From the opening of the Rusk [Library] Building, "special collections" were a part of SFA's role in East Texas. Faculty members took an active role in the acquisition of documents and rare books.

In his first complete description of the Library for the Board of Regents in June of 1927, Birdwell wrote: "I desire to call special attention to our rare book room in which we have rare books and documents, some of which have been purchased by the college, and some have been donated by friends of the college. The furniture of the room was donated to the college by the Cum Concilio Club of Nacogdoches, and was made from walnut timbers of the original Stone Fort. The college is under many obligations to this splendid group of women for the interest they have shown in the library."

An article in the Pine Log in the fall of 1927 further eleborated the origins of the archival function on the campus. "The development of the Rare Book Room in the college Library is an interesting chapter in the history of the College, and one which, it is to be hoped, must be supplemented at frequent intervals. ... The room and its furnishings form an appropriate background for the rare books and documents which the college has acquired. It was through Mr. Garner, of the History Department, that the Library secured a photstatic copy of what is supposed to be the first teacher's contract made in Texas. The contracting teacher agrees to accept in exchange for his services, board, room, and one dollar per month per pupil, one half of the latter to be paid in cattle. The Library also possesses a letter written by General Thomas J. Rusk to his brother, Mr. David Rusk, while the former was a member of the United State Senate."

The Pine Log continued by discussing the Librarian's, Miss Loulein Harris, contributions of early American education pamphlets to the collection and important early editions of books given to the collection, such as Smith's Wealth of Nations and an early second edition copy of Noah Webster's American Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking. President Birdwell and Miss Harris' interest in the collection of rare books and manuscripts led others like Lois Foster Blount and Mildred Wyatt in subsequent times to consolidate the importance of the archives to SFA and East Texas making the Steen Library research collection what it is today.