When you support the UTSA Libraries and Museums, you provide resources available to ALL UTSA students.
There are three programs with UTSA Libraries and Museums that your gift may support:
The Arturo Infante Almeida UTSA Art Collection Endowment:
Celebrates and honors UTSA’s champion of the Arts, Arturo Infante Almeida. Through his love and passion for the arts, his 20 years of service at UTSA, and the support of former UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Arturo helped to create and build one of the largest Chicano and LatinX art collections at an academic institution. Today, he continues to work with UTSA President and First Lady, Taylor and Peggy Eighmy, on advancing the arts at the university. Contributions to The Arturo Infante Almeida UTSA Art Collection Endowment are valuable in ensuring our university continues to celebrate our communities’ art and culture and makes it available to all.
The Diana Kennedy Culinary Archive and Mexican Cookbook Collection:
UTSA Libraries Special Collections now preserves and cares for Diana’s rare books library and archives. The archive contains Diana’s collection of eleven, 19th-century Mexican cookbooks and eight linear feet of personal papers documenting her life’s work, and a working library. Cookbooks by nature are heavily used and consulted throughout their lifetime, so it is not unusual that Diana’s 19th-century cookbooks require conservation work. Contributions will ensure her rare books are available for future generations of students, researchers, and chefs.
Photo Credit: Alejandro Mendoza, for Diana Kennedy Photo
Museum “Tex” Kits for Teachers:
UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures “Tex-Kits” have been an interesting and fun way for teachers to recreate the immersive museum environment in the classroom. These travel-friendly kits provide self-contained lessons designed to supplement the curriculum and cement concepts for students through hands-on experiential learning.
Due to the pandemic, this program was suspended in early 2020. Funds raised during Giving Day 2023 will enable the ITC Education Department to design new kits, emphasizing digital content for today’s tech-savvy students along with copies of primary resources such as historical documents, interview transcripts, and artifacts designed to be held, examined, used, and played with in the classroom.
Teachers receive guides and in-class activity sheets with tips on how to adapt the kit’s lesson and contents to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Previous Tex-Kits showcased the One-Room Schoolhouse, American Indians, Gone to Texas: Pioneers, and Cowboys and Cattle Drives.
Teaching with objects promotes critical thinking, observation, analytical inquiry, and visual literacy. Hands-on learning means students can develop skills independent of a book or classroom lesson. Learning with objects creates connections and relevance, building an appreciation of the past and a shared heritage.
While most commonly used in classrooms Tex-Kits have also been used by scout troops, senior groups, outreach efforts, and private events.
Artifacts from the One-Room Schoolhouse Tex-Kit
