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News: 2021

'Press Start': A Video Game Music Symposium

The University of North Texas Music Library is pleased to announce and host “Press Start”: A Video Game Music Symposium to be held Saturday, March 26, 2022 held by the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton, Texas. The University of North Texas Music Library is pleased to announce and host “Press Start”: A Video Game Music Symposium to be held Saturday, March 26, 2022 held by the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton, Texas. This symposium will be held in-person and registration will be required to attend. For those who cannot attend in-person, the event will be streamed live. We are excited to welcome Akash Thakkar as our keynote speaker. Our panel topics will include academic and industry support for video game music, diversity and inclusion in the industry, and breaking into the video game music industry. Program of events coming soon! Registration is now closed. The University of North Texas is located in Denton approximately twenty-five miles north of DFW International Airport. Learn more about our College of Music and the Music Library. For attendees, we recommend purchasing a Day-use Permit for $5.00. To do this, create a guest account with UNT Transportation Services. Day-use permits allow visitors to park in an Eagle lot. For attendees with a Day-Use Permit, Eagle Lot 27 is closest to the Music Building. While the UNT campus is reopening fully in the fall, we realize there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding travel and the day-to-day operations of universities. We have every hope that an in-person conference will proceed as planned but are prepared to move the conference fully online. Such a decision will be made and announced with as much notice as possible. We look forward to hosting this event and meeting attendees. Please direct questions to this inquiry form. music_in_the_news
Posted: 12/21/2021

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. special_collections_in_the_news
Posted: 11/15/2021

National Endowment for the Humanities Selects UNT Libraries for a Sixth Round of the National Digital Newspaper Program

UNT Libraries are pleased to announce that the National Endowment for the Humanities has selected us for a sixth, two-year cycle of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), to digitize Texas newspapers on the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website. UNT Libraries are pleased to announce that the National Endowment for the Humanities has selected us for a sixth, two-year cycle of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), to digitize Texas newspapers on the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America website. For Texas, participation in NDNP has offered an unprecedented opportunity to represent the state on a national level, through its newspaper publishing history. This award is for $208,888 and will build access to an additional 100,000 pages of Texas newspapers on Chronicling America, to spotlight community identity in Texas. For this round, we are looking to digitize further years of El Paso and San Antonio titles, with the goal of expanding their availability up to and beyond 1925, depending on the choices of the Texas advisory board. Both El Paso and San Antonio saw significant changes in the civil rights conversation, even while the U.S. underwent recovery from WWI, experienced the Great Depression, and fought in WWII. These cities were significant population centers where voices of diverse groups amplified to navigate an increasingly globalized world. In addition to adding the newspapers to Chronicling America, where Texas identity can be preserved in the context of other state newspapers, we will also add these newspapers to the Texas Digital Newspaper Program (TDNP), on The Portal to Texas History. All of the newspapers available in Chronicling America and TDNP are freely accessible and can be used broadly for activities including research and education. As a result, we try continually to inform teachers and students about the importance of newspapers as windows into history. Chronicling America is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress in an effort to build a nationwide, open-access repository of digitized historic newspapers. To learn more about Chronicling America, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, visit their social media sites! Chronicling America Twitter NEH Social Media Twitter Facebook LC Social Media Twitter Facebook Pinterest digital_newspaper_unit_in_the_news_honors_and_awards
Posted: 08/27/2021

12th Biennial Artists' Book Competition

The UNT Libraries are calling on all artists to creatively interpret the book form through a work of original art. The UNT Libraries are calling on all artists to creatively interpret the book form through a work of original art. An artists’ book is a medium in which to convey artistic expression using the form and function of a book as the point of inspiration - a book that is a work of art in itself. Students, faculty, and community members are all invited to submit entries. Student entries in the competition will be eligible to win a $400 purchase prize and be included in the UNT Libraries Special Collections Artists’ Book permanent collection. Artists’ books can be delivered to the Special Collections Offices in Willis Library Room 437. All accepted entries will be displayed at the Greater Denton Arts Council’s Patterson-Appleton Arts Center in winter 2022. For more information, please contact Jaimi Parker at Jaimi.Parker@unt.edu. Looking for some inspiration? Check out these previous years’ winners for a spark of creativity. Entry Form special_collections_in_the_news
Posted: 08/27/2021
Joel Zapata

The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Joel Zapata

Joel Zapata is Assistant Professor at Oregon State University’s School of History, Philosophy, and Religion. Zapata completed his Ph.D. at Southern Methodist University, and his dissertation won the 2020 National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Foco Dissertation Award. His “Taking Chicana/o Activist History to the Public” received the Frederick C. Luebke Award for the best article published in the Great Plains Quarterly in 2018. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Joel Zapata Project Title From West Texas to the World: Chicana/o Activist Print Culture and Social Transformation Project Description Utilizing archival materials, oral histories, civil rights organizational records, print media, as well as the personal papers of several activists, “From West Texas to the World: Chicana/o Activist Print Culture and Social Transformation,” an article project, will uncover the history of the West Texas Chicana/o Movement and that movement’s print culture. Hence, this project will take scholarship on the Chicana/o Movement towards its actual geographical range that included West Texas and the larger rural United States, demonstrating the Chicana/o Movement’s national reach. Biography Joel Zapata is Assistant Professor at Oregon State University’s School of History, Philosophy, and Religion. Zapata completed his Ph.D. at Southern Methodist University, and his dissertation won the 2020 National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Foco Dissertation Award. His “Taking Chicana/o Activist History to the Public” received the Frederick C. Luebke Award for the best article published in the Great Plains Quarterly in 2018. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn

The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn

Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn serves as Professor of History at Sam Houston State University. He is the co-author or co-editor of three books: Elusive Equality: Desegregation and Resegregation in Norfolk’s Public Schools (University of Virginia Press, 2012); The Enemy Within Never Did Without: German and Japanese Prisoners of War at Camp Huntsville, Texas, 1942-1945 (Texas Review Press, 2015); and The Seedtime, the Work and the Harvest: New Perspectives on the Black Freedom Struggle in America (University of Florida Press, 2018). In addition, Littlejohn has published numerous articles with his co-author Charles H. Ford, and he is also an active digital/public historian. His co-curricular web projects include: Lynching in Texas; East Texas History; and HistoricalMX. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn Project Title Lynching in Texas Project Description This project will use newspapers, photographs, maps, and oral interviews from The Portal to Texas History to continue the the development of a digital project called Lynching in Texas.This website documents the personal stories of lynching victims in Texas between 1882 and 1945. The website includes the name, location, ethnicity, gender, age, alleged crime, and means of death for more than 700 lynching victims in Texas. Biography Dr. Jeffrey L. Littlejohn serves as Professor of History at Sam Houston State University. He is the co-author or co-editor of three books: Elusive Equality: Desegregation and Resegregation in Norfolk’s Public Schools (University of Virginia Press, 2012); The Enemy Within Never Did Without: German and Japanese Prisoners of War at Camp Huntsville, Texas, 1942-1945 (Texas Review Press, 2015); and The Seedtime, the Work and the Harvest: New Perspectives on the Black Freedom Struggle in America (University of Florida Press, 2018). In addition, Littlejohn has published numerous articles with his co-author Charles H. Ford, including: “The Cabiness Family Lynching: Race, War, and Memory in Walker County, Texas” (Southwestern Historical Quarterly); “Booker T. Washington High School: History, Identity, and Educational Equality in Norfolk, Virginia” (Virginia Magazine of History and Biography); and “Arthur D. Morse, School Desegregation, and the Making of CBS News, 1951-1964” (American Journalism). Littlejohn is also an active digital/public historian. His co-curricular web projects include: Lynching in Texas; East Texas History; and HistoricalMX. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Geoffrey Lewis

The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Geoffrey Lewis

Geoffrey Lewis was born and raised in Alvin Texas. He is a doctoral candidate in the History Department at Texas Tech University. He earned degrees from Graceland University and the University of Houston-Clear Lake. At both institutions he studied history with an emphasis on United States foreign relations. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Geoffrey C. Lewis Project Title Know Your Community Plan:” Coastal Texans Confronting the Cold War Project Description “Know Your Community Plan” examines how Texans living along the Gulf Coast experienced and prepared for the Cold War. It emphasizes local efforts at civil defense, urging scholars to reassess the overbearing emphasis of fallout shelters in our popular memory of Cold War era defense. This project sheds light on the ways Texans utilized civilian defense for ventures that more often served community-based interests than the national Cold War agenda. Biography Geoffrey Lewis was born and raised in Alvin Texas. He is a doctoral candidate in the History Department at Texas Tech University. He earned degrees from Graceland University and the University of Houston-Clear Lake. At both institutions he studied history with an emphasis on United States foreign relations. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Ronald W. Davis II

The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Ronald W. Davis II

Ronald W. Davis II is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is studying under the direction of Dr. Daina Ramey Berry. His dissertation project examines enslaved cowboys, labor, and resistance in antebellum Texas. He is a twenty-four-year veteran of the U.S. military and served in various capacities through five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Ronald W. Davis II Project Title From Round-Up to Trails End: Enslaved and Free Black Cowboys in Texas from 1840 to 1885 Project Description This project examines the lived experiences of enslaved and free black cowboys in Texas. It argues that enslaved labor was integral to the formation of early Anglo-Texan cattle ranching. Finally, it will demonstrate that no geographical limit to slavery existed in the south and west. Biography Ron Davis is a Ph.D. candidate in the History Department at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is studying under the direction of Dr. Daina Ramey Berry. His dissertation project examines enslaved cowboys, labor, and resistance in antebellum Texas. He is a twenty-four-year veteran of the U.S. military and served in various capacities through five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Bobby Cervantes

The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Bobby Cervantes

A Rio Grande Valley native, Bobby Cervantes is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the University of Kansas. His research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Organization of American Historians, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, among others. From 2018 to 2021, he was assistant editor of American Studies, the quarterly interdisciplinary journal of the Mid-America American Studies Association. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Bobby Cervantes Project Title Las Colonias: The Housing of Poverty in Modern Americas Project Description This project historicizes the thousands of chronically under-resourced Texas border communities (las colonias) where today a half-million people live in one of the greatest concentrations of American poverty. Through property records, oral histories, and government archives, it explores how mid-twentieth-century landowners devised extra-legal schemes targeting Mexican migrant workers. It further contends that over the several decades when the once-small migrant settlements transformed into ready-made housing markets, the U.S. and Mexico initiated broad economic liberalization policies that accelerated colonia construction. Biography A Rio Grande Valley native, Bobby Cervantes is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the University of Kansas. His research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Organization of American Historians, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, among others. From 2018 to 2021, he was assistant editor of American Studies, the quarterly interdisciplinary journal of the Mid-America American Studies Association. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Default image for Brooks Winfree

The Portal to Texas History 2020 Research Fellowship Awardee - Brooks Winfree

Brooks Winfree is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin. For the 2019-2020 academic year, he was a fellow at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. His scholarship examines how enslaved African Americans interacted with the diverse indigenous populations they encountered in antebellum Texas. From 2018 until 2020, he was the assistant editor of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Brooks Winfree Project Title Enslaved People in Native Texas: Violence, Labor, and Family in the Texas Cotton Country Project Description Winfree’s dissertation, “Enslaved People in Native Texas: Violence, Labor, and Family in the Texas Cotton Country,” bridges the gap in the historical literature of Native people in Texas and black chattel slavery by contemplating how enslaved African Americans encountered Native people in nineteenth century Texas. It argues that the presence of indigenous people in Texas shaped life and labor for enslaved people, provided slaves with opportunities for freedom, and yet simultaneously threatened enslaved people’s physical well-being and the integrity of their families. Biography Brooks Winfree is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin. For the 2019-2020 academic year, he was a fellow at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. His scholarship examines how enslaved African Americans interacted with the diverse indigenous populations they encountered in antebellum Texas. From 2018 until 2020, he was the assistant editor of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021
Charles B. Travis IV

The Portal to Texas History 2020 Research Fellowship Awardee - Charles B. Travis IV

Charles B. Travis IV holds a PhD in Geography from Trinity College, The University of Dublin, as well as MAs in Geography and Planning and Mass Communication, and a BA in Psychology. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Geography with the Department of History at the University of Texas, Arlington, and a Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Environmental Humanities at Trinity College Dublin. Charles is an editorial board member of the journal Literary Geography. The Portal to Texas History 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Charles B. Travis IV Project Title Deep Wests: Literature, Geography, History Project Description This project will create a digital timeline map supplement for an Indiana University Press Spatial Humanities series monograph titled Deep Wests, sourcing and featuring materials from various Portal to Texas History collections. One section of the monograph focuses in part on the historical, cultural, and cartographical morphology of Texas and the southwest borderland regions. The project will map Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (Tetralogy, 1985-1997), Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Almanac of the Dead (1991) and other selections. Biography Charles Travis was conferred a PhD in Geography by Trinity College, The University of Dublin (2006). He also holds MAs in Geography and Planning and Mass Communication, and a BA in Psychology. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Geography with the Department of History at the University of Texas, Arlington, and a Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Environmental Humanities at Trinity College Dublin. Charles is an editorial board member of the journal Literary Geography. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 08/25/2021

Dean's Innovation Grant 2021

The University of North Texas Libraries’ Dean’s Innovation Grant, provides funding to research and projects within the UNT Libraries. The University of North Texas Libraries’ Dean’s Innovation Grant, provides funding to research and projects within the UNT Libraries that promote scholarship and contribute to the gathering of knowledge that helps improve our libraries, our university, and the community. Dean’s Innovation Grant 2021 Awardees “Press Start!”: A Video Game Music Symposium Blaine Brubaker, Sabino Fernandez, Kristin Wolski Project Description: “Press Start!”: A Video Game Music Symposium is a research and demonstration project, focused on bringing more awareness to the video game industry and the ludomusicology field. The project entails three parts: a collection development initiative on the topic of video game music and sound design; a LibGuide on video game music, sound design, and ludomusicology; and a symposium on video game music, ludomusicology, the video game industry and a celebration of video games in general. With our efforts, we aim to solidify the University of North Texas as a hub for research in these emerging fields of study. Civic Engagement Stations Robbie Sittel, Brea Henson, Bobby Griffith, Jenne Turner Project Description: The Knight Foundation’s College Students, Voting and the COVID-19 Election reported an increase in voter turnout among college students from 2016 to 2018 and a greater level of awareness around the 2020 presidential election. The UNT Libraries can be a presence in continuing this momentum by providing self-service and mediated access to voter registration, voter education, and other civic and political resources to produce an informed and engaged electorate. To assist with this goal, we will create Civic Engagement Stations at the Willis and Sycamore Libraries that provide access to voter and civic engagement resources. E-Resource Donut Survey Chris Hergert, Sephra Byrne, Karen Harker Project Description: We plan to expand on the previously completed 30-second survey and adapt it to fit the needs of the Collection Assessment Department in order to integrate direct patron feedback from UNT students and faculty into our annual collection evaluations. These surveys would allow us to target users and non-users of UNT Libraries collections, and answer the questions: what do patrons think and feel about the library collections, and can users find what they want, when they want it? Answering these questions would allow us to improve our pre-existing evaluations and help us to better understand patrons’ usage of resources. Tackling the Digital Divide in Texas Yvonne Dooley, Cary Jim, Jo Monahan, Robbie Sittel Project Description: This research project will investigate the “digital divide” in the State of Texas, particularly in rural areas. According to a 2018 Federal Communications Commission report, 31% of rural households still lack access to broadband Internet in the United States. This lack of access made rural communities more vulnerable to poor health outcomes, disrupted education, and few telework opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. By studying the “digital divide” in Texas through this research project, UNT can contribute to the understanding of this nationwide problem at a state level and explore creative solutions that could assist in addressing this complex issue. administrative_office_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_dean_s_innovation_grant
Posted: 08/01/2021

"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 special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
Posted: 05/14/2021
Julia Wetzel

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Julia Wetzel

Julia Wetzel is a first year PhD student in the History department. Her research looks at Roman Cosmology in Premodern architecture and she consider herself an Architectural historian in the making. Julia is a Teaching Assistant in her department, and hopes to be a professor one day. She enjoys learning new things and working with material sources which she hopes to share in the classroom one day. UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title Astronomical Clocks and the Evolution of Ancient Cosmology in Gothic Architecture Project Description The project argues that the Zodiac constellations and mythology are translated into Medieval society along with their respective agricultural labors as symbols of time, and their representation in Astronomical clocks, allows the clocks to retain their religious function and symbolism, instead of being gallant possessions as previously thought. I demonstrate that the clocks are connected to other religious objects such as the cathedrals and Books of Hours, placing them in Gothic architecture and Christian art. Biography Julia Wetzel is a first year PhD student in the History department. Her research looks at Roman Cosmology in Premodern architecture and she consider herself an Architectural historian in the making. Julia is a Teaching Assistant in her department, and hopes to be a professor one day. She enjoys learning new things and working with material sources which she hopes to share in the classroom one day. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/14/2021
Jecoa Ross

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. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/14/2021
Lacy Noel Molina

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Lacy Noel Molina

Lacy Molina is a graduate assistant and doctoral student in the Department of Information Science at the University of North Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Arts in History from the University of Texas Permian Basin. Her research interests include analyzing the relationship of politics and popular culture and studying higher education, government and legal research information processes. UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title You Can’t Buy Me I Don’t Care What You Pay: Music, Musicians, and the Cultural Boycott Project Description This project is about the global anti-apartheid movement. I look in particular at the musical artists who chose to violate the cultural boycott. I argue that the artists that violated it under minded the global anti-apartheid struggle. Biography Lacy Molina is a graduate assistant and doctoral student in the Department of Information Science at the University of North Texas. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Arts in History from the University of Texas Permian Basin. Her research interests include analyzing the relationship of politics and popular culture and studying higher education, government and legal research information processes. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/14/2021
Hayley Hasik

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. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/14/2021
Megan Arlett

UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee - Megan Arlett

Megan J. Arlett was born in the UK, grew up in Spain, and now lives in Texas where she is pursuing her PhD. The recipient of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, her work has appeared in Best New Poets 2019, Best New British and Irish Poets, The Kenyon Review, Ninth Letter, Passages North, Prairie Schooner, and Third Coast. UNT Special Collections 2021 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title Louisiana Saturday Nights Project Description This project focuses a collection of poetry that considers the legal designation “non-resident alien” and what it means to land from the sky (like an extraterrestrial) into an entirely foreign landscape and culture. My time with the Music Library Collection will be spent exploring jazz and zydeco musicians out of South Louisiana and New Orleans. As a writer with a specialization in contemporary poetry, the output I will produce from this engagement will be a series of ekphrastic reflections on the forms, “rules,” and cultural resonance of 20th century jazz Biography Megan J. Arlett was born in the UK, grew up in Spain, and now lives in Texas where she is pursuing her PhD. The recipient of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, her work has appeared in Best New Poets 2019, Best New British and Irish Poets, The Kenyon Review, Ninth Letter, Passages North, Prairie Schooner, and Third Coast. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/14/2021

Texas Edges Lecture Series: Andrea Roberts

Dr. Andrea Roberts, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and an Associate Director of the Center for Housing & Urban Development at Texas A&M University presents her work with the project Texas Freedom Colonies: Black Settlement Preservation as Freedom-Seeking. Join us for the 3rd annual Texas Edges Lecture Series featuring Dr. Andrea Roberts, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and an Associate Director of the Center for Housing & Urban Development at Texas A&M University. Dr. Roberts will present her work with the project Texas Freedom Colonies: Black Settlement Preservation as Freedom-Seeking. Biography Dr. Andrea Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and an Associate Director of the Center for Housing & Urban Development at Texas A&M University. Her 14 years’ experience in public administration and community development inform her efforts to move disappearing Black communities from the margin to the center of public discourse. She is the founder of The Texas Freedom Colonies Project, a research & social justice initiative leveraging archival, spatial, participatory action research, and engaged ethnography. The Project’s flagship initiative, The Atlas, makes visible black placemaking heritage, disparate ecological and development impacts on Black communities through applied research that shapes policy and practice. International Journal of E-Planning Research, The Journal of Planning History; Buildings and Landscapes. Forum Journal, the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, and Planning Theory & Practice have published her work. She is currently writing a book about Black historic preservation practice for The University of Texas Press. Dr. Roberts holds a Ph.D. in community and regional planning at The University of Texas at Austin (2016). She is a 2020 Whiting Public Engagement Fellow. Her work has been recognized by The Vernacular Architecture Forum, the Urban Affairs Association, and Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, Abolition. She is a member of Texas’ State Board of Review, which advises Texas’ SHPO regarding National Register nominations. Links: The Texas Freedom Colonies Project Personal Website digital_libraries_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 04/01/2021

Artist Lecture: Alec Soth

Alec Soth (b. 1969) is a photographer born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Presented jointly by the UNT Libraries and CVAD Photography Area. Event info [Event Registration][]{: .btn .btn-success } Alec Soth (b. 1969) is a photographer born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published over twenty-five books including Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), NIAGARA (2006), Broken Manual (2010), Songbook (2015) and I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating (2019). Soth has had over fifty solo exhibitions including survey shows organized by Jeu de Paume in Paris (2008), the Walker Art Center in Minnesota (2010) and Media Space in London (2015). Soth has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). In 2008, Soth created Little Brown Mushroom, a multi-media enterprise focused on visual storytelling. Soth is represented by Sean Kelly in New York, Weinstein Hammons Gallery in Minneapolis, Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, Loock Galerie in Berlin, and is a member of Magnum Photos. Presented jointly by the UNT Libraries and CVAD Photography Area. Made possible by The Cathy Nelson Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment. Alec Soth’s Website Alec Soth Rarities [collection of twenty signed first edition books] Soth / Zellar Box [of 7 signed LBM Dispatches and House of Coates signed by Alec Soth & Brad Zellar] digital_libraries_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 02/05/2021

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. special_collections_in_the_news
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. special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
Posted: 01/21/2021
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