The city of Sugar Land now occupies the site that was once the Oakland Plantation. It was there that in 1843 Samuel May Williams installed a commercial sugar-grinding mill on his land, leading to a rapid shift from cotton to sugar cane as the area's dominant crop. In 1905, the area's sugar plantations were acquired by the Kempner family, who dubbed their company the Imperial Sugar Company. Though sugar has not been refined at the original plant since 2003, the company's headquarters remains in Sugar Land, making it the oldest extant business in Texas.

The TracyLocke company was started in Oklahoma City in 1913 by founders Shelley E. Tracy (of Vernon, TX) and Raymond P. Locke. Within two years, the company began expanding throughout the region, including an office in Dallas, which soon became the company's headquarters. While the company has expanded into several satellite offices around the nation, it has remained one of the premier advertising companies of the Southwest, serving such regional clients as Haggar, Mrs. Baird's, Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper, and Imperial Sugar. The TracyLocke company is responsible for many branding campaigns that have integrated products into the fabric of everyday culture: they coined the term "slacks" while working with Haggar, created the "10-2-4" slogan for Dr. Pepper, and invented the name "7-Eleven." This film collection came to TAMI courtesy of Mark Beasley at Lucid Post and Richard Brown, formerly of TracyLocke.