Municipal Archives

Resources for Researching Former Mayors of Dallas:
A Selected Annotated Guide

Pathfinder Number 4

​The primary sources for the official actions of the mayor are the Dallas City Council’s minutes, ordinances, and resolutions. 

City Council Minutes, Ordinances, and Resolutions​

Collection 1994-010—City Council Minutes - Bound Volumes, 1866-1977
Collection 1996-040—City Ordinances - Bound Volumes, 1871-1978

Dallas City Council’s official records, including minutes of the Dallas City Council (and earlier forms of government), from 1868 to the present, are available for research in paper, electronic, and micrographic forms. Complete earlier records  for 1868-1955 and 1977-1997 are available for viewing via paper and microfilm; years 1956-1976 are available only on paper. Records may be viewed at the Dallas Municipal Archives and Records Center. Original contracts and memoranda are not included in the microfiche; contact the Archives for details.

Council minutes, agendas, ordinances, and resolutions from 1995 to the present are available in electronic form on the City Secretary’s Office website.

Visual Materials

Photographs of mayors are available in the following Dallas Municipal Archives collections:

Collection 1999-003, City Photographer, 1950-1997

Photographs prior to 1950 by the City Photographer are located in the Texas/Dallas History & Archives division of the Dallas Public Library.

Collection 1992-017, Gittings Studio Portraiture Collection, 1931-1992
Collection 1994-043, City Council Inauguration, 1983
Collection 1994-008, City Council Inauguration Contact Proofs, 1991
Collection 1994-009, City Council Inauguration Photographs and Negatives, 1992
Collection 1994-019, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 1993
Collection 1997-019, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 1997
Collection 2002-009, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 1998
Collection 2000-001, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 1999
Collection 2003-013, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 2001
Collection 2006-002, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 2005
Collection 2011-002, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 2011
Collection 2019-007, City Council Inauguration Photographs, 2019
Collection 2021-001, City Council Inauguration  Photographs, 2021

Audio/Visual Recordings

Contact the City Secretary's Office for recordings of City Council meetings.  Digital audio files exist for Dallas City Council meetings from 1968 to 1995 and from 2005 to the present.  City Council meetings from August 15, 1995, to 2005 are available on audio cassette tapes.

Personal Papers and Related Collections

The Dallas Municipal Archives holds the following selection of mayoral papers:

1992-001—Mayor Annette Strauss Plaques and Awards, 1985-1991
1992-028—Inaugural Speech of Mayor Steve Bartlett and Farewell Address of Mayor Annette Strauss, 1991
1992-031—Mayor Steve Bartlett State of the City Address, 1992
2015-004—Mayor Mike Rawlings Collection
2019-011—Mayor Eric Johnson Collection
2023-006—Mayor Annette Strauss Collection

Other institutions possess collections ranging from a few documents to entire bodies of papers and are listed below.  Contact the respective repository for its hours, location, and access policies.  If you know of the whereabouts of other former mayors’ papers or have some to donate to the Municipal Archives (the official repository for Dallas governmental history, contact the archives.

Sawnie R. Aldredge (1921-1923)
Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Aldredge (Sawnie) Scrapbooks
Steve Bartlett (1991-1995)
Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Steve Bartlett Papers
John Henry Brown (1885-1887)
Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
John Henry Brown Papers
Dallas Historical Society
Collection A39.25os. Henry E. McCulloch, Brig. General Confederate States Provisional Army; General Order No. 7 proclaiming and defining operation of martial law to all persons within his jurisdiction.  Headquarters Tyler, Texas, June 14, 1862, signed by John Henry Brown
Collection A47.115. Deed, A. H. Shepherd to John Henry Brown.
Earle Cabell (1961-1964)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Earle Cabell Gifts Collection 1960–1971
William L. Cabell "Old Tige" (1874-1876, 1877-1879, 1883-1885)
Dallas Historical Society
Collection A43.11, Personal papers; cash book; papers as U.S. Marshall; United Confederate Veterans correspondence; notebook; death notations in a scrapbook with news clippings and tributes; print of Confederate seal used for New Year's Greetings, various booklets and pamphlets. Dallas Historical Society -
Collection A60.32/L43.24.75, Freight bill to General Cabell from Houston and Texas Central Railroad Company Director
Collection A36.56 Photostats of letter from Union prison on Johnson Island of W. L. Cabell to wife, 1864
Collection A51.95 Letter, Lt. Gen. W. L. Cabell, Dallas, to comrades from letter announcing organization of United Confederate Veterans, 1891; 2 drafts of Cabell's letter to Gen. Wm. E. Mickle, New Orleans, re:  inability to attend reunion, 1907
Collection A53.115 Autobiographical documents of Gen. W. L. Cabell with particular reference to his military career; and partial drafts of UCV correspondence and oration
Collection A39.17 Reminiscences of General W. L. Cabell (manuscript).  
John M. Crockett (1857-1858, 1859-1861, 1865-1866)
Texas State Archives Texas Office of the Governor
Records of Peter Hansbrough Bell, 1849-1853
Records of Francis Richard Lubbock, 1861-1904, undated (bulk 1861-1863)
The University of Texas at Austin. Center for American History
Swante Palm Papers, 1834-1897, Literary collection includes the inaugural address of Texas Lieutenant Governor John M. Crockett in 1861. 
Robert Folsom (1976–1981)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Robert Folsom Mayoral Papers 016.352 F671YG 1985 1977 – 1981; 32 cubic feet, Correspondence, brochures, reports, and City of Dallas publications. 
John J. Good (1880–1881)
University of Texas at Arlington Library, Special Collections
John J. Good Papers
George Guess (1866-1868)
Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
George Guess Letters
Adlene Harrison (1976)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Oral history interview (transcription)
J. Erik Jonsson (1964–1971)
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
J. Erik Jonsson Papers
John Lane (1866)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
A36.66 Crutchfield-Lane Family Materials:  letters, manuscripts, photographs, album.
Isaac Naylor (1858)
Rosenberg Library [Galveston] Special Collections
Naylor Family Papers, 1862-1933
J. Woodall Rodgers (1939-1947)
Dallas Historical Society
Collection A55.53 "What Does the Future Hold for Dallas? and What Does Dallas Hold for The Future?"
Collection A63.54R "Urban Renewal"
Collection A65.12R "What Price N. A. T. O.?", "How Can We Improve Our County Government," papers read before the Critic Club 1953-1958. 
Robert L Thornton (1953–1961)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Collections A90.5 and V90.6; City of Dallas letters and documents; State Fair of Texas items; photos of R. L. Thornton and Mercantile Bank
Collection A39.101 Correspondence (15 items) of various men, including R. L. Thornton.
John Traylor (1898–1900)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Collection A47.61, Autobiography of John H. Traylor (ms book - carbon of typescript).
Wes Wise (1971–1976)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Wes Wise Mayoral Papers
Frank W. Wozencraft (1919-1921)
Texas/Dallas History Collection and Archives, Dallas Public Library
Oral history interview (transcription)


Locations Unknown

​Mayor
 ​Term(s)
Jean Baptiste Adoue
1951-1953
Bryan T. Barry
1894-1895, 1897-1898, 1904-1906
Louis Blaylock
1923-1927
T. L. Bradford1931-1932
R. E. Burt
1927-1929
Ben E. Cabell1900-1904
W. L. Cabell1874-1876
Winship C. Connor1887-1894
J. W. Crowdus1881-1883
Henry Ervay1870-1872
Jack Evans1981-1983
Stephen J. Hay1907-1911
Frank P. Holland1981-1983
William M. Holland1911-1915
John D. Kerfoot1876-1877
Ron Kirk1995-2002
Joe E. Lawther1917-1919
Henry D. Lindsley1915-1917
Benjamin Long1868-1870, 1872-1874
Samuel B. Pryor1856-1857
A. D. Rice1858-1859
Wallace H. Savage1949-1951
George Sergeant1935-1937
Thomas. E. Sherwood1861-1862
Curtis P. Smith1906-1907
J. L. Smith1861
George Sprague1937-1939
J. Waddy Tate1929-1931
Starke Taylor1983-1987
J. R. Temple1947-1949
J. M. Thurmond1879-1880
Charles E. Turner1931-1935


Note: Pathfinders are guides, they are not exhaustive lists. Review the full complement of Collection Guides to further your own research.