Forms part of the Houston History Archives.

CEC's archival records collection includes documentation of Houston's environmental history and CEC's organizational efforts from 1966 to 2000. The CEC records collection arises from three separate accessions. First and largest are the records preserved in the CEC offices. With a few exceptions, the CEC office records document organization activities during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. In addition to administrative, financial, and program files, these records include audio tapes, photographs, slides, and posters.

A second accession came from the Terry Hershey papers. Hershey's CEC papers include the earliest organizational records from the late 1960s and 1970s, including documentation of CEC's predecessor and partner, Citizens Who Care (CWC). Also included are the very few records that remain of the Houston Area Forum. Hershey's papers include organization and financial records, board correspondence and training, early committee work, materials on local organizations, documentation for the early CEC brochures, and a nearly complete set of newsletters. Also integrated into the Hershey papers was a carton of materials acquired from the estate of Barrie Zimmelman. Because Zimmelman's collection was comparatively slight and because Hershey secured the papers from Zimmelman's executors, they were processed with the Hershey accession.

A third accession came from Sarah and Army Emmott, graciously donated by Army Emmott's daughter, Mildred Williams. The Emmott's accession includes papers largely from the 1980s, including financial records, committee activities, and newsletters plus programs such as the Waterfront Festival that are not represented elsewhere in the CEC collection.

A fourth set of records is housed at the Metropolitan Research Center of the Houston Public Library. Those records include CEC documents from 1971 to 1981 and from the CEC Education Foundation, Inc. This collection includes correspondence, newsletters, meeting minutes, and reports regarding the environmental issues affecting the Upper Gulf Coast, including extensive reports on the Toxic Waste Task Force.

The three accessions represented in this finding aid were processed similarly but separately to adhere as closely as possible to the archival principle of original order. Also, the archivist determined that it was important historically to preserve the collections of founders who had been essential to CEC's development. Both Terry Hershey and Sarah Emmott were visionary in their preservation of documents. Terry Hershey continues to preserve and disseminate documentation of Houston's environmental history.