Three Questions is an initiative to share the value that our faculty, students, and external patrons derive from using the Portal to Texas History at UNT Libraries.
1. How important is hosting your organization’s historic materials on UNT’s Portal to Texas History for your patrons or visitors?
The Portal has proven to be a vital component of my dissertation research on the rise of evangelicalism in the metropolitan South in the post-World War II, especially for the portions of my dissertation that focus on churches in the suburbs of Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Prior to my use of the Portal, my research relied on on the archived issues of more widely available newspapers like the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. These newspapers tended to cover church life in outlying suburbs only sporadically, so the Portal’s large portfolio of digitized suburban newspapers like the Cedar Hill Chronicle, The Colony Courier, and the Baytown Sun, has greatly enhanced my study of suburban church life in both the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. These newspapers not only contain articles on some of the key churches in my dissertation, but also a wealth of church advertisements for worship services, revivals, and community events that have provided key clues for how these churches organized, functioned, and grew or declined in tandem with their suburban surroundings. Alongside the Portal’s newspaper collections, its various map collections have helped me visualize the growth of these metropolitan areas across the twentieth century, while the City Directories Collection has helped me to trace the residential migration patterns of key individuals in my dissertation.
2. Can you tell us a story or two about how patrons or visitors have used your online collections that are hosted in the Portal?
The Portal to Texas History’s text-searchable interface has expanded the scope of my research by enabling me to do targeted searches for articles, advertisements, and announcements connected to churches significant to my project. This ability has rounded out my understanding of how these churches organized, interacted with their neighborhoods, and fit into their cities’ growth trajectories. What year did a certain church move to a new location? When did it hire a new minister? When did it close? The Portal makes small but substantive research questions like these readily answerable, augmenting my in-person research at archives across Texas.
3. What do you want others to know about your experience partnering with UNT’s Portal to Texas History?
I’m sure all historians would say what I’m about to say, but undertaking my dissertation research has solidified my appreciation and gratitude for the herculean labors of archivists and librarians who make historical research possible. I’m grateful for the efforts of the people of UNT Libraries and its institutional partners in launching and administering the Portal to Texas History, making such a wealth of a material available to scholars, students, and the general public.
Benjamin J. Young is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame. His principal research interests lie at the intersections of religion, political economy, and metropolitan development in modern American history. He is presently at work on a dissertation on the rise of evangelicalism in the metropolitan South from World War II to the 1990s.
