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The Prairie View Interscholastic League Collection is a repository of documents, photographs, records, etc. relating to the PVIL and its history, from its inception in 1920 as a separate African American high school competition organization from the all-white University of Texas Interscholastic League until 1970, when it formally disbanded and rejoined the UTIL. The PVIL thus served as the main academic and athletic competition organization for Texas’ African American students and 150+ African American high schools for half of the 20th Century. The records will aid researchers in their quest for information on the adolescent years of state officials (e.g., Barbara Jordan), celebrities, and ordinary citizens. Considering the breadth of the PVIL competition (athletics, typing, declamation, music, extemporaneous speaking), the records could potentially serve a wide variety of researchers in the fields of history, cultural studies, education, athletics, genealogy, communications, and political science. The PVIL is a unique collection unavailable elsewhere save as photocopies and mimeographs, as these are primary documents (e.g., correspondences, schedules, programs). The collection currently comprises 48 linear feet of material, and it is hoped that researchers in the field will contact the Archives Department with any material they discover, in order that we may fill any holes in the collection. For further information on the Prairie View Interscholastic League Collection, please contact the Special Collections/Archives Department at (936) 261-1516 or by email.