How Hillhops at St. Edward’s Brings Texas Craft Beer Archives to Life
A Taste of Texas History on the Hilltop
The Toker Archives Reading Room is a special place in the Munday Library, safely housing the university’s collections from the beginning of the school’s history. Shelves display memorabilia from when the Dallas Cowboys hosted training camp on the hilltop, clothing from St. Edward’s High School, stamps from Vatican City, and a vinyl jazz collection.
Among the archives is The Texas Craft Brewing Collection, which preserves and collects stories from Texas brewers to share with future generations.
In 2019, when Archivist and Special Librarian Travis Williams was two months into his job on the hilltop, he pitched an idea that continued to grow and improve each year.
“Hillhops: A Craft Beer Showcase” was the answer to William’s one pressing question: “How can we do an event that gets people excited about archives and teaches people that archives aren't just dead and cold storage centers?”
The first Hillhops event was held on January 29, 2020, approximately two months before the university shut down due to COVID-19, and featured a dozen breweries in the library’s North Reading Room, with 100 attendees.
Breweries provided samples and fun beer facts to guests, and St. Edward’s welcomed back alumni from Friends and Allies (Ben Sabin ‘09), Three Nations Brewing (Gavin Secchi ’06), and Zilker Brewing (Patrick Clark ‘03) as panelists. Each year, Williams’ goal is to host a panel of underrepresented voices in the brewing industry. Past topics have featured Black Leaders in Brewing, LGBTQ Leaders in Brewing, Sustainability in Brewing, and this year, Latinx Leaders in Brewing.
Munday Library Turned Brewer’s Hall
After the first year, Williams was ready to expand, and he focused on recruiting 35 breweries to participate, including Saint Arnold, Celis Brewing, Black Star Co-op, and Austin Beerworks. The event outgrew the North Reading Room and moved to the entire first floor of the library.
Hillhops began to include more than breweries and welcomed campus groups and private collectors as exhibitors. Caroline Wallace ‘11 returned to the hilltop as the Executive Director of the Texas Craft Brewing Guild, encouraging participants to get their Texas Brewery Passport. Campus safety provided an impaired obstacle course, RecWell informed visitors about their services, and Hillhops even found a way to partner with the Office of Sustainability and Students for Sustainability. Leftover beer from the event was sent to the bees, and water and ice replenished campus trees at the end of the night.
In October 2020, Williams was selected for the Archival Award of Excellence by the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board for the event. And in 2025, Williams won the Texas Digital Library Outreach Award for work on the Texas Beer Archive, a site featuring scanned items from over 200 breweries, making the collection more accessible to non-locals.
It’s safe to say archives aren’t just “dead and cold storage centers” since the Texas Craft Brewing Collection has quadrupled since Williams arrived at St. Edward’s. Each year, attendance increases by about 50 people, and in 2025, the event saw 330 attendees. Hillhops is celebrating its fifth event on Thursday, January 22, from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., featuring 46 exhibitors, of which 30 are breweries. Stop by the library to hear live music from the Austin Polka Band, featuring the hilltop’s very own, Mike Bell, on the tuba.
