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 special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
Posted:
11/08/2022
Artist Lecture: Liz Wells
The Cathy N. Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment, the UNT Libraries Special Collections Department, and the Department of Studio Art, Photography Area are pleased to present a lecture by Liz Wells. The Cathy N. Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment, the UNT Libraries Special Collections Department, and the Department of Studio Art, Photography Area are pleased to present a lecture by Liz Wells. Liz Wells, writer, curator, and lecturer on photographic practices, edited and co-wrote Photography: A Critical Introduction (2021, 6th edition), and is editor for the Photography Reader and The Photography Culture Reader (2019), London: Routledge. She co-founded and co-edits Photographies, Routledge journals. Her publications on land and environment include Land Matters, Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity (2011; reprinted 2022) along with many catalogue essays and exhibitions as curator. She is series editor for Photography, Place, Environment publications (Routledge). She is Emeritus Professor in Photographic Culture, University of Plymouth, UK, and recipient of the 2021 SPE Honored Educator award. Presented jointly by the UNT Libraries and CVAD Photography Area. Made possible by The Cathy Nelson Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment. digital_libraries_presentations_and_lectures
Posted:
09/19/2022
Dean's Innovation Grant 2022
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 2022 Awardees Music Library Picture Show Megan Sprabary, Kristin Wolski Project Description: “The Music Library Picture Show” will be a series of four musical film screenings over the 2022-2023 academic year. It is a demonstration project that seeks to answer the question, “how do programs affect student attitudes about the library?” The film screenings will be open to everyone but will target communities that do not frequently visit the Music Library – namely, non-music majors and high school students. The primary goals of this project are to build the library as a viable “third place” for the local community, decrease library anxiety in students, and assess patron perceptions of the Music Library. Creating An Inclusive Environment for Student-Parents Madison Brents, Emily Akers Project Description: This project aims to provide resources and create a more welcoming environment at the UNT Libraries for students who are also parents of young children. This is an under supported demographic in higher education and one that often needs more resources than the average student to be successful in college. This project plans to both hold scheduled study hours for student parents and their children and make available items which student parents can check out for their children while they are at the library together. Soundbox: Music Engagement Lab David Huff, Kristin Wolski, Sabino Fernandez, Justin Lemons, Steven Sellers Project Description: This pilot project is designed to create a scaled version of a music engagement center where UNT community members can work with music technology to create and explore the worlds of music and sound. As both a sound lab and a repository of historical music technologies, the Soundbox will serve as a catalyst for engagement with not only physical technologies, but also with the fundamental ideas and concepts that make them work. The requested funds cover the cost of one small modular synthesizer workstation, a variety of other instruments and devices, and other necessary furniture and accessories. Creating Greater Accessibility to Special Collections Materials for Patrons With Visual Disabilities Meagan May Project Description: This project aims to create greater accessibility to archival and rare materials in UNT Special Collections for patrons with reduced or low vision disabilities through the purchase of Freedom Scientific’s TOPAZ XL HD desktop video magnifier and the creation of an accessibility station for the Judge Sarah T. Hughes Reading Room. This desktop magnifier, along with its accompanying GEM software, will allow patrons to magnify, adjust, enhance, capture, and save documents, photographs, artifacts, manuscripts, and other materials to meet a variety of vision accessibility needs. Assessing UNT Libraries’ Collections Through Idea Lenses Karen Harker, Sephra Byrne, Allyson Rodriguez, Stacey Wolf, Julie Leuzinger, Sian Brannon Project Description: The UNT Libraries embarked on a journey to address systemic and systematic vestiges of oppression of socially and politically minoritized populations. For this purpose, the Collection Assessment Department will evaluate UNT Libraries’ collections, identify sources of diverse materials, and connect with our communities. We will conduct focus groups and pilot a method on one aspect of our collections. This project requires significant amount of manual searching for information related to identity of authorship and sources of information, which would be conducted using student labor. Making Our Library Spaces More Accessible: Accessible Furniture for Sycamore Library Jennifer Rowe, Mary Ann Venner, Robbie Sittel Project Description: Feedback from library users and staff highlight a need for more accessible furniture in our library spaces. We would like to improve the accessibility of the learning spaces at Sycamore Library with the purchase of more accessible furniture. We will start this with a selection of chairs, stools, and a stationary bike workstation. The purchase of these items will enable us to pilot the use of them in Fall 2022 to see hour our users engage in the spaces they are in. administrative_office_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_dean_s_innovation_grant
Posted:
08/12/2022
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. special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
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. special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
Posted:
06/08/2022
The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Sarah Vegerano
I am a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University College Station, studying under Dr. Carlos Blanton. I received my degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas A&M. My dissertation project explores how race influenced the growth of education in Texas from a state and local level from 1850 through 1900. I track the growth of schoolhouses and demography in the nineteenth century using GIS mapping. My research explores how education changes with the addition of African Americans into the education system and how the student demographic changes from the east to the west with the increased population of Spanish-speaking communities. The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Sarah Vegerano Project Title Race and Education: How Race Influenced the Development of Education in Texas, 1850-1900 Project Description The project will explore the growth of schools in the top four counties in Texas that had the highest enrollment of African Americans and Anglos during the 1870s Federal census—Travis, Harris, Navarro, and Grimes counties. A relational lens focused on how race and education expanded or retarded over the next thirty years presents evidence on how race and education became intertwined in Texas. With an early examination of Anglo schoolhouses, through GIS mapping, and the addition of African Americans schoolhouses gives a visual representation of the growth of schoolhouses in the four counties over fifty years. Biography I am a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University College Station, studying under Dr. Carlos Blanton. I received my degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas A&M. My dissertation project explores how race influenced the growth of education in Texas from a state and local level from 1850 through 1900. I track the growth of schoolhouses and demography in the nineteenth century using GIS mapping. My research explores how education changes with the addition of African Americans into the education system and how the student demographic changes from the east to the west with the increased population of Spanish-speaking communities. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
05/06/2022
The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Ngoc "Ann" Tran
Ann Tran is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in American Studies & Ethnicity at USC. She graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University with B.A.s in History and English in 2020. Her developing dissertation project explores relational racial formations in the U.S. Gulf South through the lens of the postwar Vietnamese diaspora. Her previous research projects have looked at Vietnamese student anti-war movements in the United States in the late 1960s and humanitarian hygiene programs in rural Vietnam during the American War. The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Ngoc “Ann” Tran Project Title War on the Waters: Race, Capital, and Diasporic Vietnamese Passages along the U.S. Gulf Coast Project Description This project narrates the postwar formations of Vietnamese refugee communities along the Gulf of Mexico, focusing particularly on fisher people and the seafood industry. Contributing to studies of racial relations in the U.S. South, I attempt to tie cases of refugee resettlement in places like Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana to longer histories of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous migrations, displacements, and labor economies on and surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, my research makes an argument for understanding overlapping and sedimented racial geographies along the Gulf by looking closely at the relationships between labor, space, and water in coastal refugee placemaking. Biography Ann Tran is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in American Studies & Ethnicity at USC. She graduated magna cum laude from Texas Christian University with B.A.s in History and English in 2020. Her developing dissertation project explores relational racial formations in the U.S. Gulf South through the lens of the postwar Vietnamese diaspora. Her previous research projects have looked at Vietnamese student anti-war movements in the United States in the late 1960s and humanitarian hygiene programs in rural Vietnam during the American War. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
05/06/2022
The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Chelsea Stallings
Chelsea Stallings is a PhD student at Texas Christian University. Her research interests include African American and racial injustice studies, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction histories, and U.S. New South and Jim Crow studies. Her doctoral research focuses on white supremacist efforts in North Texas during the critical decades between Reconstruction and the rise of the early twentieth-century KKK. She serves as an advisory member for Texas Woman’s University’s ‘Quakertown Stories’ initiative, and her research builds upon her master’s thesis, which historicized the forced removal of a North Texas freedmen’s community called Quakertown. The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Chelsea Stallings Project Title Paid in Gold: Freedmen’s Economic Activity in Post-Reconstruction North Texas Project Description Thanks to twenty-first century digitization efforts, this project uses Denton County as a case study to challenge the longstanding notion that freedpeople in the South did not own land during the post-Reconstruction era. Analyzing freedpeople’s land-based economic activity in North Texas leads to many more questions, including what happened to their land, and to what extent is there a possibility that the government’s usage of eminent domain for Lakes Lewisville, Grapevine, and Ray Roberts was a tool of systemic racism that dismantled freedpeople’s communities? This project will utilize digitized collections from many of The Portal’s partners to address many of these inquiries, including: recovering as many names and lineages as possible of Black landowners in the county; quantifying and qualifying the extent of their ability to define freedom on their own terms; and reconstructing the geography of late eighteenth-century Denton County (pre-lakes) as best as possible. Biography Chelsea Stallings is a PhD student at Texas Christian University. Her research interests include African American and racial injustice studies, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction histories, and U.S. New South and Jim Crow studies. Her doctoral research focuses on white supremacist efforts in North Texas during the critical decades between Reconstruction and the rise of the early twentieth-century KKK. She serves as an advisory member for Texas Woman’s University’s ‘Quakertown Stories’ initiative, and her research builds upon her master’s thesis, which historicized the forced removal of a North Texas freedmen’s community called Quakertown. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
05/06/2022
The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Gabrielle Lyle
Gabrielle Lyle is currently a PhD student in History at Texas A&M University where she has already earned her MA in History. She is pursuing a graduate certificate in Digital Humanities. Gabrielle holds a BA in International Studies from The Ohio State University. Her research examines the development of Jewish communities in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Gabrielle’s work has received support from the Arizona Historical Society, the Southern Jewish Historical Society, and the Texas Jewish Historical Society in addition to the Portal to Texas History. The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Gabrielle Lyle Project Title B’nai Borderlands: The Development of Jewish Communities in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Project Description This project explores the development of Jewish communities in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands including towns across Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico such as El Paso, Laredo, Las Cruces, and Tucson during the twentieth century. Given that Jews in smaller communities such as these towns are often considered as existing in isolation to the rest of Jewry, I aim to emphasize their connections to American and international Jewish institutions and organizations. Close attention will also be paid to Jewish migration patterns to the borderlands as well as the relationship between Jews and non-Jews in the region. Biography Gabrielle Lyle is currently a PhD student in History at Texas A&M University where she has already earned her MA in History. She is pursuing a graduate certificate in Digital Humanities. Gabrielle holds a BA in International Studies from The Ohio State University. Her research examines the development of Jewish communities in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Gabrielle’s work has received support from the Arizona Historical Society, the Southern Jewish Historical Society, and the Texas Jewish Historical Society in addition to the Portal to Texas History. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
05/06/2022
The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Amy Earhart
Amy E. Earhart is Associate Professor of English and affiliated faculty of Africana Studies at Texas A&M University. Earhart has participated in grants and fellowship received from the NEH, ACLS, and the Mellon Foundation and, in 2020, Earhart received a NEH-Mellon Fellowship for Digital Publication for her book length digital project “Digital Humanities and the Infrastructures of Race in African-American Literature.” She has published scholarship on a variety of digital humanities topics, with work that includes a monograph Traces of Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies (U Michigan Press 2015), a co-edited collection The American Literature Scholar in the Digital Age (U Michigan Press 2010), and a number of articles and book chapters in volumes including the Debates in Digital Humanities series, DHQ, DSH: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, and Textual Cultures. The Portal to Texas History 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Amy Earhart Project Title The Millican Massacre, 1868 Digital Archive Project Description The fellowship will support continued research and development of the Millican Massacre, 1868 digital archive. The archive collects documents related to what may have been the largest massacre of Black freedmen and women in Texas during reconstruction. Further, the project stresses community engagement, student involvement, and recovery. Biography Amy E. Earhart is Associate Professor of English and affiliated faculty of Africana Studies at Texas A&M University. Earhart has participated in grants and fellowship received from the NEH, ACLS, and the Mellon Foundation and, in 2020, Earhart received a NEH-Mellon Fellowship for Digital Publication for her book length digital project “Digital Humanities and the Infrastructures of Race in African-American Literature.” She has published scholarship on a variety of digital humanities topics, with work that includes a monograph Traces of Old, Uses of the New: The Emergence of Digital Literary Studies (U Michigan Press 2015), a co-edited collection The American Literature Scholar in the Digital Age (U Michigan Press 2010), and a number of articles and book chapters in volumes including the Debates in Digital Humanities series, DHQ, DSH: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Digital Studies/Le champ numérique, and Textual Cultures. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
05/06/2022
UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Ervin James III
Dr. Ervin James III is an associate professor of history at Paul Quinn College located in Dallas, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Tuskegee University and his master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Texas Southern University and Texas A&M University, respectively. Erv’s scholarly research and writing contributions have been published by The Journal of African American History, The Journal of South Texas, and the Oxford University Press. Currently, he is engaged in conducting research to promote the history of Paul Quinn College for the institution’s 150th anniversary celebration. UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title Paul Quinn College: A Tale of Three Campuses Told Through Digitized Images, Oral Interviews and Artifacts Project Description 2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of Paul Quinn College. Consequently, the institution is planning a year-long celebration to honor this monumental achievement. Dr. James is conducting research to develop an exhibit of the school’s history that spans across three campus locations in three different Texas cities. Biography Dr. Ervin James III is an associate professor of history at Paul Quinn College located in Dallas, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Tuskegee University and his master’s and doctorate degrees in history from Texas Southern University and Texas A&M University, respectively. Erv’s scholarly research and writing contributions have been published by The Journal of African American History, The Journal of South Texas, and the Oxford University Press. Currently, he is engaged in conducting research to promote the history of Paul Quinn College for the institution’s 150th anniversary celebration. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
04/18/2022
UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Megan J. Arlett
Megan J. Arlett was born in the UK, grew up in Spain, and now lives in Texas where she recently completed her PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of North Texas. The recipient of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, her poetry and essays have 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 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title The Women Ranchers and Rodeo Performers of Texas Project Description Dr. Arlett will work primarily with the Erwin E. Smith, the Don Shugart, and The Ray Bankston Photography Collections to write an exploratory nonfiction essay on visual representations of women ranchers and rodeo performers in Texas. The work completed during her time with the collections will allow her to write an essay on gender and what are traditionally seen as masculine vocations, and combine it with her manuscript’s primary argument about visual narrative. Biography Megan J. Arlett was born in the UK, grew up in Spain, and now lives in Texas where she recently completed her PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of North Texas. The recipient of two Academy of American Poets Prizes, her poetry and essays have 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:
04/18/2022
UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Claire Wolnisty
Dr. Claire Wolnisty is an Assistant Professor of early United States history at Austin College. Her research interests include nineteenth-century transnational history, the US Civil War, Texas, slavery, and gender. Her projects include her first book, A Different Manifest Destiny, and work on the Council of Independent Colleges’ Legacies of American Slavery grant. Dr. Wolnisty’s classes include Texas history, Pirates and Smugglers, the US Civil War and Reconstruction, and Early Nineteenth-Century US history. UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title Texas Trade: The International Slave Trade in the Western Hemisphere Project Description Texas Trade studies the pervasiveness of the international slave trade through Texas from the 1820s through the 1860s. This monograph problematizes the ahistorical teleology of Manifest Destiny, explores the international and transnational aspects of slavery in Texas, and employs the international slave trade as a thread of continuity across multiple time periods. Biography Dr. Claire Wolnisty is an Assistant Professor of early United States history at Austin College. Her research interests include nineteenth-century transnational history, the US Civil War, Texas, slavery, and gender. Her projects include her first book, A Different Manifest Destiny, and work on the Council of Independent Colleges’ Legacies of American Slavery grant. Dr. Wolnisty’s classes include Texas history, Pirates and Smugglers, the US Civil War and Reconstruction, and Early Nineteenth-Century US history. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted:
03/29/2022
UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee - Aza Pace
Aza Pace’s poems appear in The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Tupelo Quarterly, New Ohio Review, Passages North, Mudlark, Bayou, and elsewhere. She is the winner of two Academy of American Poets University Prizes and an Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Houston and is currently pursuing her PhD at UNT, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief of American Literary Review. UNT Special Collections 2022 Research Fellowship Awardee Project Title The Glories Project Description This project explores what it means to write eco-poetry in a time of environmental disaster and how to arrive at a feminist poetics of place. The poems draw on Texas landscapes and ask what we notice and pay reverence to, what we illuminate in the circle of our care. I will work with herbals, illustrated reference books, and educational books aimed at children and teachers from the 18th century to the present and respond to them as both scientific and artistic texts by producing a series of ekphrastic poems. Biography Aza Pace’s poems appear in The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Tupelo Quarterly, New Ohio Review, Passages North, Mudlark, Bayou, and elsewhere. She is the winner of two Academy of American Poets University Prizes and an Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Houston and is currently pursuing her PhD at UNT, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief of American Literary Review. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
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. special_collections_in_the_news
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. special_collections_in_the_news_collection_highlight
Posted:
02/21/2022
