Alexander M. Troup Collection

About the Digital Collection

Materials available online represent a small percentage of the full collection. The Alexander M. Troup Collection is a collection of items compiled by Mr. Troup which documents the history of Dallas, Texas. The collection includes significant amounts of research related to historical places and events in Dallas and beyond. Using archaeological methods, Mr. Troup excavates items for inclusion in the north Texas’ historical record. After the excavation, the items are meticulously packed in boxes to ensure their preservation.

About the Physical Collection

The Alexander M. Troup collection is composed of 27 series. The collection’s series list includes Mr. Troup’s personal papers (correspondence, research files, as well as art archives and artworks); the Troup family papers; the Troup gallery papers and artwork; and a grouping of series which focus on a specific area, community, or construction site. These site-specific series include the American Airlines/Dallas Arena Recovery 1965-2000 series; the Artic Research series; the Austin/Market/Jackson St. series; the Deep Elm (Honest Joe’s)/ Fairmont St. series; the Fair Park series; the French Brick Study series; the Folk Art series; the Hollywood, Film, Fashion, and the Image series; the Howard Hughes series; the JFK Archives; the Laws St. series; the Material Culture series (for items without a specific location or community); and the Material Culture of Ethnic Communities in Dallas Co series(which includes the following communities: African Americans; the Hispanic Community; the Jewish Community and other ethnic Communities); the Newspaper Collection (includes Occupy clippings and General Clipping collection); the Oak Cliff/Cedar Creek series; the Red Light district series; the San Jacinto-Camp Street Series; the St. George Hotel series; and the Separated Materials series. Three Accretion series were added later on as more materials were donated to the collection.

Biographical Note

Alexander M. Troup grew up in Dallas and witnessed firsthand the transformations the city underwent to become what it is today – an ever-changing metro-plex. During the growth of Dallas in the post-war period many times valuable pieces of history were destroyed or overlooked.

The collection includes significant amounts of research related to historical places and events in Dallas and beyond. Using archaeological methods, Mr. Troup excavates items for inclusion in the north Texas’ historical record. After the excavation, the items are meticulously packed in boxes to ensure their preservation.

Troup excavated and collected items for inclusion in his own North Texas historical record. After the excavation, the items were meticulously packed in boxes to ensure their safety. Following this he documented the sites and the artifacts that were collected. His collection contains an abundant number of artifacts, but also boxes and boxes of resources on art history, material culture, archaeology, and Dallas History.

Not only a historian and material culture preservationist, Troup is an artist whose work echoes his assemblages of artifacts. His work transforms found objects such as wall paper and shards of broken pottery among many other types of materials.

The Troup Family is steeped in the history of Dallas. Gallery Trohafole, which was owned and operated by the Troup family in the 1960s, showcased items made by Dallas artists and many pieces of folk art.