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The Portal to Texas History reaches Twentieth Anniversary

Posted: 08/19/2024

The Portal to Texas History will reach a major milestone this week - the Twentieth Anniversary of providing online access to rare, historical and primary source materials about Texas. From humble beginnings, we’ve taken the lead in providing extraordinary access to Texas history with our 512 collaborative partners from across the state. Launched in 2004 with just one partner, the materials now number at over two million items that are accessed by researchers, students, and others around the world.

Founded by Associate Dean Emeritus, Cathy Nelson Hartman, planning for the project began in 2002, and over time has transformed the way that historians and other people research and understand our state. The two million items in the Portal comprise nearly twenty million digital files that are used nearly 1.5 million times each month, and the materials continue to grow.

Collection highlights include:

  • The Texas Digital Newspaper Program collection which is the largest, single-state, openly accessible digital newspaper repository in the U.S., with over one million newspaper issues from 1813 to the present.

  • The KXAS-NBC 5 News Collection which features news reels and other content from the first television news station in Texas.

  • Donald F. Baker Collection (The Dallas Way), which is just one collection among many that pull from the largest LGBTQ archive in the state, housed in UNT Special Collections. Donald Baker was the plaintiff in Baker v. Wade case which was a civil rights victory with national implications.

  • Moses and Stephen F. Austin Papers which provide in-depth insight into Austin’s management of the Austin colony; the events leading up to the Texas Revolution and then the Revolution itself; and the first few months of the Republic of Texas. (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History)

  • The National Museum of the Pacific War collections which honor the eight million Americans who served in WWII in the Pacific Theater by sharing their stories with the world.

  • Map Collections from the University of Texas at Arlington which features over 5,000 maps depicting all parts of the world, the collection emphasizes the Gulf Coast region and the greater Southwest. It includes maps dating from 1493 to the present.

  • The Cattle Raisers Museum collections which represent the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the U.S. dedicated to the cattle industry.

  • The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and Hall of Fame which explores the lives of the West Texas ranching heritage, life in the Permian Basin boom towns, and early oilfield camps.

  • The Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company archives which document the history of U.S. aeronautic and military history, especially during WWII.

  • The Dallas Municipal Archives collections which feature materials from the Dallas Police Department’s investigation of assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as collections covering Bonnie and Clyde and the development of Love Field.

The Portal’s many partners across the state form the heart of what the Portal team has accomplished over the years, and we cannot thank them enough for their trust, hard work, and collaboration in helping us reach this momentous goal. To explore a more in-depth history about the history and development of the Portal, please read “UNT’s Portal to Texas History changed the way scholars research the state,” by Heather Noel.

We thank our many funders who have helped us get here: The National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s grant programs, Humanities Texas, the Texas Historical Commission, the State of Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund, the Tocker Foundation, the Summerlee Foundation, the Kempner Fund, the Ladd & Katherine Hancher Foundation; and the Matagator Foundation, the Amon Carter Foundation, The Adeline and George McQueen Foundation, the Summerfield G. Roberts Foundation, the Forrest C. Lattner Foundation, the Dodge Jones Foundation, the George Foundation, the Henderson-Wessendorff Foundation, the Union Pacific Foundation, The H.L. Brown Jr. Family Foundation, The Burdine Johnson Foundation, and the Abilene Library Consortium. We also thank the hundreds and hundreds of individual donors and community volunteers that have supported us in reaching our goals.

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