Special Collections accepted applications in June for the second annual Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. The grant was established in order to partner with faculty to develop assignments for Fall 2020 courses that will utilize collections held by Special Collections. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, the grant scope was shifted to the use of digitized materials available in the Portal to Texas History and UNT Digital Library.

The winners are:

• Dr. Todd Moye, Robnett Professor of U.S. History and Director of the UNT Oral History Program
• Dr. Paula Lupkin, Associate Professor, Art History

Students in Dr. Moye’s “History of the Present” course will work with Special Collections staff, namely Rachael Zipperer, University Archivist, to document the UNT community’s responses to and experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic by contributing to the University Memory Collection. They will examine existing items in the University Memory digital collection, discuss archival philosophies and best practices, and ultimately archive digital items of their own choosing.

Drawing upon digitized artifacts, photographs, and records from UNT’s Texas Fashion Collection and John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Collection, Dr. Lupkin’s project supports two related design history class projects. Using Omeka, an online digital platform, CVAD graduate students and undergraduate art history majors will collaboratively produce exhibitions: one on the role of Neiman-Marcus in shaping fashion culture in Dallas and the Southwest, the other on the paradigm-shifting fashion designs of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Central to both exhibition projects is an immersion in primary sources, work with archivists, and the development of original research in design history.

Dr. Moye and Dr. Lupkin were each awarded $500 in research and professional development funding.

Congratulations Dr. Moye and Dr. Lupkin! The Special Collections Team is looking forward to working with you on your coursework activities!