christian University and has conducted research at the State Archives for her dissertation project. The fellowship allows her to continue her inquiry into the history of educating Mexican American students in 20th century Texas, including new questions about the development of and approaches to teaching Mexican American students along with issues of their identity and social, economic and political mobility.

McLeod is a doctoral student working toward a joint degree in education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He will continue his research at the State Archives to complete his dissertation in 2024.

His project examines the origin and development of the school finance system in Texas between 1821- 2016 and fills a gap in the historiography of education.

Robinson is currently a PhD candidate at Princeton University. Her dissertation focuses on the Texas penal system, community and citizenship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She explores the relationship between the penal system and lives of everyday Texans.

The awards the awards were presented at the Texas State Historical Association’s (TSHA) Annual

Meeting in El Paso on March 3.

The TSLAC Research Fellowship in Texas History is administered in partnership with TSHA and made possible by the generous support of the Texas Library and Archives Foundation.

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission provides Texans access to the information needed to be informed, productive citizens by preserving the archival record of Texas; enhancing the service capacity of public, academic and school libraries; assisting public agencies in the maintenance of their records; and meeting the reading needs of Texans with disabilities. For more information, visit www.tsl.texas.gov.