History Center
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
THE HISTORY CENTER COLLECTS, PRESERVES, AND MAKES AVAILABLE THE HISTORY OF OUR REGION AND ITS PEOPLE FOR THE EDUCATIONAL USE AND BENEFIT OF PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS. GEOGRAPHICALLY, THIS AREA INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO ANGELINA AND THE IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING EAST TEXAS COUNTIES. THIS REGIONAL DESIGNATION INCLUDES AN INTEREST IN THE NATURAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AREA, THE EAST TEXAS LUMBER INDUSTRY, AND THE RECORDS OF REGIONAL FAMILIES, ORGANIZATIONS, BUSINESSES, AND GOVERNMENTS. THE HISTORY CENTER IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC AND INVITES RESEARCHERS AS WELL AS THE GENERALLY CURIOUS TO ENJOY OUR EDUCATIONAL OFFERINGS BOTH ONSITE AND ONLINE.
- Income
- $560,681
- Spending
- $609,021
- Spent on programs
- 91%
- Reserves
- 8.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 96%
- Employees
- 4
- Volunteers
- 2
- Highest pay
- $144,289, executive dir.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 82 out of 100. Higher than 59% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 8.3 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
4 of 15Spending exceeded income by 9% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 4% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1591% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 71 out of 100. Higher than 47% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 259 of 9 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
Independent check of accounts
6 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (3)
- $354,154 spent. Providing Access to Collections and Public Programming:This is the majority of services, but they are dependent upon our first two services. During 2025 we created and featured two major exhibits containing more than 100 photographs and small artifacts each. One exhibit featured the history of a local 19,000 acre forest conservation area and the other featured Angelina County during World War II. Both exhibits drew from our curated and preserved collections of photographs, maps, papers, archives, records, and artifacts from around the world. Many guided tours were given as well as offsite programs presented. We continued to digitize our photographs and manuscripts and offer them for free through our website, which averages about 20,000 page views per month and nearly four million pages of PDF files downloaded annually. Staff made offsite presentations and gave programs (including oral history workshops) and prepared and installed offsite exhibits, serving organizations such as Sarahs Hope, Big Thicket Association, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Daughters of the American Revolution, Lufkin Study Club, several garden clubs, civic organizations in Groveton, Trinity, Lacy, and Nigton, the Angelina Arts Alliance, Lufkin Creative, and area forestry organizations. Onsite tours were given to Harris County senior citizen groups, retired teacher associations, public schools from Liberty and Lufkin, home school families and organizations, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department staff, and visiting scholars. Staff also regularly gave interviews and provided photographs to area newspapers and magazine and book authors. We also served about 330 in-person researchers and provided research assistance by email and telephone to some 1,600 additional researchers. Research projects included U. S. Forest Service archaeologists, providing them our land, forest, and railroad records; Angelina County officials in selecting more than 100 historical photographs to decorate county buildings; state and federal agencies concerning reestablishing pre-settlement forests in the Caddo Lake area (especially the Superfund site that was once the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant); Black schools in the area; and assisting several municipal, business, and civic organizations celebrating anniversaries and reunions. We created more than a dozen new finding guides (including arrangement and description), which allow better access to our more than 5,000 cubic feet of records, and we published our annual Pine Bough Magazine, which featured many stories of our region. We also gave tours and published photographs of our award-winning native plant gardens, focusing on the pollinators of our region.
- $100,000 spent. Collections Management and Development: In addition to curating a growing collection of more than 5,000 cubic feet of manuscripts, archives, and papers; more than one million photographs; 100,000 maps; 600 oral history interviews; some 5,000 books; an outdoor steam logging train display; and three acres of landscaped historical native plants, we appraised, assessed, and accessioned 38 new collections of papers and photographs, working closely with the individual and organizational donors. Highlights include a collection of some 6,000 vintage photographs of East Texas logging railroads from the late 19th century through the middle 20th century, another photograph collection of some 7,000 images pertaining to the Southeast Texas rice and East Texas lignite coal mining industries,land management records for cutover pine lands in Trinity County during the 1920s and 1930s as a federal government social experiment, photographic collections of area families, records of community celebrations, and World War II artifacts, including two captured Japanese flags from New Guinea. We also collected oral histories from persons pertaining to the City of Lufkin government, East Texas banking and the beginnings of credit card services, Huntington segregated Black schools, experiences of Black women in Angelina County, Angelina County during World War II, labor and family migration from the Rio Grande Valley to Angelina County during the late 1960s,rice farming, lignite coal mining, and a Black female vocal group known as the Golden Echoes.
- $100,000 spent. Preservation of Collections: We preserved the collections for continued public use now and into the future. We also gave onsite tours and offsite programs concerning proper preservation, care and handling of historical documents, family papers, and photographs, assisting area service clubs, schools, churches, historical and genealogical organizations. Our native landscaping and gardens were also preserved and further developed for the benefit of everyone.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since May 2023.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.