For several years there was an active Oral History Program in the East Texas Research Center and History Department. The purpose of the program was to preserve, through tape-recorded interviews and subsequent transcriptions, the memoirs of persons who have observed or participated in significant historical events or developments. The main focus was on East Texas life, culture, economy, and history. Over eighty transcribed interviews relating to East Texas history, the East Texas Lumber Industry, Nacogdoches history, SFASU history, World War I, and World War II constitute the collection.