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Archive Battle As Big As Texas

By KRWG News

Texas – Bexar County and the University of Texas are battling over a trove of historical documents dating back to the 1700s when San Antonio was under Spanish and Mexican rule.

The Bexar County Courthouse has long displayed documents from that era. Now it is planning an expanded history center and gift shop. To augment the collection, the courthouse wants the University of Texas to return archives handed over in 1899.

But the university's Briscoe Center for American History has refused since 2000 to hand over the 70,000 documents. University officials say the documents need to remain with them to serve students and researchers.

County officials say the university doesn't have the staff to translate and organize the documents. They say the university has translated less than one-quarter of the collection.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.