Founded in 1989, the University of Houston-Clear Lake Archives and Special Collections' mission is to collect, preserve, and make publicly accessible original historical archival materials for use by its constituents for research and preservation of community history. The Archives main focus is to serve as the primary repository for those historically valuable, original archival materials that document the origins, development, activities, and achievements of the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), and its affiliated centers and subunits.

The Archives’ guiding duty is to serve as a research center for the study of the history and institutional memory of the University; and to promote knowledge and understanding of the origins, programs, goals, and accomplishments of the University. The UHCL Archives and Special Collection has the following collecting areas and collections in its holdings: University Archives, Human Space Flight Collection, Clear Lake Area Collection, and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) History Collection. These materials are open for research to UHCL students, alumni, faculty, staff, and the general public.

In order to fulfill our mission of preserving a rich collection of primary source material, the UHCL Archives collects, arranges, describes, preserves, and makes accessible and available to the university administration, faculty, students, and wider university body organizational records of permanent administrative, operational, legal, and historical value that relate to the University of Houston-Clear Lake. As part of a public university, the UHCL Archives also endeavors to serve the local communities among which the university is situated, acting as a repository for archival collections that document the history and development of the greater Clear Lake area outside of the city of Houston in southeast Texas. We work to help preserve important local historical memory, with a focus on building an ever-expanding range of subject matter contained within these local community collections.

To learn more about the items featured in the UHCL Digital History Portal, contact the UHCL Archives at archives@uhcl.edu or call our main phone number 281-283-3962.