News & Announcements - University Libraries

UNT Special Collections 2025 Research Fellowship Awardee - Isabella McCord

Isabella (Bella) McCord is an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas and member of the Honors College. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in Art History through the College of Visual Arts and Design, and B.A. in German Studies with a minor in English through the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Her research interests include avant-garde art movements of the early twentieth-century in Germany, with an emphasis on women artists. During the 2025-2026 academic year, she will continue her research on the work of artists including Käthe Kollwitz, Elfriede Lohse-Wachter, and Maria Uhden to understand the unique relationship between tragedy and women artists, especially those who are also mothers. UNT Special Collections 2025 Research Fellowship Awardee Isabella McCord Project Title Abschied und Tod: The Impact of Grief and Faith on Käthe Kollwitz from 1914 to 1924 Project Description This project will analyze the 1924 Abschied und Tod (Farewell and Death) portfolio by twentieth-century German artist Käthe Kollwitz held in the UNT Special Collections. It seeks to understand references to Christian theology throughout these works as an indication of Kollwitz’s return to faith as a source of inspiration and comfort in the aftermath of her son’s death during the first world war. Through this project, I will reference other materials from the Collections relating to Kollwitz’s life and conduct comparative visual and historical analysis in order to develop a thorough understanding of this portfolio that is absent from the present scholarship. Biography Isabella (Bella) McCord is an undergraduate student at the University of North Texas and member of the Honors College. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in Art History through the College of Visual Arts and Design, and B.A. in German Studies with a minor in English through the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Her research interests include avant-garde art movements of the early twentieth-century in Germany, with an emphasis on women artists. During the 2025-2026 academic year, she will continue her research on the work of artists including Käthe Kollwitz, Elfriede Lohse-Wachter, and Maria Uhden to understand the unique relationship between tragedy and women artists, especially those who are also mothers.

Posted: 05/13/2025

UNT Special Collections 2025 Research Fellowship Awardee - Hannah Forsythe

Posted: 05/13/2025

UNT Special Collections 2025 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Michael Demson

Posted: 05/13/2025

Scrappy's SpecFic Symposium

Dreaming of writing a fantastic story? Curious about the science fiction and fantasy industry? Come to Scrappy’s SpecFic Symposium talks with local speculative fiction authors and a look at UNT’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Study Collection! Registration is required. April 26, 2025, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Registration is required Willis Library 250H 1:00pm - Start 1:00-1:10pm - Introduction 1:10-1:30pm – Rhonda Eudaly – You Got Science in My Fiction Speculative fiction has been around for a long time in many forms, sometimes where you least expect it. Many works of traditional fiction contain specfic elements and tropes. Author Rhonda Eudaly introduces relevant examples and discusses how specfic might have been lurking in your favorite stories all along. 1:30-1:50pm – R.J. Hanson – You and No One Else (Building Your Brand) Self-publishing has become a valid pathway to writing success, giving authors both complete control and complete responsibility. Even traditionally published authors are expected to do more of their own marketing, branding, and readership building than 10 years ago. Successful self-published fantasy author R.J. Hanson offers his insights, recommendations, and tips. 1:50-2:00pm - Break 2:00-2:20pm – Jess Tucker UNT’s archives has a remarkable and rapidly growing speculative fiction collection in the southwest, featuring authors like Robert E. Howard, Warren Norwood, and Patricia Anthony. University archivist and collection developer Jess Tucker shares some of the collection’s oddities and treasures. 2:20-2:40pm – Jon Black – Researching What Never Happened Research forms part of the foundation of good speculative fiction, even if it’s just knowing what didn’t happen. Is there such a thing as too much research? Too little? Historical fiction author Jon Black helps you find the research approach that’s right for you. 2:40-2:50pm - Break 2:50-3:10pm – Michelle Muenzler – Brain Gremlins (Or What to Do When Your Brain Won’t Cooperate) A brain is a professional writer’s best friend … and worst enemy. Weird fiction author and poet Michelle Muenzler shares her experiences and advice for when your story’s real antagonist has become … your brain. 3:10-3:30pm Keith Lansdale – Being a Professional Liar for Money When the glamour and pretense come off, that’s when the hard work and the fun begin. Keith Landsdale, author of comics, film scripts, novels, and short stories, delves into the good, the bad, and the ugly of what being a professional liar for money, err, a professional speculative fiction author really means. 3:30-3:40pm - Break 3:40-4:40pm – Moderated panel Q&A with authors 4:40-5:00pm – Wrap up and optional book signing and selling 5:00pm - end Biographies: Rhonda Eudaly - Rhonda Eudaly lives in Arlington, Texas, where her wide variety of experience and skills is well-suited to her current job in local government. She’s married with dogs and an increasing horde of writing instruments, which she blogs about. Rhonda has a well-rounded publication history in all kinds of writing including novels like The Four Redheads of the Apocalypse, collaborations, and short stories. Check out her website—www.RhondaEudaly.com—for her latest publications and downloads. R. J. Hanson – R.J. Hanson has two books on Amazon ranked #1 in epic fantasy and dark fantasy, Roland’s Path and Fires that Forge. RJ began developing the epic sword and sorcery saga, Bloodlines Reforged, in 1996. The Bloodlines Reforged Saga tells the tales of a warrior’s courage, a scorned sorcerer’s revenge, a corrupt church’s perversion of faith, a grieving vampire dealing with loss, and a knight’s struggle to break his oath in order to fulfill it. R.J. has accumulated many real-world experiences that have given him a unique understanding of the human condition ranging from training in interview and interrogation techniques to hand to hand combat to SWAT tactics. RJ is a certified Firearms Instructor and Linguistic Statement Analyst as well as a former UNT TAMSter and working cowboy. Jon Black - Multi-award winning author Jon Black writes historical fiction with pulp, supernatural, or Mythos twists. His Bel Nemeton series combines 6th century Arthurian historical fantasy with brainy 21st century pulp. Its first installments, Bel Nemeton and Caledfwlch, were named Best Thriller Novels of 2018 and 2020 in the Critters’ Readers’ Poll. Reviewers have called the series “An Intellectual ‘Tomb Raider’” and “Books that should make Dan Brown weep with jealousy.” His Jazz Age, music-driven supernatural mystery Gabriel’s Trumpet was Critters’ Best Horror Novel of 2019. Raised in Denton, Texas, his previous jobs include archaeological excavator, Benjamin Franklin impersonator, embassy worker, graduate assistant, newspaper reporter, pizza jockey, political speechwriter, small business owner, substitute teacher, and summer camp counselor…not always in the order one might expect. Michelle Muenzler - Known at local science fiction and fantasy conventions as “The Cookie Lady”, Michelle writes fiction both dark and strange to counterbalance the sweetness of her baking. Her short fiction and poetry can be read in numerous science fiction and fantasy magazines, and she takes immense joy in crinkling words like little foil puppets. Michelle is a SFWA member and represented by Howard Morhaim of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. Keith Lansdale - Keith Lansdale writes comics, film scripts, novels, and short stories. Keith has made films such as The Pale Door and Christmas With The Dead. Among his writing credits are, the novel Big Lizard with Joe R Lansdale, as well as the short stories “Hoppity White Rabbit Done Broke Down” and “It Goes With Everything.” Keith also co-wrote the children’s story “The Companion” when he was twelve with his younger sister which was picked up by the television show Creepshow and co-authored the children’s book In Waders From Mars.

Posted: 04/13/2025

photos of Dr. Mónica Salazar and Dr. Layla Seale

Spring 2025 Coursework Development Grant

Special Collections is pleased to announce the recipients of the Coursework Development Grant for the Spring 2025 semester. Supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment, the grant was established in 2019 to partner with faculty at UNT to develop assignments for courses that will utilize collections and materials held by Special Collections. Recipients of the grant are awarded $500 in research and professional development funding. Spring 2025 Special Collections Coursework Development Grant Special Collections is pleased to announce the recipients of the Coursework Development Grant for the Spring 2025 semester. Supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment, the grant was established in 2019 to partner with faculty at UNT to develop assignments for courses that will utilize collections and materials held by Special Collections. Recipients of the grant are awarded $500 in research and professional development funding. The Spring 2025 winners are: Dr. Mónica Salazar, Senior Lecturer, Department of Art History Dr. Salazar is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Art History at the University of North Texas, where she teaches courses in postmodernism, theories of contemporary art, as well as the history of photography and modern and contemporary Latin American art. Her research considers questions regarding Mexico’s entrance into the globalized world order and the consequences this has for the visual arts. Students in her upper-level undergraduate History of Photography course will study holdings in the Byrd Williams Family Photography Collection as inspiration for a creative self-portrait assignment. Dr. Layla Seale, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Art History Dr. Seale is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at UNT, specializing in Medieval Art. Her research analyzes how medieval images of demons reveal a broad spectrum of religious and cultural ideologies and anxieties. Recently, her work on demons and labor, titled “Work is Hell: Demon Laborers in Late Medieval Art,” was published in Different Visions, a peer-reviewed, open access journal devoted to progressive art history scholarship. Undergraduate students in her art history course, Illuminating the Middle Ages: The Art of Medieval Manuscript, will analyze UNT Special Collection’s rich collection of medieval manuscript leaves and fragments during multiple visits, and submit written responses explaining their reactions to the materiality of these objects with the option of submitting a creative assignment replicating the techniques they analyzed. During individual visits, students will also consult the robust collection of illuminated manuscript facsimiles. Congratulations, Dr. Salazar and Dr. Seale! UNT Special Collections is excited to work with you and your students this semester!

Posted: 02/06/2025

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price having his hair braided by Maurine 'Tootsie' Jones at Tootsie's Braiding Gallery

UNT Special Collections Partners with 'The Village'

UNT Special Collections is pleased to announce a new partnership with Donald “Tortellini” Thomas II for the purposes of sharing and promoting culturally relevant content from the NBC5/KXAS Television News Archive on The Village Oak Cliff Instagram channel: @villageoakcliff. This mutually beneficial collaboration will extend the reach the NBC5 archive, while showcasing historical news footage that celebrates the unique history and accomplishments of Oak Cliff for followers of @villageoakcliff. UNT Special Collections is pleased to announce a new partnership with Donald “Tortellini” Thomas II for the purposes of sharing and promoting culturally relevant content from the NBC5/KXAS Television News Archive on The Village Oak Cliff Instagram channel: @villageoakcliff. This mutually beneficial collaboration will extend the reach the NBC5 archive, while showcasing historical news footage that celebrates the unique history and accomplishments of Oak Cliff for followers of @villageoakcliff. “The Village” project was created by Don “Tortellini” Thomas as a preservation of culture through photography and cinematography, aimed to educate, preserve, represent, and contextualize life and history in Oak Cliff. There is an unquestionable community pride that resonates throughout the Oak Cliff; however, this unique context is often overshadowed by stories of crime and poverty. The Village is a place for people in the Oak Cliff community and beyond to learn about and celebrate their own people, places, and traditions. UNT Special Collections and @villageoak cliff share a mission to collect and share underrepresented stories—both current and historical. This partnership will further this educational mission by showcasing Oak Cliff history and culture in a popular social media platform and encouraging community input and engagement as people share and discuss archival news footage. Sharing this important history will help inspire generations to come. UNT Special Collections has managed the archive of NBC5 since 2014, and over the past 10 years has digitized approximately half of the film and video footage in the oldest and largest television news archive in Texas. UNT Special Collections has exclusive rights to license and provide permission for use of footage from the archive. Footage provided to @villageoakcliff is intended for educational, non-commercial use. Any requests for use of footage beyond viewing on @villageoakcliff should be directed to specialcollections@unt.edu. UNT Special Collections is already familiar Thomas’s work, having acquired a series of his original photography in 2021 and partnering with Thomas to provide NBC5 footage for his short film Chaos on Commerce in 2024. This new project will further extend our already productive relationship to include @villageoakcliff. We are looking forward to working together!

Posted: 10/16/2024

Fall 2024 Coursework Development Grant

Special Collections is pleased to announce the recipient of the Coursework Development Grant for the Fall 2024 semester. Supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment, the grant was established in 2019 to partner with faculty at UNT to develop assignments for courses that will utilize collections and materials held by Special Collections. Recipients of the grant are awarded $500 in research and professional development funding. Special Collections is pleased to announce the recipient of the Coursework Development Grant for the Fall 2024 semester. Supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment, the grant was established in 2019 to partner with faculty at UNT to develop assignments for courses that will utilize collections and materials held by Special Collections. Recipients of the grant are awarded $500 in research and professional development funding. The Fall 2024 winner is: Dr. Carey Gibbons, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History Dr. Gibbons is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of North Texas with a specialty in Victorian art and design, as well as the histories of illustration and graphic design. She recently had the opportunity to research Pre-Raphaelite drawing and illustration while undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at The Morgan Library & Museum from 2021–22. In addition to teaching at other institutions including the Pratt Institute and Belmont University, she has curatorial experience at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library; and the Fisk University Galleries. She is also the Digital Art History Editor for the journal Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. The students in her Fall 2024 senior seminar course for undergraduate Art History majors, “Gender and Design, 1850–Today,” will produce a resource guide for UNT librarians, faculty, students, and external researchers tentatively titled, “Exploring Design and Gender through UNT Special Collections.” Each student will contribute a c. 500-word reading of a design (either an object or illustration in a rare book of journal) in Special Collections that foregrounds gender. These interpretive texts will serve as case studies providing a starting point for exploring gender in UNT Special Collections. The project is also designed to help students develop their research skills and hopefully increase their desire to work intimately and critically with rare and archival materials. Congratulations, Dr. Gibbons!

Posted: 09/06/2024

black and white photo of a woman on a hill

Luther Smith Photography Collection

The Luther Smith Photography Collection was acquired in 2022. Processing has now wrapped on the collection, and it is available for use. The collection contains the photographs, negatives, slides, papers and publications of Emeritus Professor of Art Photography, Luther Smith, of Texas Christian University. The Luther Smith Photography Collection was acquired in 2022. Processing has now wrapped on the collection, and it is available for use. The collection contains the photographs, negatives, slides, papers and publications of Emeritus Professor of Art Photography, Luther Smith, of Texas Christian University. Smith lived in Mississippi for ten years as a child, then moved to Aurora, Illinois, where he later attended college at the University of Urbana/Champaign. Many of the photographs in the collection are of people the photographer has known over the years, including friends, colleagues, and family members. In the college years of the 1970s, Smith experimented with infrared photography in the form of portraits which were then exhibited or published in photography journals or exhibition catalogs. He later attended the Rhode Island School of Design for graduate work, where he continued his studies in photography. Smith returned to the University of Illinois after graduate school for a teaching position where he began work on his High School series of images. These images continued when he moved to Texas in 1983, exploring imagery which evolved into the High School Rodeo photographs. Both subjects provide literal snapshots of student life throughout the 1980s along with their activities and demonstrate what adolescent life was like in a community where horses and cattle are such a strong part of the Texas identity. Luther Smith is also a landscape photographer whose work contains images of the Trinity River, a project to which he devoted considerable time beginning in the early 1980s. His book, Trinity River, was published by TCU Press in The book and photographs are a historical record of the river, along with its many streams and branches which span throughout the eastern part of Texas. In his ongoing series of nature images, Smith incorporates a unique color palette into his photographs. The images in this series are vibrant depictions of the local landscape and are part of the artist’s Where I Live photographs. His eye for color and composition forces the viewer to take a deeper look at their ordinary surroundings in an appreciation of the natural beauty of the environment. Indeed, many images have been elevated to unearthly levels, where one may consider what our impact is as human beings who constantly alter our environments, and not always for the better. In 2018, Smith retired from Texas Christian University, where he worked for 35 years. The exhibit My Time at TCU featured photographs of the artist’s work and included images from 45 years of his life. He continues to work and exhibit at William Campbell Gallery in Fort Worth. Smith’s work is included in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Museum of South Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Illinois State Museum, the High Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Arkansas Arts Center and other noteworthy institutions. For more information on the collection, please visit the finding aid. View digitized items from the Luther Smith Photography Collection in The Portal to Texas History.

Posted: 05/16/2024

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee - Brett Barnard

Brett Barnard is a dual degree candidate at the University of North Texas, having completed his M.L.S. with the College of Information, and currently completing his M.A. in History with the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. His research foci include cultural history, religious history, the history of American nuns, and the activities of the Catholic Church during the papacy of Pope Pius XII and the Second World War. At the time of writing, he has started a new position with the UNT Library Annex as a Graduate Student Assistant, helping with the organization and development of the inter-university Voices of the Eastern Shore Project. He received his B.A. from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and hopes to pursue a career in academic librarianship, archival work, or education. UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee Brett Barnard Project Title Never Judge a Book by Its Cover: Mapping the Journeys of UNT’s Medieval Manuscript Collections Project Description This project seeks to analyze the “journeys” of the medieval and early manuscripts within the Special Collections here at UNT and analyze the “patterns” found within different information objects of the same category. Through a combination of artistic examination, historical research, and religious understanding, I plan to evaluate the physical information gleaned from these objects and how it can be best used in historical research regarding their origins. The project’s next stage involves digitally mapping the selected object’s journeys, carefully detailing their owners, unique aspects of their constructions, and the ways in which objects of similar formats compare, simultaneously increasing their accessibility for a large user base. Biography Brett Barnard is a dual degree candidate at the University of North Texas, having completed his M.L.S. with the College of Information, and currently completing his M.A. in History with the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. His research foci include cultural history, religious history, the history of American nuns, and the activities of the Catholic Church during the papacy of Pope Pius XII and the Second World War. At the time of writing, he has started a new position with the UNT Library Annex as a Graduate Student Assistant, helping with the organization and development of the inter-university Voices of the Eastern Shore Project. He received his B.A. from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and hopes to pursue a career in academic librarianship, archival work, or education.

Posted: 04/30/2024

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee - Christine Adame

Posted: 04/30/2024

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee - Meredith Cawley

Posted: 04/30/2024

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee - Julia Caswell Freund

Julia Caswell is an artist living and working in DFW. JCF’s art researches the nuances of cultural value systems through performance, video, and sculptural art making. Her work, influenced by her experiences as a neurodivergent individual, blends advertising aesthetics with mental health themes and early childhood testing and learning environments. She explores societal messages on happiness and self-perception, the invisibility of labor, and diversity of knowledge systems, creating immersive installations that engage both the body and cognition. Currently pursuing her MFA at the University of North Texas, Julia’s art invites viewers to question and reflect on human perception and societal narratives in a contemporary attention economy. UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee Julia Caswell Project Title Mistake-Out: Art from Researching the Liquid Paper Legacy Project Description Julia Caswell Freund will research the Liquid Paper Corporation’s Archive, focusing on gendered clerical work. Through an artist talk and series of conceptual works, she seeks to uncover insights about cultural value and labor systems in businesses of 1980s Dallas, paying tribute to the longstanding artistic legacy of Liquid Paper’s founder, Bette Graham. Biography Julia Caswell is an artist living and working in DFW. JCF’s art researches the nuances of cultural value systems through performance, video, and sculptural art making. Her work, influenced by her experiences as a neurodivergent individual, blends advertising aesthetics with mental health themes and early childhood testing and learning environments. She explores societal messages on happiness and self-perception, the invisibility of labor, and diversity of knowledge systems, creating immersive installations that engage both the body and cognition. Currently pursuing her MFA at the University of North Texas, Julia’s art invites viewers to question and reflect on human perception and societal narratives in a contemporary attention economy. Visit www.juliacaswell.com to see images of her work and more.

Posted: 04/30/2024

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Awardee - Heather Myers

Posted: 04/30/2024

13th Biennial Artists' Book Competition, Sponsored by the UNT Libraries

13th Biennial Artists' Book Competition Winners

Posted: 04/12/2024

LOVING: A Photographic History of Men in Love

Posted: 02/28/2024

From Artists' Books to Zines

From Artists’ Books to Zines is a new initiative from UNT Special Collections in conjunction with our Biennial Artists’ Book Competition to provide students and other attendees interested in the book arts field an opportunity to connect with other artists and creators working in the medium, foster engaging scholarship and discussion related to the field, explore and promote the reemergence of zines and their connections to the book arts field, and to honor and celebrate the participants and winners of the 2023-2024 Artists’ Book Competition cycle. Date and Time: Saturday, March 23, 2024, 8am-4pm Location: Willis Library From Artists’ Books to Zines is a new initiative from UNT Special Collections in conjunction with our Biennial Artists’ Book Competition to provide students and other attendees interested in the book arts field an opportunity to connect with other artists and creators working in the medium, foster engaging scholarship and discussion related to the field, explore and promote the reemergence of zines and their connections to the book arts field, and to honor and celebrate the participants and winners of the 2023-2024 Artists’ Book Competition cycle. During From Artists’ Books to Zines, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to curated panels related to the book arts featuring UNT and TWU faculty, community organizers, and artists, hear a keynote presentation with recognized book artist Candace Hicks, view a pop-up exhibition of 2023-2024 Artists’ Book Competition entries, take part in a collaborative zine workshop, attend the official opening of UNT Special Collection’s new browsable zine library, and attend the reception for the Artists’ Book Competition where winners and honorable mentions will be recognized and announced. The symposium will be free to attend and food and refreshments will be provided throughout the day, but registration will be required due to space constraints. Register for From Artists’ Books to Zines here. From Artists’ Books to Zines Symposium Schedule Saturday, March 23, 2024 Willis Library, UNT Denton Time Event Location 8:00am - 8:45am Registration Check In and Breakfast 250H 8:45am - 9:00am Welcome 250H 9:00am - 10:00am Artists' Books Panel 250H 10:00am - 10:15am Break 10:15am - 11:15am Zines Panel 250H 11:15am - 12:15pm Zine Workshop 250 C/H/J 12:15pm - 1:15pm Lunch / Zine Workshop Cont. 250 C/H/J 1:15pm - 1:30pm Break 1:30pm - 2:30pm Keynote with Candace Hicks 250H 2:30pm - 4:00pm 13th Biennial Artists' Book Competition Reception 443 9:00am - 1:30pm UNT Zine Library Grand Opening 437 9:00am - 1:30pm 13th Biennial Artists' Book Competition Pop-Up Exhibit 443 Panelist & Speaker Bios Candace Hicks (Keynote Speaker) Candace Hicks collects coincidences from the books she reads in her artists’ books and installations. With the exhibition Read Me at Lawndale Art Center, Hicks opened the book form into a room-sized interactive installation in which viewers pieced together a puzzle of narrative to find the correct solution. The Locked Room at Living Arts in Tulsa focused on a specific genre of literature the “locked room” mystery, and visitors were tasked with the challenge to find the means of metaphorically escaping the gallery. For Many Mini Murder Scenes at Women and Their Work, Hicks reproduced tableaux plucked from crime fiction and offered viewers the experience of playing a detective searching for clues. Books from her Common Threads series are in more than 80 collections around the world including, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Athenaeum, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Grolier Club, Harvard, Hungarian Multicultural Center, MIT, MoMA, Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, UCLA Biomedical Library, Stanford, and Yale. Christine Adame (Artists’ Books Panel) Christine Adame is an intermedia artist from Laredo, Texas. Her artwork relates to heritage, especially as informed by her mestiza identity. Her work resembles artifacts built from layered processes—including drawing, fibers, digital fabrication, and printmaking. Christine earned her B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.F.A. in Intermedia Studio from The University of Texas at Arlington. She has exhibited in Texas, the Midwest, and Japan and has led digital fabrication workshops nationally and internationally. Kathy Lovas (Artists’ Books Panel) Kathy Lovas is a multi-disciplinary artist working in photography, artist’s books, sculpture and installation. Her projects reference current and past events using familiar objects or words, and she often draws on personal experiences in her narrative work. Kathy holds a B.S. degree in biology from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana and an MFA in photography from Texas Woman’s University in Denton. She is a 1995 recipient of a Mid-America Arts Alliance National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in photography, and was a 1991 fellow of the American Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar at New York University. Selected solo exhibitions of her work include Lawndale Art Center, Galveston Art Center, Women and Their Work, Handley-Hicks Gallery in Fort Worth, and Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. She has been a resident artist at Project Row Houses in Houston and the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions throughout Texas. Kathy’s work is represented by Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. Dottie Love (Artists’ Book Panel) Dottie Love is a miniature zebu rancher and retired photography and digital arts professor. She taught for 35 years at Hill College in North Central Texas. Dottie started making traditional and nontraditional handmade books in the late 1980’s at then NTSU. She studied at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY. Her work is included in many collections including the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. David Wolske (Artists’ Books Panel) David Wolske (he, him, his) is a typo/graphic designer, artist, and educator. His interdisciplinary practice combines the traditions of letterpress and printmaking with digital tools and design thinking. Wolske’s work is exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. He’s the IS Projects 2021 Exhibiting Artist in Residence; a 2020 LHM Educator Fellow at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography at ArtCenter College of Design; the College Book Art Association 2018 Emerging Educator; 2016 Visiting Artist at Hatch Show Print; and a 2014 Utah Visual Arts Fellow. Wolske is an Associate Professor at UNT’s College of Visual Arts and Design. Since 2004, he’s taught letterpress workshops at colleges, universities, and book art centers around the US. His work is represented by Artspace111 in Fort Worth. Michael Bartels (Zines Panel) Michael Bartels is the founder, volunteer CEO and editor-in-chief of Triangle Nonprofit Publishing. Serving at the pleasure of a volunteer board of directors, he develops charity publishing projects that support other public charities and oversees contributor publishing. Under the byline M.R. Bartels, he’s authored and illustrated some 50 zines and books, most recently “Spectre of Aids: Ending the HIV Epidemic”, a 28 page 4 inch handmade zine with an initial run of 1,500 copies, as well Mermaids and Other Monsters of the Sea, an oversized graphic novel about multi-level marketing and millennial angst, 16 issues of Balloon Town Mysteries, two associated ebooks, the Tijuana Acid Party zine series and graphic novel and others. Since 2021 he has donated 100% of the rights and proceeds from his work to charity in addition to volunteering full time for Triangle Nonprofit Publishing and continues to build and grow a network of independent publishing imprints supported by public charity and nonprofit publishing projects. In 2023 Michael was at the helm of the acquisition of Denton’s own 50-year-old poetry publisher, The Trilobite Press, by Triangle Nonprofit Publishing, relaunching the brand to support Health Services of North Texas. Meredith Cawley (Zines Panel) Meredith Cawley is a multimedia artist residing in Texas and currently holds a position as a lecturer in Foundations at the University of North Texas. Her 10 years as an outreach educator at the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History inspire, inform, and drive her practice. Her current line of inquiry focuses on how cultural opinions represent, shape, and affect the bear. website: Alex Khraish (Zines Panel) Alex Khraish is a multimedia artist, educator, and environmentalist living and working in North Texas. Alex earned their Bachelors of Fine Arts in both Photography and Art History from Texas Woman’s University, and went on to be a Museum Educator at the Kimbell Art Museum and the Dallas Museum of Art, with additional experience in social work and early childhood education. Their work addresses themes of identity, magic, and the sensorial experience of connecting with nature, while challenging the materiality of the photographic process. In both their personal practice and as an educator, Alex has extensive experience working with a wide array of artistic mediums, with a focus in papermaking, bookmaking, and printmaking. Alex is a Co-Director and Educator with The PETAL Project, as well as Assistant Coordinator of Denton Zine and Art Party. Khraish teaches workshops across the DFW Metroplex at various museums, public libraries, and private studios. Tom Sale (Zines Panel) Tom Sale is a retired art professor and is now busy volunteering for many art organizations around North Texas. He is the executive editor for the 50-year-old Trilobite Press started by his father, retired UNT English professor, Richard Sale and now owned by Triangle Nonprofit Publishing. His chapbook/zine career started at age 11 when he wrote and printed his own poetry collection which he peddled door to door in Denton in the 1970s. Rachel Weaver (Zines Panel) Rachel Weaver (she/they) is a mixed-media artist, writer, community collaborator, and educator. They are the Founder and Coordinator of Denton Zine and Art Party - managing the annual Zine Festival, organizing the Zine Library at the Greater Denton Arts Council, and collaborating on local zine events and workshops. Rachel is also a Board Member, Volunteer, and Producer with KUZU Community Radio, an artist-member with Spiderweb Salon, and a Co-Director and Environmental Educator with The PETAL Project. They create zines on environmental topics, using methods such as collage and Xerox scanning, digital processing, and risograph printing, and have taught zine workshops at studios, museums, and art galleries throughout North Texas. Sponsorship Recognition Thank you to BLICK Art Materials for their generous donation! BLICK Art Materials is one of the largest providers of art supplies within the U.S. with over 90,000 items available online, in their catalog, and at their retail locations. Check them out today at www.dickblick.com. Thank you to Texas Woman’s University Libraries for their generous donation! Symposium organizers are appreciative of TWU Libraries’ support, and for helping to make this symposium a success! Learn more about TWU Libraries.. Thank you to Triangle Nonprofit Publishing and Denton Zine and Art Party for hosting the zine workshops for From Artists’ Books to Zines. Triangle Nonprofit Publishing (TNP) “is a 501c(3) nonprofit art and literary publisher founded in Texas in 2021 which exists to promote art and literature and fund charitable organizations through nonprofit art and literary publishing.” In addition to their charity publications and art and literary publishing, they are also well known for their zine workshops and free public anthology zine series. Stay up-to-date with all the awesome fundraising and events that TNP are coordinating by visiting their website Denton Zine and Art Party (DZAP) is “multi-event, multi-media celebration of all things DIY zines, art, and music in Denton, TX,” DZAP hosts numerous events, gathers, workshops and more each year. They also have a zine library in the Greater Denton Arts Council - Patterson-Appleton Arts Center Library Room that celebrates Denton zine culture, and is available to view during art center’s open hours. Stay up-to-date with all the wonderful events and programming that Denton Zine and Art Party are coordinating by visiting their website.

Posted: 01/19/2024

13th Biennial Artists' Book Competition Call for Entries

The purposes of the competition and symposium are: to encourage the development of students’ work in the medium of Artists’ Books, to foster the creation of Artists’ Books, to reward excellence and creativity in the Artists’ Books, and to build the collection of Artists’ Books in the UNT Libraries’ Special Collections. Purpose The purposes of the competition and symposium are: to encourage the development of students’ work in the medium of Artists’ Books, to foster the creation of Artists’ Books, to reward excellence and creativity in the Artists’ Books, and to build the collection of Artists’ Books in the UNT Libraries’ Special Collections. Entries will be accepted in two categories: a Student Purchase Prize category and a Non-Student category. One winner will be selected from each category, but the $400 purchase award will only be given to the winner of the student category. Honorable mention awards will be given in each category at the discretion of the jurors. Additional entries from both categories may be selected for purchase dependent upon availability and budget restrictions of UNT Special Collections. For the first time ever, the competition will conclude with a one-day book arts symposium to be hosted by UNT Special Collections, and held within Willis Library on Saturday, March 23, 2024. This symposium will feature a pop- up display of entries, along with a reception to honor the purchase prize winner and honorable mentions of this year’s competition, and other opportunities for students and others to connect with, explore, and celebrate the field of book arts. More information will be available about symposium events and the schedule in early 2024. Student Purchase Prize Category. All eligible entries in the Student Purchase Prize category must be available for purchase into UNT Special Collections for $400. The item chosen for the purchase prize will become a permanent addition to the Artists’ Book Collection in UNT Special Collections, and will be highlighted at the UNT Special Collection’s Book Arts Symposium to be held on March 23, 2024. Non-Student Category Although entries in this category are not eligible to win the purchase award, the competition is open to alumni, faculty and staff of the University of North Texas and members of the local community. If you would like to enter up to three items in the competition, you are highly encouraged to do so. Even though the items are not eligible for the prize, if accepted, they will be shown at the UNT Special Collection’s Book Arts Symposium on March 23, 2024, which will give the work exposure to the campus and community. Eligibility Requirements Any Artists’ Book created within the last two years is eligible. All media are welcome. Books of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Entries that are not able to be displayed securely during the symposium will have photographs of the item displayed in lieu of the actual entry. Entries meeting eligibility requirements will be displayed during the UNT Special Collection’s Book Arts Symposium on March 23, 2024, along with a reception to honor the purchase prize winner and honorable mentions. A maximum of three books may be submitted. There is no jury fee. Entry Procedure A completed entry form (type or print legibly), identification labels attached to individual works, and SASE for return of entries if being mailed must be included with the artwork. Works will be accepted December 4-8, 2023. All communications with participants will be through email, unless participant indicates other preferred method. Deadline: Friday, December 8, 2023 by 4:00pm. Artists are encouraged to hand-deliver work to Willis Library, Special Collections, Room 437, UNT, between 9am and 4pm Monday, and Wednesday-Friday. Special arrangements can be requested to deliver items on Tuesday by contacting specialcollections@unt.edu. Work may be shipped in a reusable container prepaid via UPS, Parcel Post, or FedEx. It is the artist’s responsibility to include return shipping (please do NOT enclose checks or cash). Ship work(s) to: UNT Libraries Artists’ Book Competition Attn: Meagan May University of North Texas Willis Library 1155 Union Circle #305190 Denton, Texas 76203 Return of Work All hand-delivered work not accepted for display during the symposium must be picked up from Special Collections (Room 437) in Willis Library, January 22 - February 2, 2024 between 9am and 4pm Monday, and Wednesday - Friday. Special arrangements can be requested to pick up entries on Tuesday by contacting specialcollections@unt.edu. All shipped works not accepted will be returned in original packing material by February 2, 2024. Any shipped works that do not include return shipping must be picked up no later than February 2, 2024 by 4pm. Liability All reasonable precautions will be taken to ensure protection of the work while in the care of the UNT Libraries. However, no liability will be assumed by the University of North Texas, its staff, faculty, or students for loss or damage to any work submitted for any reason before, during, or after the competition and symposium. Insurance is the responsibility of the artist. Calendar December 4 – 8, 2023 Delivery of work from artist to Willis Library, Special Collections (Room 437) January 12, 2024 Jurors’ selections completed January 19, 2024 Notifications made January 22 – February 2, 2024 Works not accepted for symposium display will be returned or picked up March 23, 2024 Works are displayed during the Special Collection’s Book Arts Symposium April 1 - 12, 2024 All exhibition works picked up or shipped to artist by this date Each entry must have a legible entry form with name and contact information.If return postage is not included, works may be picked up in person in Willis Library. UNT Libraries is not responsible for works not picked up by April 14, 2024.

Posted: 11/09/2023

UNT Special Collections 2023 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Newly Paul

Posted: 04/11/2023

UNT Special Collections 2023 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Christopher Ewing

Posted: 04/11/2023

UNT Special Collections 2023 Research Fellowship Awardee - Anna Chotlos

Posted: 04/11/2023

UNT Special Collections 2023 Research Fellowship Awardee - Stéphane Audard

Posted: 04/11/2023

UNT University Libraries Special Collections

Registration for the UNT Summer Archives Institute 2023 is Now Open

The Summer Archive Institute is an experiential learning opportunity designed to immerse students in hands-on archival work, providing valuable experience and training in professional archival practice within the UNT Special Collections department. Each student will receive training to arrange and describe a unique archival collection. Additionally, each week a Special Collections staff member will lead a discussion about an area of archival practice to provide students opportunities to learn about all aspects of archival work such as preservation, digitization, public service, and instruction. At the conclusion of the Institute students will be asked to give a 3-5 minute “lightning” talk as part of a public presentation. The Summer Archive Institute is an experiential learning opportunity designed to immerse students in hands-on archival work, providing valuable experience and training in professional archival practice within the UNT Special Collections department. Each student will receive training to arrange and describe a unique archival collection. Additionally, each week a Special Collections staff member will lead a discussion about an area of archival practice to provide students opportunities to learn about all aspects of archival work such as preservation, digitization, public service, and instruction. At the conclusion of the Institute students will be asked to give a 3-5 minute “lightning” talk as part of a public presentation. The Summer Archives Institute will take place on the UNT-Denton campus. Students will work primarily in Willis Library, with some activities taking place at the Library Annex and Research Collections Library, also located in Denton. Students will be supervised by Librarians in the Special Collections department. May 22 – June 23, 2023 9am-3pm (one hour lunch), 5 hours per day, 125 hours total Willis Library - Room 443 What students will gain: Hands-on experience working with an archival collection Opportunity to meet archivists and librarians and explore the different aspects of Special Collections work Training in archival processing, arrangement, and description At the completion of the practicum students will have work products such as processing plans and finding aids suitable for inclusion in an e-portfolio Experience presenting their work as part of a “lightning session” Students must enroll in the COI Practicum summer section to participate in this institute. Requirements for consideration: Current graduate student at UNT Completion of INFO 5371 – Archives and Manuscripts, or comparable introductory archival coursework Excellent writing skills—including the ability to analyze content, compose concise descriptions, and proofread Thorough understanding of English grammar and spelling Facility with visual details Ability to pay close attention to detail To be considered for the Archives Institute students will need to submit: Application Form A one-page cover letter describing their interest in the Archives Institute Resume or CV Four to six graduate students will be selected to participate in this year’s Summer Archives Institute. Applications must be submitted by midnight on Monday, April 3rd. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance no later than April 10, 2023. Participant Stipend We intend to provide a $500 stipend to students who complete the Summer Archives Institute and a certificate of completion. For more information and to obtain the application form, please contact Jodi Rhinehart-Doty in UNT Special Collections.

Posted: 02/14/2023

UNT Libraries Acquires Tortellini Collection

UNT Libraries has acquired a collection of original photographic works by UNT alum Don Thomas II (‘15), who goes by the name Don Tortellini. The images in the Tortellini collection represent the first time the UNT Libraries has acquired a full exhibition series of prints from a former student. These images will be available to view upon request in the Sarah. T. Hughes Reading Room. UNT Libraries has acquired a collection of original photographic works by UNT alum Don Thomas II (‘15), who goes by the name Don Tortellini. The images in the Tortellini collection represent the first time the UNT Libraries has acquired a full exhibition series of prints from a former student. These images will be available to view upon request in the Sarah. T. Hughes Reading Room. Tortellini is a self-taught photographer who began taking photos during the pandemic after being furloughed from his job. Inspired by the intricate work of nail artists he began taking photos women’s manicured hands and nail art. This work was first displayed in an exhibition titled “KLAWS” in December 2020 at the Wright art Twins Gallery in Dallas, and later at SMU’s Pollack Gallery. UNT has acquired the entire KLAWS exhibit which includes over 65 color photo prints of nail art in both formal and informal settings. Additionally, UNT has acquired a print from Tortellini’s next series, “The Village.” The image, titled “Precision,” is a stunning documentary portrait of long-time Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price who is seated in front of Maurine Tootsie Jones as she twists the cornrows in his hair. In October 2022 Tortellini came to UNT Special Collections to deliver the photographs in person and tour Special Collections. Reflecting on his time as a student at UNT, Tortellini hopes his collection will inspire current students to use their creativity to bring light to the everyday beauty around us, just as he continues to do today. Morgan Gieringer, Head of Special Collections, was thrilled to meet Tortellini and to add this new collection to the library. “As curators we are constantly seeking ways to document the lived experience of our students and surrounding communities. Placing Don’s work in the library’s Special Collections will ensure that both his photography, and the ephemeral work of the nail artists highlighted in the images, is preserved and accessible for the future.” Tortellini’s work has been featured recently in the news by the Dallas Morning News, KERA, NBC5 and others. For more information about the Tortellini collection or to schedule an appoint to view the Tortellini collection at UNT please contact specialcollections@unt.edu. Morgan Gieringer Head of Special Collections UNT Libraries Morgan.gieringer@unt.edu 940-369-8657

Posted: 11/08/2022

Landmark of Fine Printing Recently Acquired in Kelmscott Chaucer Collection

The UNT Special Collections has acquired a landmark of fine printing and masterpiece of Victorian design, a copy of the Works of Chaucer printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press in 1896. The UNT Special Collections has acquired a landmark of fine printing and masterpiece of Victorian design, a copy of the Works of Chaucer printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press in 1896. William Morris, internationally known for his textile, wallpaper, furniture, and stained glass designs, was a champion of the British Arts and Crafts movement, and promoted a return to the medieval aesthetic and per-industrial production methods, where fine handwork created beautiful items that would bring pleasure to their owners. He founded the Kelmscott Press in 1891, and the press produced 53 titles during the 8 years it was in existence – it outlived Morris by two years. Morris’s Chaucer was a perfect showcase for his art and production philosophy. Often called “the most beautiful printed book in the world”, the Works of Chaucer was the greatest production of what is considered one of the most important fine/private presses in the world. The pages are illustrated with 81 original woodcuts designed by the important Victorian painter and member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement Edward Burne-Jones, engraved by William Harcourt Hooper, and are further enhanced by ornate woodcut initials. These woodcuts and the Chaucer type, one of three fonts designed by William Morris for the press, are printed in a deep, rich black with accented headings and notes in red. The volume is an example of the highest example of fine press craftsmanship. The text of the work is a collection of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, including not only his most famous works, the Canterbury Tales, but many less well-known poems. An expensive undertaking at the time, 425 copies were printed on hand-made paper and offered for sale at the time for £20 each (about $3,457 in today’s money), and 13 copies were printed on vellum and sold for £126 each (about $21,890 in today’s money). Most were bound by the press in blue paper-covered boards with a cream linen spine having an applied printed spine label, and 48 were specially bound in white pigskin with silver clasps. As a physical item, not only is it an example of quality, but this particular copy has several features that help deepen our understanding of bibliography and the history of the book. Inside the front cover are two bookplates, one for Robert Heysham Sayre, of South Bethlehem, Penn. The personalized exlibris shows a train and stack of fine books – reflecting his life as a civil engineer and railroad executive. The second, a book label is that of George Abrams, brother of the well-known publisher Harry N. Abrams, and himself an artist and type designer, bibliophile, and authority on Venetian incunabula. We also know that it appeared at auction in 2021. This magnificent treasure may be one of the best “regular” copies to change hands in decades. It is in almost perfect condition, as if it had just left the premises of The Kelmscott Press, and even includes a “spare” spine label inside the back cover. In 126 years it has traveled from a printing press in England to a collector in Pennsylvania, to a collector in New York, and has now come to Texas, to grace the collections of UNT, and to inspire and support the education of our students and researchers for generations to come.

Posted: 06/08/2022

Rare Copy of Kelmscott Press Beowulf Recently Acquired

A man-eating monster and an epic hero, a literary masterpiece resonating over a millennia, presented in an elegant quarto fit for the best Victorian library. The UNT Special Collections has recently acquired one of the 300 copies of the epic Beowulf printed by William Morris at his Kelmscott Press in Hammersmith, England in 1895. A man-eating monster and an epic hero, a literary masterpiece resonating over a millennia, presented in an elegant quarto fit for the best Victorian library. The UNT Special Collections has recently acquired one of the 300 copies of the epic Beowulf printed by William Morris at his Kelmscott Press in Hammersmith, England in 1895. The creamy vellum covers, held closed with silk ribbon ties, open to reveal text printed in the Troy font, designed by Morris for the volume. The handmade paper is a perfect background for the rich black printing, with pops of red accent text. The whole is enhanced by woodcut decorations of vines and plants curving sinuously around the margins of the ancient tale of good and evil, men and monsters. The text of this edition of what Morris felt was “the first and the best poem of the English race,” was based on a translation of the medieval epic done by A. J. Wyatt, and adapted by William Morris, who turned the prose back into verse and given a somewhat more archaic feel. Claimed by Morris to have been the most expensive book produced by the press, The Beowulf was one of seven titles produced during the 5th year of the press’s 8-year existence. It was printed one year before Morris’s death in 1896 and is one of only 53 titles printed by the Kelmscott Press. This particular copy was previously owned by Henry Bosley Woolf, English professor, and editor of the G. & C. Merriam Company, and editor in chief of several versions of the Webster’s Dictionary, as well as a scholar of Beowulf. His pictorial bookplate is affixed inside the front cover, and adds another layer to the importance of this volume. Beowulf has fired the imagination of readers – and listeners, and viewers! – for well over 1,000 years, and continues to be reimagined in graphic novels, anime, movies, and retellings. The beauty of the hand-printed productions of the Kelmscott Press showcase the aesthetics and design abilities of masters of English art and craft. The two strains, united in this volume, make an important addition to the holdings of the UNT Special Collections.

Posted: 06/08/2022

UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Ervin James III

Posted: 04/18/2022

UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Megan J. Arlett

Posted: 04/18/2022

UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Claire Wolnisty

Posted: 03/29/2022

UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Aza Pace

Posted: 03/29/2022

UNT Summer Archives Institute

The Summer Archive Institute is an experiential learning opportunity designed to immerse students in hands-on archival work, providing valuable experience and training in professional archival practice within the UNT Special Collections department. Each student will receive training to arrange and describe a unique archival collection. Additionally, each week a special collections staff member will lead a discussion about an area of archival practice to provide students opportunities to learn about all aspects of archival work such as preservation, digitization, public service, and instruction. At the conclusion of the Institute students will be asked to give a 3-5 minute “lightening” talk as part of a public presentation. The Summer Archive Institute is an experiential learning opportunity designed to immerse students in hands-on archival work, providing valuable experience and training in professional archival practice within the UNT Special Collections department. Each student will receive training to arrange and describe a unique archival collection. Additionally, each week a special collections staff member will lead a discussion about an area of archival practice to provide students opportunities to learn about all aspects of archival work such as preservation, digitization, public service, and instruction. At the conclusion of the Institute students will be asked to give a 3-5 minute “lightening” talk as part of a public presentation. The Summer Archives Institute will take place on the UNT-Denton campus. Students will work primarily in Willis Library, with some activities taking place at the Library Annex and Research Collections Library, also located in Denton. Students will be supervised by Librarians in the Special Collections department. May 16 – June 17, 2022 9am-3pm (one hour lunch), 5 hours per day, 125 hours total Willis Library - Room 443 What students will gain: Hands-on experience working with an archival collection Opportunity to meet archivists and librarians and explore the different aspects of Special Collections work Training in archival processing, arrangement, and description At the completion of the practicum students will have work products such as processing plans and finding aids suitable for inclusion in a e-portfolio Experience presenting their work as part of a “lightning session” Student must enroll in the COI Practicum summer section in order to participate in this institute. Requirements for consideration: Current graduate student at UNT Completion of INFO 5371 – Archives and Manuscripts, or comparable introductory archival coursework Excellent writing skills—including the ability to analyze content, compose concise descriptions, and proofread Thorough understanding of English grammar and spelling Facility with visual details Ability to pay close attention to detail In order to be considered for the Archives Institute students will need to submit: Application Form A one-page cover letter describing their interest in the Archives Institute Resume or CV Four to six graduate students will be selected to participate in this year’s Summer Archives Institute. Applications must be submitted by midnight on Monday, April 4. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance no later than April 11, 2022. Participant Stipend We intend to provide $500 stipend to students who complete the Archives Institute and a certificate of completion. We are awaiting approval from student financial services. When this stipend is approved we will communicate this to the selected students.

Posted: 03/24/2022

UNT Libraries Digitizing Archival Recordings of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters

With a new federal grant, UNT is helping to preserve over 40 years of black cultural expression and the experience of social movements affecting the Black community. UNT Libraries has been awarded $126,989 from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission to digitize and digitally preserve archival audio and video recordings from the archive of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL). Recording will be publicly available to stream and view through the Portal to Texas History. Work has already begun on this project and is expected to be completed by summer 2023. With a new federal grant, UNT is helping to preserve over 40 years of black cultural expression and the experience of social movements affecting the Black community. UNT Libraries has been awarded $126,989 from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission to digitize and digitally preserve archival audio and video recordings from the archive of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL). Recording will be publicly available to stream and view through the Portal to Texas History. Work has already begun on this project and is expected to be completed by summer 2023. During this two-year project, UNT will digitize over 1,800 pieces of archival media from the TBAAL archive. Library staff and students will view each recording and add detailed descriptive metadata to make each recording easily searchable and findable. The recordings proposed for digitization include the work of Margaret Walker, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Kirk Franklin, Dee Dee Warwick, Esther Rolle, Jennifer Holliday, Erykah Badu and CeCe Winans among many others. A sample of digitized content is already available through the Portal to Texas History, and includes: Audio interview with Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander recorded in 1984 Video recording of singer/songwriter Billy Preston performing live at the Black Academy, December 8, 2000 Video interview with artist Elizabeth Catlett, recorded as part of the Black Women Artist’s conference, March 15, 1981 Video of the stage production of James Baldwin’s Amen Corner, directed by Curtis King, and starting Esther Rolle, Juanita Moore and Helen Martin, June 12, 1986 Video of the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble from Kingston, Jamaica performing during the 11th Annual Weekend of Black Dance and Rhythm, February 2015 These recordings are particularly at risk due to their age and the fragility of the media containers. Magnetic tape media such as VHS, BetaCam, and audio cassette tapes have a life expectancy of 10-30 years. Many recordings in the TBAAL archive are 40 or more years old, placing them well beyond their life expectancy. These recordings require extreme care to be digitized without further damage or destruction of the magnetic tape. Digitization is being performed by Scene Savers, a Kentucky-based company specializing in the digitization of rare archival recordings. TBAAL is a 43-year-old arts organization whose mission is to promote, cultivate, foster, preserve and perpetuate the African, African American and Caribbean Arts and letters in the fine, literary, visual, performing and cinematic arts. Led by visionary founder and President, Curtis King, TBAAL is a nationally recognized leader in Black cultural expression. UNT Libraries house a variety of Special Collections, including the KXAS/NBC5 Television News archive, the LGBTQ archives, and the Byrd Williams Family Photography Collection. Special Collections are open to students and faculty as well as the general public. Please contact specialcollections@unt.edu for assistance using the TBAAL archive or any other special collections. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), supports a wide range of activities to preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, created in every medium ranging from quill pen to computer, relating to the history of the United States.

Posted: 02/21/2022

Special Collections Coursework Development Grant

The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. We are interested in partnering with faculty to develop assignments for Spring 2022 courses that will utilize materials held by Special Collections. The use of either physical or digitized archival materials will be accepted. About The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. We are interested in partnering with faculty to develop assignments for Spring 2022 courses that will utilize materials held by Special Collections. The use of either physical or digitized archival materials will be accepted. Read descriptions of projects from the grant’s previous two cycles (2020, 2019). Activities and assignments eligible for this grant may include, but are not limited to: Bibliographic description Document or photograph analysis Creative writing exercises Creation of digital exhibits and websites Documentary film-making Contribution of materials to the University Memory Collection Applications will be accepted through December 10, 2021. To apply, please submit your draft course syllabus and a 1,000 word maximum statement that details: What specific collection(s) held by UNT Special Collections you are interested in using How a collaboration with Special Collections would enhance your course The assignment you are proposing The expected learning outcomes for the assignment Applications should be emailed to Julie Judkins by Friday, December 10, 2021. Two grants of $500 each will be awarded. Funds will be made available as research and professional development funding. This funding may be expensed for class supplies, research materials (books, supplies) and/or professional development (conferences, seminars, travel, etc.) Awardees will be required to meet with Special Collections staff in advance of the Spring semester to coordinate their coursework activity. Meeting via Zoom is an option. Please contact specialcollections@unt.edu with any questions or for assistance locating relevant materials for your desired project. Some notable collections to consider: NBC 5/KXAS news archive Patricia Fertel Paper Doll Collection, 1865 – 2020 UNT University Photography Collection Denton Fracking Referendum Collection Photography: Byrd Williams Photography Collection Clark Family Photography Collection Mildred Schaeffer Zichner Photography Collection John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Collection The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Records LGBTQ Archives, including but not limited to: Dennis Vercher Collection The Dallas Metroplex Chapter of the Names Project Foundation Collection Dallas Voice Newspaper Mica England Collection The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Diverse Perspectives UNT Center for Media Production Collection Denton Chamber of Commerce Collection Robert Ray Vaughn Sunday School Artwork Texas Society Sons of the American Revolution The Coursework Development Grant is supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment.

Posted: 11/15/2021

Artist Book Competition Call for Entries

12th Biennial Artists' Book Competition

Posted: 08/27/2021

"Intercom" Joins the RadioShack and Tandy Corporation Archive

The University of North Texas Special Collections has completed a major digitization project to add the RadioShack corporate newsletter, “Intercom,” to The Portal to Texas History. UNT acquired the RadioShack and Tandy Corporation Archive through the 2017 bankruptcy auction of the RadioShack Company. The “Intercom” newsletter was selected for digitization based upon its rarity (no other institutional holdings exist) and historical significance in documenting the history of technology and computing in north Texas. You can now browse and search 206 issues of “Intercom” online. “Intercom,” was published and distributed to RadioShack employees “between 1963 and 1986. A typical issue includes general news about “employees around the world, awards, information about new products and “events. The newsletter is an important resource for understanding the “history of the 52 years during which the Tandy Corporation operated “RadioShack Stores and manufacturing centers around the world. Radio Shack found success by taking a vertically integrated approach to the company’s structure, with many of the store’s products being produced by the company itself. By 1974 one-third of products being sold at RadioShack stores in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia were manufactured by the Tandy Corporation. The Realistic Supertape manufacturing facility in Fort Worth was responsible for producing magnetic tape used for audio recording and computer applications which were sold in RadioShack stores. These tapes were a direct competitor to more established tape brands such as BASF and Maxell. In 1978, RadioShack moved into the personal computing marketplace during the first public showing of it’s low-cost personal computer, the TRS-80, in New York City. During this event, attendees were surprised and impressed to see a woman at the door typing the names and contact information of the attendees into a computer instead of a traditional guestbook. The TRS-80 was unique at the time due to its relatively low cost ($600) and the fact that it came fully assembled. Many personal computers at the time came in kits that required assembly at home. Tandy Corporation was headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas and played a major role in the north Texas economy. In 1975, the company broke ground on Tandy Center in Fort Worth. The twin multi-story towers became an iconic part of the downtown Fort Worth landscape. The Tandy Center also included a mall, an indoor ice-skating rink, and a privately owned subway running from the Tandy Center to the parking lots. The Tandy Corporation became the RadioShack Corporation in 2000, and a year later they sold Tandy Center. After filing for bankruptcy in 2015, Radio Shack was sold to Standard General. ”Intercom” is now available to the public through The Portal to Texas ”History. Some of the interesting articles include: History of the Tandy Subway, the only privately operated subway in the country Announcement of the first RadioShack franchise store in Tyler, Texas, 1967 Celebration of the 1,000th store opening in the US, 1971 Tandy factory operations, many of which were located in the US, including the Realistic tape factory in Fort Worth, Texas, 1974 TRS-80 Computer Systems Catalog, 1978 International growth of RadioShack stores throughout Europe, 1975 Construction of the 19-story Tandy Center in Fort Worth, 1976 The RadioShack archive is one of many collections of rare and unique research materials in the UNT Libraries. If you have questions about the RadioShack archive or have materials you would like to donate to Special Collections, please contact us at specialcollections@unt.edu

Posted: 05/14/2021

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Julia Wetzel

Posted: 05/14/2021

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Jecoa Ross

Jecoa Ross (he/him) is a doctoral candidate in the University of Texas at El Paso Borderlands History PhD Program, where he specializes in Borderlands and U.S. history, with a minor concentration in the history of Psychiatry and Empire. His research focuses on the history of the Texas sodomy and homosexual conduct statutes, and his work has earned him the UTEP College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Thesis Awards for his undergraduate and master’s theses. Jecoa is also a part-time history instructor at El Paso Community College, a former Mellon fellow with the EPCC-UTEP Humanities Collaborative, and a current full-time parent. UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title Criminal Bodies, Criminal Minds: Constructing the Sodomitical Other in Texas, 1943-1973 Project Description This study provides a history of the creation, enforcement, and legacy of the 1943 Texas sodomy statute. Situated on the axis of legal, political, and social history, it focuses on how legislators, law enforcement officials, and the general public struggled to identify, understand, and regulate changing perceptions of sexuality, gender, and race in Texas during the mid-twentieth century. Ultimately, this project offers new insight into how criminal sodomy in Texas came to be reimagined within a heteronormative gaze as “homosexual conduct,” and how the legacy of this process still affects the LGBTQ+ community today. Biography Jecoa Ross (he/him) is a doctoral candidate in the University of Texas at El Paso Borderlands History PhD Program, where he specializes in Borderlands and U.S. history, with a minor concentration in the history of Psychiatry and Empire. His research focuses on the history of the Texas sodomy and homosexual conduct statutes, and his work has earned him the UTEP College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Thesis Awards for his undergraduate and master’s theses. Jecoa is also a part-time history instructor at El Paso Community College, a former Mellon fellow with the EPCC-UTEP Humanities Collaborative, and a current full-time parent.

Posted: 05/14/2021

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Lacy Noel Molina

Posted: 05/14/2021

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Hayley Hasik

Hayley Hasik received her bachelor’s degree in history and English from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2014, a master’s in public history from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2017, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi working under the direction of Dr. Heather M. Stur. Hayley has extensive oral history experience and co-founded the East Texas War and Memory Project in 2012. Her previous scholarly research focused on the American POW experience during WWII and the Vietnam helicopter experience using the life history of a Warrant Officer as a case study. Hayley has presented at numerous academic conferences and has published several articles in the Sound Historian and War, Literature, and the Arts. UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Hayley Hasik Project Title The Helicopter War: Unraveling the Myth and Memory of a Vietnam War Icon Project Description This project focuses on examining the legacy of the “Helicopter War” in Vietnam. This project hopes to bring together traditional military history and cultural history to examine how the military and industry participated in and directed the creation of the helicopter narrative and mythology in the Vietnam War and its memory. Her project allows us to better understand the deep connections and lasting implications of the military-industrial complex. Biography Hayley Hasik received her bachelor’s degree in history and English from Texas A&M University-Commerce in 2014, a master’s in public history from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2017, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi working under the direction of Dr. Heather M. Stur. Hayley has extensive oral history experience and co-founded the East Texas War and Memory Project in 2012. Her previous scholarly research focused on the American POW experience during WWII and the Vietnam helicopter experience using the life history of a Warrant Officer as a case study. Hayley has presented at numerous academic conferences and has published several articles in the Sound Historian and War, Literature, and the Arts.

Posted: 05/14/2021

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Megan Arlett

Posted: 05/14/2021

Call for Proposals: True Crime in the Archives

The University of North Texas Special Collections is seeking participants for a virtual event focused on highlighting archival materials related to true crime. The University of North Texas Special Collections is seeking participants for a virtual event focused on highlighting archival materials related to true crime. The final format of the program will depend on responses received but is expected to consist of participating institutions taking turns highlighting a fonds, collection, or item related to true crime in presentations each around 15 minutes in length. To view a potential direction for the program, please see the October 2020 presentation Gettin’ Spooky with Special Collections. Proposals can involve either manuscript or audiovisual materials, but presentations should utilize the visual possibilities of the webinar format. We have tentatively scheduled the event to take place the week of April 19th, 2021 but this date is subject to change depending on participants’ availability. Presentation topics do not need to be limited to violent crime. Topics such as (but not limited to): robberies, arson, tax evasion, murder, disappearances, fraud, kidnapping, gambling, and unsolved crimes are welcome. In addition to library and archival professionals, we welcome proposals from filmmakers, journalists, and others who have worked with archival resources related to true crime. Due to the potential sensitive subject matter covered during this event, please keep in mind the potential impact of your presentation on attendees, victims and victims’ families and friends. Participants are expected to be respectful in their discussion of the crime(s) in question. Our goal is to offer an accessible angle with popular appeal into archival records, not to sensationalize tragic events. Please remember that the events you discuss happened to and affected the lives of real people. To submit a proposal, please submit a 500-word abstract, along with your contact information at: https://bit.ly/3seZZut. Proposals are due Friday, February 12, 2021.

Posted: 01/21/2021

UNT Libraries Acquires Thomas J. Healey Pop-Up and Movable Book Collection

The University of North Texas Special Collections is seeking participants for a virtual event focused on highlighting archival materials related to true crime. UNT Libraries has acquired a significant collection of pop-up and movable books from collector Thomas J. Healey of Morristown, New Jersey. The Healey Collection, now housed in the Special Collections department, contains hundreds of examples of pop-up and movable books spanning over 100 years of publishing history. The Healy Collection is a wonderful addition to UNT Libraries’ already robust collection of pop-up and movable books. The term “movable books” refers generally to books that contain interactive mechanisms including flaps, pull-tabs, volvelles, pop-ups and pop-outs. The earliest movable books date from the 14th century, and were designed with overlapping concentric circles, known as volvelles, which could be turned by the reader to illustrate different concepts in natural science, astronomy, mathematics, mysticism, fortune telling, navigation, and medicine. Beginning in the early 19th century, publishers and authors developed movable books for children, beginning with simple techniques such as liftable flaps in books which evolved over time into much more complicated and intricate movements created through the use of pull tabs, and eventually 3-dimensional images that lift and lower when pages of the book are turned. Early children’s books which included moveable elements were often handled roughly and treated as toys. This made the books susceptible to damage, and as a result rarely survived intact. These books are considered very rare and highly collectable. More modern examples of pop-up books, although not as rare, are prized for their whimsical and artfully crafted designs. The Healey Collection includes several examples of early children’s books from the 20th century including Kellogg’s story book of games (1931), and The “pop-up” Mickey Mouse (1933). The majority of the books the in Healey collection exemplify the modern art of popup books, containing complex pop-ups designed by paper engineers and artists. These books span genres and topics such as science, architecture, fairy tales, children’s fiction and pop culture. Titles from the Healey Collection include Frank Lloyd Wright in pop-up (2002), Harry Potter: Hogwarts school: a magical 3-D carousel pop-up (2001), Star wars: a galactic pop-up adventure (2012), and The pop-up book of phobias (1999). You can learn more about the artists, engineers and publishers of pop-up and movable books, and view samples from the UNT collection through a Special Collections digital exhibit. The Thomas J. Healy Collection is available for use by appointment in the Special Collections reading room.

Posted: 01/21/2021

Gettin' Spooky

Posted: 11/02/2020

book, paintbrush, and pencil graphics on a beige background with circle border

Crafting with History

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. 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!

Posted: 10/08/2020

black and white photograph collage of buildings, people, and miscellaneous items

Mod City: The John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Collection Digital Exhibit

Posted: 10/06/2020

Archival photographs stitched together: A helicopter, child, miniature book, African American woman.

Special Collections Coursework Development Grant Winners

The University of North Texas Special Collections announces winners for the 2020 Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. 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!

Posted: 08/11/2020

University Archive Asking for Submissions to COVID-19 Response Collection

Posted: 05/20/2020

Applications Accepted for Special Collections Coursework Development Grant

The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the 2020 Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the 2020 Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. We are interested in partnering with faculty to develop assignments for Fall 2020 courses that will utilize materials held by Special Collections. Special Collections is especially interested in exploring opportunities to collaborate with teaching faculty in the STEM disciplines. Due to uncertainty concerning the novel coronavirus outbreak's impact on the Fall semester, we are limiting grants this year to projects that utilize digitized materials from one of Special Collections’ 116+ digital collections. Assignments must be able to be completed online or in a virtual environment. Due to limited seating capacity in the Special Collections Reading Room, applicants should plan for any consultations with Special Collections’ staff in correlation with the assignment(s) (i.e. student consultations for research assistance) to take place virtually so as to comply with social distancing measures. Read descriptions of projects from the grant’s inaugural year. Activities and assignments eligible for this grant may include, but are not limited to: Bibliographic description Document or photograph analysis Creative writing exercises Creation of digital exhibits and websites Documentary film-making Applications will be accepted through June 30, 2020. The successful projects will be announced by July 10, 2020. To apply, please submit your draft course syllabus and a 1,000 word maximum statement that details: What specific collection(s) held by UNT Special Collections you are interested in using How a collaboration with Special Collections would enhance your course The assignment you are proposing The expected learning outcomes for the assignment Applications should be emailed to Julie Judkins by Friday, June 30, 2020. Two grants of $500 each will be awarded. Funds will be made available as research and professional development funding. This funding may be expensed for research (books, supplies) and professional development (conferences, seminars, travel, etc.) Awardees will be required to meet with Special Collections staff in advance of the Fall semester to coordinate their coursework activity. If social distancing measures are still in place, this meeting will take place either by phone or Zoom. Please contact specialcollections@unt.edu with any questions or for assistance locating relevant materials for your desired project. Some notable collections to consider: NBC 5/KXAS news archive UNT University Photography Collection Denton Fracking Referendum Collection Photography: Byrd Williams Photography Collection Clark Family Photography Collection Mildred Schaeffer Zichner Photography Collection John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Collection The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Records LGBTQ Archives, including but not limited to: Dennis Vercher Collection The Dallas Metroplex Chapter of the Names Project Foundation Collection Dallas Voice Newspaper Mica England Collection The Civil War and Its Aftermath: Diverse Perspectives UNT Center for Media Production Collection Denton Chamber of Commerce Collection Robert Ray Vaughn Sunday School Artwork Texas Society Sons of the American Revolution The Coursework Development Grant is supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment.

Posted: 05/06/2020

Manuscript and Historical Photograph of a man

Don't throw your history away!

Cleaning out closets and storage areas in your home? If you have found old scrapbooks, letters, photos, books, art, home movies or records of local businesses or organizations, DON’T THROW THEM AWAY! Many people have had time recently to clean out closets and storage areas in their home. If you have found old scrapbooks, letters, photos, books, art, home movies (the kind on reels or the kind you play in a VCR) or records of local businesses or organizations, DON’T THROW THEM AWAY—please get in touch with UNT Special Collections! While we are unable physically meet with you until campus reopens, we are happy to talk via phone or zoom meeting about what you have and provide advice on safely preserving your collections. If you are interested in donating materials to our archive, we are happy to talk to you about our collecting interests and whether UNT Special Collections may be a good home for your materials. The primary mission of the UNT Special Collections department is to collect and preserve unique and historically significant information. Here is a short list of what we collect and what we don’t collect. This list is not exhaustive, if you have something you would like to discuss with us that is not on this list please feel free to reach out to us at specialcollections@unt.edu. Subjects & Materials Types We Collect UNT Student Life Scrapbooks, letters, postcards, photographs from student’s time at UNT Records of student clubs and organizations Flyers and handbills from campus events and concerts UNT Faculty Faculty research papers Manuscripts (published and unpublished) Correspondence Texas History Texas maps 19th and 20th century photography and real photo postcards (especially when people and places are identified) Ephemera (ticket stubs, advertising pieces, labels, etc) Broadsides Pre-1850 books about Texas Pre-1900 books printed in Texas Books about Texas city and county history (old or current) Texas newspapers Military History Letters Photos Audio/visual recordings Regiment or battalion ephemera (newsletters, booklets, menus, etc) Women’s History Woman owned business records Women’s manuscripts and personal papers Records of clubs or organizations for women (meeting minutes, club handbooks, newsletters, etc.) Latinx History Latinx owned business records Latinx manuscripts and personal papers Records of clubs or organizations for the Latinx community (meeting minutes, club handbooks, newsletters, etc.) LGBTQ History LGBTQ owned business records LGBTQ manuscripts and personal papers Records of clubs or organizations for the LGBTQ community (meeting minutes, club handbooks, newsletters, etc.) Personal Archives Home movies Family photos Genealogical records Photography Examples of historical photography such as daguerreotype, tin type, carte de visite and cabinet cards Fine art photography Photographer’s collections of prints, slides, negatives or digital photography Books Records and ephemera related to the history of photography Book and Printing History Books printed before 1800 Books printed in the US before 1850 First editions Signed editions Association copies Children’s books Pop-up and moveable books Miniature Books Books 3 inches or smaller in spine height

Posted: 05/06/2020

photograph of a woman in a yellow dress on a runway

Center for Media Production Collection

The Center for Media Production Collection is a collection of historical video footage made between 1980 through the early 2000s at the University of North Texas. The Center for Media Production Collection is a collection of historical video footage made between 1980 through the early 2000s at the University of North Texas. The Special Collections department has just completed the first phase of a project to digitize these fragile and unique tapes, both to preserve the content they contain and make the recordings accessible through the UNT Digital Library. Over 400 tapes were digitized in the first phase of this project and are now available to view online. Many films were produced by the Center for Instructional Services, such as A Prescription for Life: Child Auto Restraint, Things about Shapes, and Recreational Sports. The Center for Instructional Services’ goal was to train the faculty and staff of NTSU to ensure the best experience for students, while also informing students of the resources available for them. Other footage includes historic events from the university’s past, slide shows of art for an art appreciation class, and dance recitals. Along with the training videos, there are videos about the programs offered for students, such as The Cooperative Training Program, which places students with internships that are directly related to their major, and The Center for Marketing and Design, which was a program for students interested in the fashion industry. The annual Art Wear student fashion show is also recorded in this collection. The 1986 Conference on the Literary Arts, sponsored by the UNT Center for Texas Studies, is well documented in this collection of recordings. Jim Lehrer, Horton Foote and Sandra Cisneros participated in this conference as well as actors and musicians including Robert Duvall and Steven Fromholtz. The Center for Media Production Collection has a few series of videos that represent the School of Music in the 1980s. One series, called Composition in the Twentieth Century, follows composers and students in the music program while preparing for a concert. Another series, called Cage Documentary, includes footage of John Cage, a famous American composer, guest composing for a concert at North Texas State. The Jazz Lecture Series, begun in 1982, contains live performances interspersed with lectures and questions from the audience. The lecture series featured prominent jazz artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Ron Carter, and Michael Brecker. A portion of this collection includes footage of b-roll, or supplemental video that makes a film more interesting. Although it may seem unimportant, this is what gives a majority of the videos life. Without it, the videos would only include interviews and would make it harder to tell the story without it. The Center for Media Production Collection is available for viewing and research on The Portal to Texas History. Additional videos will be added in a second major digitization project to begin in spring 2020. More information about this collection as well as others is available through our website or by contacting UNT Special Collections.

Posted: 02/19/2020

photograph of a woman sketching surrounded by drawings on a table

New Acquisition of the Teel Sale Collection

UNT Special Collections is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Teel Sale Collection. The collection includes drawings, prints, collages and artist’s books as well as sketches and research materials used in preparation of her work. UNT Special Collections is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Teel Sale Collection. The collection includes drawings, prints, collages and artist’s books as well as sketches and research materials used in preparation of her work. Sale is an artist, writer, and teacher, and has had a career of national and international shows (drawing, painting, printmaking, and performance art). She has served as art editor of Trilobite Press, book designer for university presses, book reviewer for Texas Books in Review, and visiting artist/lecturer at colleges and universities nationwide. Sale was a faculty member (drawing, painting, and honors) at the University of North Texas from 1975 through 1989. Sale’s Newfoundland Series, a collection of 18 laser print collages, was purchased by the UNT Union in 2001 and can be seen on the second floor of the Union near the Golden Eagle Suite. UNT Special Collections holds eight original artist books donated between 1986-2007. The newly acquired Teel Sale Collection includes over 200 works of art on paper, including large linocut prints, embossed prints, drawings and collages dating from 1972-2020. Sale’s most recent work, Eel Road, is a collection of poetry published by Trilobite Press. In 2019 a multidimensional art installation inspired by Eel Road was exhibited by Bihl Haus Arts in San Antonio. This installation prints and papier-mache sculpture at Gloria Sanchez-Hart and Nancy Oakly Klapp. The filmmaker William E. Mackie documented the installation in a short film titled, “Eels.” The acquisition of the Sale Collection is a part of UNT Special Collections continued collection development initiative to collect the work of UNT faculty and creative work of artists in the North Texas region. Archival Processing Coordinator, Sam Ivie, accompanied Head of Special Collections, Morgan Gieringer, on the trip to acquire the Sale collection. Ivie will lead the processing team who will work to catalog and describe this large collection over the next year. Once processed, the Teel Sale Collection will be available for access by appointment in the UNT Special Collections reading room. Sale currently lives in Ennis, Texas where she continues to produce art and poetry.

Posted: 02/10/2020

photograph of a woman at a podium with 3 people sitting behind her

Hoblitzelle Foundation Grant Preserves African American Cultural History

The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL), in partnership with the University of North Texas, has received a $25,000 grant The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL), in partnership with the University of North Texas, has received a $25,000 grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation to continue digitizing the organization’s archive, which highlights the diverse artistic legacy of African Americans. TBAAL has been a platform for black artists and scholars for more than four decades. From its cultural center in downtown Dallas, the institution has presented over 5,000 performances from emerging artists, as well as the biggest names in American visual, literary, cinematic, and performing arts. UNT Libraries has served as TBAAL’s preservation partner since June 2015 and, to date, has digitized and described more than 71,300 unique, primary source documents that help historians tell the true story of African Americans in the arts and letters. The archived materials include recordings of live performances and events, photographs of artists and documents that chronicle the development of TBAAL. “We’re so grateful for the Hoblitzelle Foundation’s support and UNT’s efforts to archive our institution’s history for scholarly research,” said Curtis King, president of TBAAL. “Preserving one’s cultural history is paramount to research and create a better way of understanding ethnic groups’ differences from the past and present.” As items from TBAAL’s archive are digitized, they are made available in UNT’s The Portal to Texas History, where students, researchers and the general public have easy access to rare and historical materials. This initiative is part of UNT Libraries’ larger aim to digitize archives of women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, working class people, and other underrepresented communities in Texas. “Support from the Hoblizelle Foundation will be used to continue preserving records of the academy’s performances and programs, which include many important black artists and scholars from the past 40 years,” said Morgan Gieringer, head of UNT Libraries Special Collections. “UNT is proud to house the archive of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters and make these significant historical resources available to the public.” Amanda Yanowski, Senior Communications Specialist, UNT Advancement

Posted: 12/11/2019

black and white photograph of a woman sitting in the corner of a boxing ring

Photography Study Collection

The Photography Study Collection is a curated collection of original artist’s prints covering a diverse range of photographic style and technique. The Photography Study Collection is a curated collection of original artist’s prints covering a diverse range of photographic style and technique. These recently acquired images provide photography students at UNT an opportunity to view and safely handle vintage fine art prints in person. Students using the Photography Study Collection will have an opportunity to examine different printing techniques including digital chromogenic prints, gelatin silver prints, archival inkjet prints and prints on fabric. The collection also includes different representations of artist’s work including signed prints, artist’s portfolios, and artist’s books. Professors Paho Mann and Dornith Doherty selected the prints for inclusion in the Photography Study Collection and worked with several galleries in Dallas to arrange the acquisition of prints including PDNB Gallery, Liliana Bloch Gallery, and Talley Dunn Gallery. In addition to the work of professional artists, Mann and Doherty selected a UNT student portfolio to add to the collection. This summer the library acquired the work of graduate student Melissa Gamez-Herrara for the Photography Study Collection. Her artist’s book titled “En sus propias palabras (In Her Own Words): Words from Maquiladora Workers on the U.S.-Mexico Border was purchased in summer 2019. Additional artists represented in the collection include: Keith Carter Rachel Cox Letitia Huckaby Leigh Merrill Jeanine Michna-Bales Delilah Montoya Geoff Winningham The Photography Study Collection currently includes 18 photographs and four portfolios representing the work of eight early to mid-career artists. Each year the Special Collections department will add several artist’s prints to the collection, in addition to a UNT photography student purchase prize. The Photography Study Collection is available for research use on-site in the Sarah T. Hughes Reading Room. The Photography Study Collection is part of a growing archive of photographic materials at UNT including photojournalism, documentary, fine art, and architectural photography, as well as street and vernacular photography. A growing body of resources on the history of photography is also available in Special Collections, including samples of original daguerreotypes, tintypes, carte de visites, cabinet cards, postcard photography and photographic ephemera such as early photography supply catalogs and camera manuals. More information about all of these collections is available through our website or by contacting UNT Special Collections at specialcollections@unt.edu.

Posted: 09/06/2019

rainbow color talk bubble with green text

UNT LGBTQ Archive Speaker Series

UNT Libraries has partnered with Resource Center and The Dallas Way to present a fall speaker series benefiting the UNT LGBTQ Archive. UNT Libraries has partnered with Resource Center and The Dallas Way to present a fall speaker series benefiting the UNT LGBTQ Archive. Three speakers, all of whom are past UNT Special Collections Research Fellows, will speak on different topics related to LGBTQ history. The speaker series will take place Resource Center’s Louis L. Borick Foundation Auditorium located at 5750 Cedar Springs Rd, Dallas, TX. Each event in the series will include a complimentary reception from 5:30-6:00 p.m. followed by the speaker. The September 18, 2019 event will feature speaker Dr. Wesley Phelps, Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas. Phelps will be speaking about legal challenges to Texas sodomy laws before the landmark 2003 Supreme Court decision to Lawrence v. Texas. Hear the ways in which the LGBTQ community and allies struggled to develop legal, political and educational strategies based on privacy, due process, and equal protection under law. The October 30, 2019 event will feature speaker Dr. Chris Babits, Andrew W. Mellon Engaged Scholar Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Babits will discuss the history of the conversion therapy movement, religion, and scientific inquiry. Hear about changing norms in gender and sexuality from the early Cold War into post 9/11 America. The November 20, 2019 event will feature speaker Agatha Beins, Associate Professor and Director of the Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies Master’s Program at Texas Woman’s University. Beins will speak about the content and material qualities of the AIDS Memorial Quilt as well as the multiple paths it offered for people to learn about HIV/AIDS and build community. Hear about the North Texas’ area advocacy and discover the power of this art-activist project on a local scale. All events in the speaker series are free and open to the public. If you plan to attend, please email tfrank@myresourcecenter.org to RSVP. September 18, 2019 | Dr. Wesley Phelps October 30, 2019 | Dr. Chris Babits November 20, 2019 | Agatha Beins

Posted: 08/28/2019

photograph of a smiling man holding a magazine with a photograph of a building in the background

Radio Shack & Tandy Corporation Collection Now Available

The University of North Texas Special Collections acquired the Radio Shack and Tandy Corporation Archive through the 2017 bankruptcy auction of the Radio Shack Company. The University of North Texas Special Collections acquired the Radio Shack and Tandy Corporation Archive through the 2017 bankruptcy auction of the Radio Shack Company. Although this is an unusual way for UNT to acquire a collection, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to preserve an important piece of technology, computing and north Texas history. Starting as a family owned leather business in the early 1900’s, the Tandy Corporation was created by Dave Tandy. The corporation started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1960 and purchased Radio Shack in 1963. The Tandy Corporation also purchased Leonard’s department stores in 1967 and Meacham’s fashion stores in 1968. Charles Tandy, the son of Dave Tandy, grew Radio Shack and the Tandy Corporation into one of the leading companies in consumer technology. Radio Shack found success by taking a vertically integrated approach to the company’s structure, with much of the store’s products being produced by the company itself. In 1975, the company broke ground on Tandy Center in Fort Worth. The twin multi-story towers became an iconic part of the downtown Fort Worth landscape. The Tandy Center also included a mall, an indoor ice-skating rink and a privately owned subway running from the Tandy Center to the parking lots. The Tandy Corporation became the RadioShack Corporation in 2000, and a year later they sold Tandy Center. After filing for bankruptcy in 2015, Radio Shack was sold to Standard General. The Radio Shack and Tandy Corporation Collection holds many interesting artifacts and documents from the company’s history. Some of these include: Over 30 Volumes of the ‘Intercom’ employee newsletter, detailing company news from 1967-2000. Documents and news articles regarding one of the only privately owned subways in the world, the Leonard’s M&O Subway in Fort Worth. A detailed look at the TRS-80, one of the earliest mass-produced retail home computers, developed and released by Radio Shack in 1977. The decline and bankruptcy of Radio Shack has been newsworthy story in recent years. Radio Shack had historically been a reliable source of products for both tech-savvy consumers and hobbyists. This collection will hold interest for anyone wanting to see the growth, structure, and inner workings of this tech giant. The finding aid for the Radio Shack and Tandy Corporation Archive is available online. Some items from the archive are featured in an online exhibit. To learn more about the Radio Shack Archive, or to access materials on-campus, please contact specialcollections@unt.edu. This collection was processed as a practicum project by Cody Rone (featured image), a graduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Posted: 07/09/2019

collage of four photographs including a helicopter, girl in a stream, miniature open book, and a girl with a hat

Special Collections Coursework Development Grant Awardees

The two Special Collections Coursework Development Grant winners are Dr. Kathryne Beebe, Associate Professor of Medieval History, and Dr. Liane Malinowski, Assistant Professor of English. Special Collections accepted applications in May for the newly established Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. The grant was established in order to partner with faculty to develop assignments for Fall 2019 courses that will utilize rare books, fine books, facsimiles, maps, photography, archival collections, or other types of materials held by Special Collections. The two grant winners were announced on May 24th. The winners are: Dr. Kathryne Beebe, Associate Professor of Medieval History Dr. Liane Malinowski, Assistant Professor of English Dr. Beebe’s project, Holding History in Your Hands: Medieval Fragments and Student Experiential Learning, is a semester-long, experiential learning project assignment that will ask students in HIST 4218: Early Medieval Europe to 1) become an “expert” on an item in UNT’s Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Leaves Collection, and 2) via several short workshops, to learn the techniques of the actual making of a medieval manuscript that is featured in that item (i.e. by writing calligraphy, gilding letters with gold leaf, or creating an illuminated initial letter). The final projects for the course will reflect this twinned approach: the envisioned student-written-and-created Library Guide to the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Leaves Collection would showcase the students’ research and writing skills, while simultaneously bringing the collection to a wider public. In Dr. Malinowski’s project students will be researching and creating a pop-up exhibit about the Denton Women’s Interracial Fellowship, a group of black and white Denton women who came together in 1964 to work together across differences of race, and to take on local projects related to infrastructure and housing. Dr. Beebe and Dr. Malinowski will each receive $500 for their grant award which will be made available as research and professional development funding. Congratulations Dr. Beebe and Dr. Malinowski! The Special Collections Team is looking forward to working with you on your coursework activities!

Posted: 06/05/2019

Special Collections Coursework Development Grant

The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the newly established Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. The University of North Texas Special Collections invites applications for the newly established Special Collections Coursework Development Grant. We are interested in partnering with faculty to develop assignments for Fall 2019 courses that will utilize rare books, fine books, facsimiles, maps, photography, archival collections or other types of materials held by Special Collections. Activities and assignments eligible for this grant may include, but are not limited to: Bibliographic description Document or photograph analysis Creative writing exercises Creation of digital exhibits and websites Documentary filmmaking Both in-class activities and assignments that involve asynchronous visits on an individual student basis are eligible for the award. Special Collections is especially interested in exploring opportunities to collaborate with teaching faculty in the STEM disciplines. Applications will be accepted through May 17, The successful projects will be announced on May 24, 2019. To apply, please submit your course syllabus and a 1,000 word maximum statement that details: What specific collection(s) or books held by UNT Special Collections you are interested in using How a collaboration with Special Collections would enhance your course The assignment you are proposing The expected learning outcomes for the assignment Applications should be emailed to Jodi Rhinehart-Doty by Friday, May 17, 2019. Two grants of $500 each will be awarded. Funds will be made available as research and professional development funding. This funding may be expensed for research (books, supplies) and professional development (conferences, seminars, travel, etc.) Awardees will be required to meet with Special Collections staff in advance of the Fall semester to coordinate their coursework activity and schedule time for one or more class visits to Special Collections. To locate materials, you can search the UNT Library catalog (use tab “Books & More” and limit search to “Special Collections”) or UNT Special Collections’ finding aids. Please contact specialcollections@unt.edu with any questions or for assistance locating relevant materials for your desired project. Some notable collections to consider: NBC 5/KXAS news archive Bell Helicopter Denton Fracking Referendum Collection Byrd Williams Photography Collection Clark Family Photography Collection John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Photography Collection The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Records Donald Thomas War Poetry Collection Vann Victorian Literature Collection LGBTQ Archives Margaret Parx Hays Papers Dorothy Gray Mills Howard Collection Artists’ Books collection Miniature books collection Yearbooks, university photography, university archives The Coursework Development Grant is supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment.

Posted: 05/07/2019

color photograph of a smiling man in a blue shirt with arms folded

The UNT Special Collections 2019 Research Fellowship Awardee - Timothy Vale

Posted: 04/18/2019

black & white photograph of a smiling man with arms outstretched

The UNT Special Collections 2019 Research Fellowship Awardee - Edward Etkins

Posted: 04/17/2019

color photograph of a smiling woman with short dark hair

The UNT Special Collections 2019 Research Fellowship Awardee - Niloofar Gholamrezaei

Posted: 04/17/2019

color photograph of a smiling man in a black and gold shirt

The UNT Special Collections 2019 Research Fellowship Awardee - John Carranza

John A. Carranza is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he specializes in the history of medicine and disability. A San Antonio native, he received his BA from University of the Incarnate Word and his MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2020 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2019 Research Fellowship Awardee John A. Carranza Project Title Explaining Sex: Sex Education and Disability in the U.S. from the 1960s to the 1990s Project Description This project centers on how intimate relationships and human reproduction were formulated and challenged by social movements from the 1960s to the 1990s in the United States. The disability rights movement, women’s liberation, and gay liberation questioned popular conceptions of “normality” and sexuality, which informed how healthcare professionals responded to sex education for people with disabilities. The implication of such instruction simultaneously reinforced and complicated heterosexual marriage and the family as a social construct. Biography John A. Carranza is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he specializes in the history of medicine and disability. A San Antonio native, he received his BA from University of the Incarnate Word and his MA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. For over a decade, he worked with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities before leaving to pursue his PhD in Austin. During the 2019-2020 academic year, he will carry out dissertation research and continue as regular contributor to Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal.

Posted: 04/16/2019

watercolor of buildings, trees, land and title page of an open book

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Posted: 04/12/2019

The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee - Agatha Beins

Agatha Beins teaches in the Department of Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies at Texas Woman’s University. Her book Liberation in Print: Feminist Periodicals and Social Movement Identity analyzes US feminist newsletters and newspapers published in the 1970s. In addition to her interest in feminist print cultures, she writes and teaches about the relationship between art and activism, feminist pedagogies, the institutionalization of women’s studies, and food studies. She also serves as editor for the online, open access journal Films for the Feminist Classroom. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2018 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee Agatha Beins Project Title An Invitation to Remember: Art, Activism and the AIDS Quilt Project Description The AIDS Quilt is over thirty years old, and I propose that it has been so effective and long-lasting because of its invitational approach to advocacy. I analyze the content and material qualities of the quilt to show the multiple paths it offered people to learn about HIV/AIDS and build community with those concerned about and impacted by the virus, and I draw on the activism in the Dallas/Ft Worth area as a case study to show the power of this art-activist project on a local scale. Biography Agatha Beins teaches in the Department of Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies at Texas Woman’s University. Her book Liberation in Print: Feminist Periodicals and Social Movement Identity analyzes US feminist newsletters and newspapers published in the 1970s. In addition to her interest in feminist print cultures, she writes and teaches about the relationship between art and activism, feminist pedagogies, the institutionalization of women’s studies, and food studies. She also serves as editor for the online, open access journal Films for the Feminist Classroom.

Posted: 05/29/2018

The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee - Evelyn Montgomery

Dr. Evelyn Montgomery is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at Dallas Heritage Village, an outdoor museum that contains two of the cabins recorded by Dr. Jordan. She holds degrees in architecture and history, with a particular interest in American houses and domestic life, particularly for Victorians and on the frontier. She frequently presents on these subjects to both academic and popular audiences. She supports historic preservation through volunteer efforts, service on the Dallas Landmark Commission, and the maintenance and interpretation of the buildings of Dallas Heritage Village. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2018 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee Dr. Evelyn Montgomery Project Title House Proud in Texas: The Struggle For a Proper Frontier Home Project Description This project will mine the wealth of information available in the records of Texas log cabins collected by the late Dr. Terry G. Jordan, to see how Texas pioneers made their frontier cabins as homelike as possible. Pioneers were also Victorians, with high domestics standards for comfort and propriety. Texans need ingenuity and resourcefulness to make the materials at hand resemble their memories of fine homes back east, so they could be house-proud in their new state. Biography Dr. Evelyn Montgomery is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at Dallas Heritage Village, an outdoor museum that contains two of the cabins recorded by Dr. Jordan. She holds degrees in architecture and history, with a particular interest in American houses and domestic life, particularly for Victorians and on the frontier. She frequently presents on these subjects to both academic and popular audiences. She supports historic preservation through volunteer efforts, service on the Dallas Landmark Commission, and the maintenance and interpretation of the buildings of Dallas Heritage Village.

Posted: 05/22/2018

The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee - Giselle Greenidge

Posted: 05/08/2018

The UNT Special Collections 2018 Research Fellowship Awardee - Kenna Lang Archer

Posted: 05/08/2018

The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee - Matthew Carr

Matthew Carr is a student in Columbia University’s political science Ph.D .program. His research focuses on American political institutions. He’s working on a project – which makes extensive use of archival resources – collecting state-level political party platforms from 1960 through the present day, in order to trace the evolution of party development. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2017 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee Matthew Carr Project Title Origins of the Culture War: Social Issues in State Party Platforms, 1960-2016 Project Description Beginning sometime in the late 20th century, social issues that previously had played little role in party division came to separate one party from the other. Republican and Democratic elites staked out opposing positions on a range of issues–including abortion, gay rights, the role of religion in the public sphere, and gun control–and party electorates today are sharply polarized over these issues. Drawing on a massive new dataset, we test the proposition that – by the time national parties and elites took positions on social issues – the parties were already constrained by state-level position-taking, and that the origins of social issues in the states came earlier than in national platforms. Biography Matthew Carr is a student in Columbia University’s political science Ph.D .program. His research focuses on American political institutions. He’s working on a project – which makes extensive use of archival resources – collecting state-level political party platforms from 1960 through the present day, in order to trace the evolution of party development.

Posted: 06/16/2017

The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee - Stacey Jocoy

Posted: 06/16/2017

The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee - Wesley G. Phelps

Posted: 06/16/2017

The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee - Laura Lee Oviedo

Laura Lee Oviedo is a native of Pharr, Texas and is currently a Ph.D. student of history at Texas A&M University. Laura’s dissertation employs a comparative framework to examine the Militarization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Women’s Lives during World War II and the Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2017 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2017 Research Fellowship Awardee Laura Lee Oviedo Project Title Militarization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Women’s Lives during World War II and the Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship Project Description Laura’s project, The Militarization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Women’s Lives during World War II and the Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship, utilizes a gendered lens of militarization in order to better understand the structural and ideological forces that shaped ethnic Mexican and Puerto Rican women’s lived experiences, social Laura Lee Oviedo is a native of Pharr, Texas and is currently a PhD student of history at Texas A&M University. Her research utilizes interdisciplinary and relational approaches to study the experiences of Latina/os in the United States, U.S./Mexico borderlands, Chicana/Latina feminisms and labor, identity politics, race/ethnic relations, and the relationship between war, citizenship, and gender. Laura’s dissertation employs a comparative framework to examine the Militarization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Women’s Lives during World War II and the Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship. She has been hosted as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Caribbean Studies at the University of Puerto Rico and has presented her research at the American Sociological Association, National Women’s Studies Association, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Scholars, Dale Center for the Study of War & Society, Texas State Historical Association, among others.relations, ideologies, and practices during a heavily militarized climate in the mid-twentieth century. Most importantly, it examines the roles of these mujeres as cultural consumers and producers, sex workers, (in)formal wage laborers, as soldiers in the newly formed auxiliary units of the U.S. military (Women’s Army Corps, WAVES, etc), and as wives and mothers of military soldiers. Biography Laura Lee Oviedo is a native of Pharr, Texas and is currently a Ph.D. student of history at Texas A&M University. Her research utilizes interdisciplinary and relational approaches to study the experiences of Latina/os in the United States, U.S./Mexico borderlands, Chicana/Latina feminisms and labor, identity politics, race/ethnic relations, and the relationship between war, citizenship, and gender. Laura’s dissertation employs a comparative framework to examine the Militarization of Mexican and Puerto Rican Women’s Lives during World War II and the Politics of Race, Class, Gender, and Citizenship. She has been hosted as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Caribbean Studies at the University of Puerto Rico and has presented her research at the American Sociological Association, National Women’s Studies Association, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Scholars, Dale Center for the Study of War & Society, Texas State Historical Association, among others.

Posted: 06/16/2017

The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee - Hillary Anderson

Hillary Anderson is a PhD candidate in History at Texas A&M University. Her project Radicalizing the South: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in 1970s Liberation Movements seeks to locate subaltern voices that add depth, richness, a fresh geography, and complexity to the historical narrative of civil rights in the 1970s. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2016 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee Hillary Anderson Project Title Radicalizing the South: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in 1970s Liberation Movements Project Description My doctoral research focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in the United States (US) South during the 1970s in the Black Power movement, radical feminism, and gay liberation. This project seeks to locate subaltern voices that add depth, richness, a fresh geography, and complexity to the historical narrative of civil rights in the 1970s. Biography Hillary Anderson is a PhD candidate in History at Texas A&M University. She received her bachelor’s in Art and History and master’s degree in History from Texas A&M University-Commerce. Before returning for her PhD, she taught junior high and high school for several years, receiving recognition as Teacher of the Year in 2010. She has presented papers on various aspects of LGBT History at the Texas State Historical Association Meeting (2016), and the National Women’s Studies Association Conference (2015), among others. She looks forward to the research the UNT Libraries Fellowship will allow her to do.

Posted: 05/09/2016

The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee - Nancy E. Baker

Nancy E. Baker earned her Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. Her project Texas Feminist Legal Reformers in the 20th Century focuses on Texas feminist legal reformers who modernized the state’s laws, bringing Texas from worst in the nation for women to first in the nation to have a unified, reformed Family Code of law. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2016 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee Dr. Nancy E. Baker Project Title Texas Feminist Legal Reformers in the 20th Century Project Description My research focuses on Texas feminist legal reformers who modernized the state’s laws, bringing Texas from worst in the nation for women to first in the nation to have a unified, reformed Family Code of law. While at UNT, I will be conducting research in the papers of Sarah Hughes, a lawyer, state legislator, and federal judge who led the campaign that in 1954 secured women’s right to serve on juries. Hughes was an essential mentor to other Texas feminists, including Louise Raggio, who was responsible for the Marital Property Act of 1967, which paved the way for the Texas Equal Legal Rights Amendment. Biography Nancy E. Baker earned her Ph.D. in History from Harvard University. She is an Associate Professor of History at Sam Houston State University, where she has won awards for her teaching. She has published articles and chapters on the Equal Rights Amendment, conservative and right-wing women in 20th-century Texas, and Hermine Tobolowsky (“mother of the Texas ERA”). Currently, she is finishing revisions on a book on the Equal Rights Amendment and working on a book on Texas feminist legal reformers in the 20th century.

Posted: 05/09/2016

The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee - Chris Babits

Chris Babits is a Ph.D. student in History at the University of Texas at Austin. His project To Cure a Sinful Nation: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Conversion Therapy in the United States from the Second World War to the Present Day is a history of the conversion therapy movement that helps us understand how religion and scientific inquiry intersect as well as the changing norms on gender and sexuality from the early Cold War into post-9/11 America. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2016 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2016 Research Fellowship Awardee Chris Babits Project Title To Cure a Sinful Nation: A Cultural and Intellectual History of Conversion Therapy in the United States from the Second World War to the Present Day Project Description Conversion therapy, which aims to “cure” men and women of their homosexuality, was a common practice until the psychiatric establishment removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973. As it grew more popular in the American South and Southwest, conversion therapy came under political fire for being religious moralizing in disguise. “To Cure a Sinful Nation” is a history of the conversion therapy movement that helps us understand how religion and scientific inquiry intersect as well as the changing norms on gender and sexuality from the early Cold War into post-9/11 America. Biography Chris Babits is a Ph.D. student in History at the University of Texas at Austin. His research examines the intersections of religion, psychiatry, and sexuality in twentieth-century America. He earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s in History from Clark University. Chris will spend 2016-2017 conducting dissertation research. In addition to the University of North Texas Special Collections Fellowship, he has been awarded a Columbia University Libraries Research Award, the Albert M. Greenfield Fellowship from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and a Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives’ Lynn E. May Research Study Grant.

Posted: 05/09/2016

Do you have a piece of UNT history? We need your help!

Posted: 11/04/2015

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The UNT Special Collections 2015 Research Fellowship Awardee - William A. Taylor

William A. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Security Studies at Angelo State University. His project In the Service of Democracy: American Military Service from World War II to the Present will contribute to a chapter in a broader work on American military service from World War II to the present. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2016 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2015 Research Fellowship Awardee William A. Taylor Project Title In the Service of Democracy: American Military Service from World War II to the Present Project Description The resulting research would contribute to a latter chapter in a broader work on American military service from World War II to the present. The book explores such issues in three ways. First, it examines the proper balance between national security and individual liberty within American democracy. Second, the book explores the place and role of military service within American society through the words and actions of various individuals and groups. Third, the book explores the relationship between citizenship and military service within American democracy. Biography Dr. William A. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Security Studies at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. Taylor won grants from the Society for Military History, Harry S. Truman Library Institute, and Angelo State University Faculty Research Enhancement Program, and a George C. Marshall/Baruch fellowship to research Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training after World War II (Texas A&M University Press, 2014). Taylor maintains research interests in military service, military history, civil-military relations, security studies, grand strategy, and defense policy. Taylor has also contributed to nine other books and has published more than 40 reference articles and book reviews. His work has appeared in Journal of American History, Choice, Joint Force Quarterly, Journal of Military History, US Naval Institute Proceedings, On Point: The Journal of Army History, Maryland Historical Magazine, Human Rights Review, Michigan War Studies Review, Journal of America’s Military Past, US Military History Review, African Studies Quarterly, and H-Net Reviews, among others.

Posted: 10/09/2015

The UNT Special Collections 2015 Research Fellowship Awardee - Laura Forsberg

Laura Forsberg is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in English at Harvard University. Her project The Victorian Miniature Book shows how the miniature book re-enchants familiar works and transports the reader from the dull world of full-sized reality into an expansive realm of minute possibility. The University of North Texas Libraries invite applications for the 2016 UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship. Research in special collections is relevant to studies in a variety of disciplines including history, journalism, political science, geography, fine art, art history and American studies. We encourage applicants to think creatively about new uses for special collections. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the greatest potential for publication and the best use of special collections at UNT Libraries. The UNT Special Collections 2015 Research Fellowship Awardee Laura Forsberg Project Title The Victorian Miniature Book Project Description During the nineteenth-century, publishers began to produce a profusion of miniature books, including thumb bibles, alphabets, almanacs, fairy tales and books of history. Despite their minute proportions (miniature books typically measure less than three inches in size), these volumes functioned in the Victorian period as imaginative tokens of expansive knowledge. Using the extensive collection of miniature books and related archival materials in the University of North Texas Special Collections, I show how the miniature book re-enchants familiar works and transports the reader from the dull world of full-sized reality into an expansive realm of minute possibility. Biography Laura Forsberg is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in English at Harvard University. Her dissertation on “The Miniature and Victorian Literature” seeks to restore size as a major category of the imagination in the Victorian age by examining miniature paintings, dolls, fairies, microscopes and miniature books in the literature and culture of the period. While Ms. Forsberg’s primary interest is in the Victorian novel, she also studies and teaches children’s literature, book history, poetry and medievalism. She has articles being published this year in both Victorian Studies and SEL: Studies in English Literature 1600-1900. She currently lives in Austin, Texas and works as an adjunct faculty member at Concordia University.

Posted: 10/09/2015

Irma E.L. Sephas - First African American Undergrad at UNT

Irma E.L. Sephas: First African-American undergraduate student at the University of North Texas

Posted: 08/27/2015

two smiling men standing neat the U.S. flag

History-making "Austin 12" LGBT Archive Acquired by the UNT Libraries

Posted: 07/07/2015

Time Capsules Unearthed on University Day

On April 16 the University of North Texas community came together to celebrate our 55th annual University Day, the anniversary of the day our institution became a University. Prior to May 1961, the North Texas State College had already evolved from a Teacher Training Institute, to a Normal College, and into a Teachers College since its inception in 1890. Our transition from college to university became official following a vote by the Texas legislature and Governor Price Daniel‘s signature. In celebration, the first University Day was held on May 10th, 1961. University Day is now an annual event, celebrated on or around May in celebration of our community achieving this important milestone. In 1962, the United Students of North Texas (the student government association at the time), documented our first year as a university in a time capsule, filling it with items that reflected the activities and concerns of the campus they served. They buried the time capsule in front of the Administration Building as a gift to the future. A second time capsule was buried on University Day in 1988 to commemorate another significant University milestone: the seventh, and last name change, when we adopted our current moniker, the University of North Texas. Though buried over two decades apart, both capsules had one significant similarity: both were designed to be opened on University Day, 2015. The UNT president, along with a smattering of power tools and construction equipment, unearthed both capsules last week, and the Special Collections staff here at UNT Libraries was honored to be among the first to discover what fascinating treasures hid within. You can view a video of the unearthing here. Both capsules were well-preserved due to the materials used to house them. The 1962 capsule alone weighed over 350 pounds! Before they were buried, the artifacts in each capsule were carefully packed into a small copper box measuring 9 x 14 x 11 inches, then cast in either limestone (1962), or steel reinforced concrete (1988). Both boxes were buried in the flowerbed under the flagpole in front of the Hurley Administration building. Special Collections staff were happy to discover almost all the artifacts in the time capsule were in good condition. Due to the steel reinforcements of the 1988 box, University facilities used a water-saw to open the encasement. A small amount of water seeped inside the box, and some of the artifacts got wet. Our preservation Librarian, Jessica Phillips, took swift action to prevent any mold or deterioration, and the items spent the day undergoing various conservation treatments to prevent mold or other damage. The time capsules contained a number of interesting artifacts from the time periods they reflect. As librarians, we were overjoyed to find that BOTH time capsules contained books popular at the time they were buried. The 1962 capsule contained A copy of the 1961 yearbook, the Yucca An audio recording of a speech given by NTSU President Mathews The 1962 Honors Day program The student handbook * Multiple issues of the 1962 student newspaper, the Campus Chat Paperback editions of popular books The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 1984 by George Orwell The Pocket Library edition of Robert Frost’s Poems And, Profiles in Courage by President John F. Kennedy The 1988 capsule contained A copy of the 1988 yearbook, the Aerie A 1962 male NTSU Cheerleader uniform complete with a green and white pompom A VHS taped message from President Hurley to be viewed by the UNT Chancellor in 2015 * Multiple issues of the 1988 student newspaper, the NT Daily Memorabilia from campus blood drive activities: shirts, buttons, vampire teeth, stickers Paperback editions of popular books (donated by Paul Voertman) Bright Lights Big City by Jay McInerney Lonesome Dove by UNT alumnus Larry McMurtry The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom A color portrait of the 1988 NTSU Drumline and a sheet with the members’ contact info The artifacts in the time capsule will be processed by Special Collections staff in the coming months to make them available for an upcoming exhibit. Additional photos of the time capsules and archival photos from the burial of the time capsules are available on our blog: 125th Anniversary Archival Retrospective – by Courtney Jacobs

Posted: 04/28/2015

NBC 5's Brian Curtis introduces viewers to the NBC 5/KXAS Television News Collection

NBC 5 News at 6 PM features footage from NBC 5/KXAS News Collection

UNT Libraries house the complete news archive of NBC 5/KXAS (formerly WBAP), the oldest television news station in Texas. Most of the footage in the archive has not been seen since it originally aired, but a recent pilot project based at UNT makes news footage and scripts from five weeks in 1956 free to view online in the Portal to Texas History. Despite being small in scope, the pilot project demonstrates the rich historical content found in the NBC 5/KXAS Archive. During the week of January 12 - 16, 2015, the NBC 5 News at 6 PM featured footage from the NBC 5/KXAS Television News Collection pilot project. Each night reporters highlighted a different aspect of life in North Texas in 1956. Monday, January 12th: In a segment entitled “Big Things Ahead in DFW in 1956” DallasNews.com Digital Managing Editor Robert Wilonsky and NBC 5’s Brian Curtis demonstrated how the construction projects and concerns of 1956 shaped the north Texas we know today. Tuesday, January 13th: The struggle for civil rights was underway in North Texas in 1956. With segregation in place, African-American families faced challenges integrating into schools and neighborhoods. In his “North Texas in Black and White in 1956” segment, NBC 5’s Eric King introduced viewers to Lloyd Austin, now 91 years old, who experienced extreme persecution when his family moved to an all-white neighborhood in Fort Worth. Wednesday, January 14th: The year 1956 was one of the driest on record and Channel 5 filmed the results. Cooler temperatures brought rain but also severe weather. NBC 5 Chief Meteorologist David Finfrock shared the experiences of tornado victims and uncovered a town that no longer exists in “Covering Severe Storms in 1956.” Thursday, January 15th: In “Fashion Forward in the 50s” NBC 5’s Ellen Bryan showed the influence history had on women’s clothing and how Dallas icon Neiman Marcus played an important role in 1950s fashion. Myra Walker, Professor and Texas Fashion Collection Director at the University of North Texas contributed to this report. Friday, January 16th: “Eccentricities in North Texas” features a selection of human interest stories found in the NBC 5/KXAS archive, including a helicopter yo-yo, a rooster with horns, and a 38-year-old donut. Access to the NBC 5/KXAS Archive is extremely limited due to the fragile condition of the film and video. We need your help to raise the funds necessary to clear, repair, and digitize this important piece of North Texas history. The first phase of the digitization project involves the oldest portion of the archive, all on 16 mm film, dating from 1950-1979. It costs approximately $7,500 to digitize and permanently preserve one month of film. Please consider a tax deductible gift today to assist us in meeting our goal.

Posted: 01/28/2015

Discovering the Southwest Metroplex

UNT’s Special Collections department was awarded $164,400 through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ (CLIR) Hidden Collections program for the 2014-2016 project Post-War Industry and Development of the Southwest Metroplex. Hidden collections are those collections that reside within libraries, archives, or cultural heritage institutions; yet, are undiscoverable due to non-existent or inefficient description. The Special Collections department explored the hidden collections residing within UNT’s holdings and discovered several hidden collections that related to the explosive growth the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has experienced over the past 70 years. These previously undescribed or partially described collections included topics such as urban planning, politics, industry, housing, economics, industrial education and major infrastructure projects of the north Texas region such as the Superconducting Super Collider. Unlike many large American urban areas, the Dallas Fort Worth area is poorly represented in terms of collection development related to the postwar development of the region. Urban historians in particular point to the scarcity of available sources available on the topic resulting in a lack of serious scholarly research concentrated on DFW, one of the largest urban areas in the South and Southwest. Project staff immediately recognized the potential impact such collections could contribute to scholarly research and, with the assistance of the CLIR Hidden Collections grant, set about making these collections available and accessible. In addition to processing the hidden collections, project staff are publicizing the project and the collections it encompasses. A project blog is the primary outreach tool to being used to connect with the research community and public. The Discovering the Southwest Metroplex blog (https://blogs.library.unt.edu/southwest-metroplex) highlights UNT’s archival holdings by featuring some of the collections of the Post-War Industry and Development of the Southwest Metroplex project as well as other UNT collections that related to the topic. Potential topics for the blog postings are identified by the project archivist and student assistants as they process collections. They take note of any interesting finds they come across during descriptive activities that may appeal to the community and share these findings with special collections bloggers. Examples of the hidden collections and materials highlighted so far by blog posts include the winning proposal to bring the Superconducting Super Collider to Texas; early photographs of the DFW metroplex and DFW International Airport planning documents from the Lester Strother Texas Metro Collection; and documents pertaining to the Southwest Federal Regional Council from the Dr. John T. Thompson Papers collection. Blog posts also showcase previously processed collections held by UNT Special Collections that support the Postwar Industry and Development of the Southwest Metroplex theme. The most popular post is about the Frank Cuellar, Sr. Collection and describes the meteoric rise of the Cuellar family from running a small tamale booth at the Kaufman County Fair to head of the multimillion dollar El Chico corporation in the 1970s. Feedback concerning the blog has been so positive that the special collections department has determined to make the blog an ongoing activity after the projected completion date of the CLIR funded Hidden Collections project in April of 2016. Currently underway are efforts to revamp the UNT Libraries blog platform to allow for more customizable features per individual departments, better integrated image galleries and embedded video. Based on some of the feedback received from previous blog postings, another planned strategy is to begin reaching out directly to targeted communities via other social media avenues with links to postings that concern materials and collections that relate to those specific communities. The expectation is that these efforts will result in exposure to and interest in archival collections and primary source materials from communities where none previously existed. Jaime Janda, project archivist and Morgan Gieringer, head of special collections, will present a paper on this project and the Discovering the Southwest Metroplex blog at the 2015 CLIR Hidden Collections conference. The experiences being gained through UNT’s CLIR Hidden Collections project are transforming UNT Special Collections’ outreach endeavors. Through its ongoing efforts to “uncover” hidden collections, Special Collections are learning that sometimes just processing a collection is not enough, and that blogs and social media can help reveal our collections to entirely new audiences. – by Bridgett Tanner

Posted: 12/12/2014