UNT Libraries Special Collections is hosting a series of events geared to ignite your creativity based on pieces that can be found in our archives.

Quaranzine September 28 – December 4, 2020

The University of North Texas Special Collections department invites you to make a quaran-zine! Sept. 28 - Dec. 4, join us on the Facebook Craft a Quaranzine event page, or share your #UNTquaranzine with @UNTSpecColl on Twitter. We’ll be sharing ideas and submissions on our pages throughout the event.

A zine (pronounced “zeen”) is a self-published magazine, often associated with DIY culture, that can be about any topic and made by anyone. Zines come in many forms, and you don’t have to be an artist or a writer to make one, you just have to have something to say.

You can make your quaranzine with supplies you probably already have wherever you’re social distancing. All you need is paper, scissors, and whatever materials you want to fill your blank zine pages.

It’s up to you create the content of your zine. Your zine could be a way to exhibit your creative writing or art, a comic about your experience living in a UNT dorm during the COVID pandemic, an informational message about a cause close to your heart, or a critical review of the last show you watched – that’s the beauty of zines, they can be about anything you want.

When you’ve finished your zine, you can make copies to distribute among your community, digitize it to share on your website or blog, donate it to the UNT University Archive, or keep it just for yourself. We encourage participants to talk about your zine making process, connect with other zine makers, and share photos of your zines in the discussion on this event page. If you’re sharing your quaranzine elsewhere on social media, please tag us @UNTSpecColl and use #UNTquaranzine.

By making a quaranzine about your experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can help UNT Special Collections document our community’s experience through this unique and accessible medium and have fun expressing yourself while we all spend more time apart.

If you’d like to donate a digital copy of your zine to the University Archive’s COVID-19 Response Collection, use the Keeper App. To donate a physical zine, contact University Archivist Rachael Zipperer.

Create Your Own Bestiary October 26 – December 4, 2020

The University of North Texas Special Collections department invites you to craft a mythical beast! Oct. 26 - Dec. 4, join us on the Facebook Craft a Bestiary Beast event page, or share your #UNTbestiary with @UNTSpecColl on Twitter. We’ll be sharing ideas and submissions on our pages throughout the event.

Do you love dreaming up new animals? Can’t get enough of mermaids, dragons, and unicorns? Then you should join in with our Create Your Own Mythical Beast activity!

This craft is inspired by bestiaries, also known as bestiarum vocabulum, which are books filled with illustrations of animals, both real and imagined, that became popular in the Middle Ages. In addition to illustrations, bestiaries also featured stories that communicated the symbolism of each animal that was featured.

To participate in the event, draw, collage, paint, or otherwise create a brand new animal straight from your imagination or reimagine your favorite real animal. When you’re done, share your creation with us on Twitter or Facebook by tagging us @UNTSpecColl and using the hashtag #UNTbestiary.

Need some inspiration? Be sure to check the discussion in the Facebook event where we’ll be sharing examples of bestiaries and other resources about these amazing manuscripts.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Fold A Love Letter January 25 – February 26, 2021

Write a love letter inspired by correspondence in Special Collections. More information coming soon!