Announcing the 2026 Rescuing Texas History Recipients

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Every Texas community has stories worth preserving.

The 2026 Rescuing Texas History (RTH) recipients reflect the many ways those stories are captured and shared. From military records and family photographs to student scrapbooks, organizational archives, oral histories, and cultural collections, this year’s projects highlight the people, places, and experiences that have shaped Texas.

Through the Rescuing Texas History program, libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, private collectors, and other partners work with the UNT Libraries to digitize historically significant materials and make them freely available through The Portal to Texas History. Together, the 2026 recipients will expand access to records documenting military service, education, civic life, arts and culture, faith communities, local institutions, and everyday Texans for researchers, students, and the public.

Military Service and Veterans Experiences

Military service is documented throughout this year’s awards, with collections from the Private Collection of the Ritchie, Private Collection of the Brownlee, Private Collection of the Arredondo, and Private Collection of the Rudd families preserving records, photographs, correspondence, and publications related to World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam era. Together, these materials provide insight into both the experiences of those who served and the communities that supported them.

Community and Local History

The people, places, and institutions that shaped communities across Texas are reflected in projects from the Fannin County Historical Commission, Fannin County Museum of History, Pioneer Memorial Library, Atlanta Grade School Friends, the Private Collection of John Germann, Moore Memorial Public Library, and Travis Park United Methodist Church. Their collections document local businesses, schools, churches, organizations, and civic life, preserving the histories of towns, counties, neighborhoods, and institutions that form the foundation of Texas history.

Education and Everyday Life

Scrapbooks, student records, memory books, photographs, and educational materials from Denton Public Library, Austin College, Moody Medical Library at UTMB, and the Collin County Genealogical Society offer a glimpse into learning, student life, professional development, and community connections across generations. Collectively, these materials help illustrate how Texans lived, learned, and built their communities.

Cultural Heritage and Public Life

The organizations, institutions, and creative endeavors that have shaped public life in Texas are represented across several awarded projects. The Dallas Municipal Archives will preserve records related to WRR radio, the Museum of the American Railroad contributes materials documenting passenger rail history, and the Liberty Hill Development Foundation will digitize records tied to a long-running public sculpture initiative. Additional projects from the Philosophical Society of Texas, Heritage Association of Frisco, and the Private Collection of Dr. Teresa Marrero document intellectual life, commemorative events, and the performing arts.

Family Archives and Personal Collections

Personal collections remain some of the richest sources for understanding everyday Texas history. The Private Collection of TB Willis, the Private Collection of the Ferguson Family, the Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site, and other family-centered archives contain photographs, correspondence, manuscripts, memoirs, and personal records that offer valuable perspectives on family life, professional careers, community involvement, and daily experiences across generations.

Looking Ahead

The 2026 Rescuing Texas History recipients showcase the dedication of organizations, communities, and individuals working to preserve Texas history.

Together, these projects document the lives of students, veterans, artists, educators, medical professionals, civic leaders, community organizations, families, and local institutions. They capture stories from every region of the state and contribute new resources for research, teaching, and discovery.

As these materials are digitized and added to The Portal to Texas History, they will become freely accessible to researchers, educators, students, genealogists, and the public around the world.

We congratulate the 2026 awardees and look forward to sharing these collections as they become available through The Portal to Texas History.

 

Private Collection of the Ritchie FamilyFannin County Museum of HistoryDallas Jewish Historical SocietyPrivate Collection of the Arrendondo FamilyPioneer Memorial LibraryMoore Memorial Public Library
Private Collection of TB WillisAustin CollegePrivate Collection of Dr. Teresa MarreroMost Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of TexasPhilosophical Society of TexasTravis Park United Methodist Church
Fannin County Historical CommissionSam Bell Maxey House State Historic SiteAtlanta Grade School FriendsPrivate Collection of the Rudd FamilyHeritage Association of FriscoCollin County Genealogical Society
Denton Public LibraryPrivate Collection of John GermannPrivate Collection of the Brownlee FamilyMuseum of the American RailroadMagoffin Home State Historic SiteLiberty Hill Development Foundation
Dallas Municipal ArchivesRainbow Garden Club of North TexasPrivate Collection of the Ferguson FamilyMoody Medical Library at UTMBSmith County Historical SocietyPrivate Collection of the Matta Family

The Portal at the TSHA Annual Conference

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Earlier this month, Jake Mangum with The Portal to Texas History attended the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Annual Conference, joining historians, educators, and history lovers from across the state.The conference provided opportunities to engage with current conversations on Texas history, public history, and digital access. Sessions and informal discussions highlighted the importance of accessibility, collaboration, and the growing role of digital platforms in historical research and education. All core elements of The Portal’s mission.

PTH exhibitor table

While attending the conference, Mangum connected with new and existing users of the Portal, discussing shared challenges and future opportunities for collaboration. These conversations help ensure that the Portal continues to support researchers, educators, and the general public by providing free, online access to historical materials from across Texas.

The Roots of the Bermuda Onion in Texas

Oh, oh, oh, "O" is the Onions

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Oh, oh, oh, "O" is the Onions

This blog post was prepared by Spencer Houghton, the National Digital Newspaper Program-Texas graduate student assistant. 

In 1898, T. C. Nye sold his cattle ranch in the humid town of Cotulla, Texas, and bought an irrigated vineyard on the north side of Laredo in Webb County. Despite having a viticultural history reaching back to the late 1600’s, at that time, Texas was known for neither its grapes nor its wine. The three highest yield cash crops in 1898 were cotton, oats, and corn.

 Nevertheless, T. C. Nye approached agriculture with the same bold prospect that a wildcatter approaches a field of untapped oil. Nye would make his money, not with cotton, oats, corn, or grapes, but with an entirely new crop to the area, the Bermuda onion.

Originally taken from the island of Bermuda, the Bermuda onion was tested in Florida, the Carolinas , and Louisiana before finding a home in the silty, calcium rich soil that was shaped over thousands of years from deposits surrendered by the Rio Grande.  As was articulated in a February 1910 issue of the Laredo Weekly Times, there is something about Laredo that makes “a better flavored onion.”

Over the next three decades, production increased from 64,000 pounds in 1899 to more than 90,000,000 pounds in 1930. The Laredo Weekly Times declared in 1923, “Oh, oh, oh! “O” is the beginning of the two words that have made the Laredo section of the country famous throughout the land ONIONS and OIL.” According to The Daily Tribune (Bay City, Texas) in 1928, “onion culture has made this territory an important factor in the nation’s onion supply.”

Though production had reached all-time highs by the mid-1930’s, profitability slipped to just above a 20-year low and both local and national markets were thoroughly saturated. The collapse culminated in a headline from the April 30, 1936, issue of The Laredo Times that read, “Government buying onions.” The industry had overextended itself and needed a bailout. As was reported in December 1936 by news outlets from as far away as The McKinney Examiner (McKinney, Texas), the “Onion outlook not so good in South Texas.”

What was once the land of “ONIONS and OIL,” became the land of oil, diversified agriculture, and international trade. Prosperity would continue for the town of Laredo, but in the wake of the 1936 collapse the Bermuda onion would lose its principal significance to the town’s booming agricultural sector.

 For more information on the beginning of industrial agriculture in Southwest Texas, browse Chronicling America for more issues of The Laredo Times. If you’d like to visit The Portal to Texas History, you can learn more about the Bermuda onion from the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Happy Holidays from the Digital Newspaper Program

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As 2025 ends, we in the Digital Newspaper Unit thought it would be fun to look back at how newspapers celebrated the end of the year over time.  Many Texas newspapers purchased mass-produced prints, some developed through chromolithography, to showcase elaborate front pages for Christmas or New Year’s issues in the early 1900s.  The Newspaper Unit staff always enjoy seeing these December and early January pages, and we imagine that they represent a dedication to celebrating the end of the year on the part of newspaper publishers. These flashy front pages also afforded publishers an opportunity to boost revenue and promote local businesses, drawing readers’ attention to exciting events taking place during the holiday season. 

This blog post celebrates the color and artwork in those historic newspaper issues.  

Shiner Gazette, December 13, 1899Closing out the 19th-century, the December 13, 1899, issue of the Shiner Gazette was not printed with color ink–something that was very rare until the 1910s–but the headline proclaimed  “Christmas Going on its Yearly Round,” and depicted elaborate drawings of watches and jewelry that could be purchased from A.V. Schwab, who would put gifts away for delivery on Christmas day.

The December 23, 1909, Kosse Cyclone offered a full-pageKosse Cyclone, December 23, 1909 scene of Santa Claus delivering gifts to all the woodland creatures who had been good that year. With a population of approximately 700 at this time, Kosse was not a large or central metropolis, but rather a regional community that supported farms and ranches in southern Limestone County, and this front page represents an impressive investment by the publisher for their readers in 1909.  As these images were mass produced, this same front page was also used in Anahuac, for The Progress. 

 

 


Texas Christian Advocate, December 8, 1910

To close 1910, the Texas Christian Advocate printed a red and green front page depicting a wreath-bordered snowy lane, below which is printed “Christmas 1910.”


Polk County Enterprise, December 16, 1915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Livingston, Texas, the Polk County Enterprise celebrated Christmas 1915 with a full-page, full-color image of children finding presents under a tree, in a room lit by cozy firelight.


Honey Grove Signal, December 21, 1923

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 21, 1923, Santa Claus wrote to the children of Texas to let them know when he would be bringing them toys and to assure them of his love.  The Honey Grove Signal published this letter, in front of a red and green map of Texas, alongside an image of Santa’s reindeer and sled heading toward the Lone Star State.

 

New Ulm Enterprise, December 25, 1924

In New Ulm, the front page from December 25, 1924, contained only a bit of text, including the title and issue information, and at the bottom of the page, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” with the text surrounding a full-page, full-color image of Santa Claus surrounded by beautiful toys.

Silsbee Bee, December 25, 1935

Near the Piney Woods of Texas, the Silsbee Bee issue from December 25, 1935, lets its readers know that they have hired some of “the world’s finest writers” to make their readers’ Christmas “merrie.”  The border for this year depicts different holiday ornaments, printed in red and green, with a large Santa silhouette serving as the central image on the page, above which appears a red and green masthead proclaiming “For a Merrier Christmas: Gift Shoppers Edition.”  It’s difficult to read this front page and not think about the editors trying to raise their readers’ spirits with this upbeat message and issue at the height of the Great Depression. 

 

 

The Canadian Record, December 10, 1936

 

The Canadian Record offered red and green border similar to the Silsbee 1935 issue, with a “Joyous Christmas” masthead to celebrate December 1936, lauding that Santa Claus would be in town on December 19. With the Great Depression continuing, this front page indicates a commitment to spreading joy that we are excited to reproduce today.


The Cushing News, December 22, 1939

 

Publishing its text in green at the top of the front page and red below the fold, the Cushing News from December 22, 1939, explains how the newspaper staff will be celebrating the holiday and will not be putting out an issue for December 29, offering “no guarantee as to the editors [sic] ability” during the holiday week.

In Texas, we are proud to be able to scan the original physical pages, for optimal digital representation of these beautiful issues.  However you and your loved ones celebrate the holiday season this year, we in the Digital Newspaper Unit hope it’s filled with joy. 

Texas Medical Association Library Collection

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Written by Sophie Walker, a student assistant in the UNT Libraries’ Digital Projects Lab and a graduate student in the UNT College of Information majoring in Library Science. 

Image of Pellagra Forum

Denton, A. N.; Bennett, T. J. & Smith, Matthew M. The Texas Medical News, Volume 7, Number 5, March 1898, periodical, March 1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1813977/; Texas Medical Association.

Healthcare is one of Texas’s major industries—contributing more than $108 billion to the state’s GDP, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis—and the history of the medical profession within the state is a long and fascinating one. Visitors to The Portal to Texas History can now explore a bit of that history through the Texas Medical Association Library Collection.

This collection, consisting entirely of medical journals, was provided by the Texas Medical Association after a shift in the TMA physical collections. It contains 1,568 items and spans nine decades from the 1880s to the 1960s; most of them were created between the 1880s and the 1910s.  

 

  

About the Texas Medical Association 

In the 1800s, many Texas doctors organized medical societies and associations centered around specific counties and communities. In January of 1853, 35 physicians from 18 counties gathered in Austin, TX to form one such society for the entire state: the Texas Medical Association. Later that year, they changed the name to the Medical Association of Texas… and then promptly went inactive. 

That is, until 1869, when the Washington County Medical Association urged its revival. Since then, the organization has only grown. It renamed itself to the State Medical Association of Texas in 1901 and returned to the original name of the Texas Medical Association in 1951.  

  

Initially, only regularly-trained white men were permitted to be members, but the organization expanded to allow female doctors in 1893, doctors of color in 1966, and osteopathic physicians in 1972. The twentieth century also saw the growth of the TMA Alliance, a partner group originally called the Women’s Auxiliary of the Texas Medical Association. 

Denton, A. N.; Bennett, T. J. & Smith, Matthew M. The Texas Medical News, Volume 7, Number 5, March 1898, periodical, March 1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1813977/; Texas Medical Association.

 

It was formed during World War I by the wives of the members, and in this present day is a powerful community organization that performs service projects and undertakes political advocacy on behalf of the TMA. The Texas Medical Association advocates for doctors and patients. They encourage postgraduate education, campaign for effective medical practice legislation, and fight to uphold the integrity of the profession. You can read more about the history of the TMA in this article by the Texas State Historical Association.

 

Page from Texas Medical Journal 1914

Daniel, Mrs. F. E. Texas Medical Journal, Volume 30, Number 2, August 1914, periodical, August 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1838433/; Texas Medical Association.

About the Collection

Most of the journals within this collection were issued monthly to physicians across the state. The majority of issues come from the Texas State Journal of Medicine (renamed to Texas Medicine in 1966), the “official organ” of the Texas Medical Association. However, this title wasn’t established until 1905; before then, in the 1880s and 1890s, Daniel’s Texas Medical Journal (later renamed to just the Texas Medical Journal), owned and edited by former Confederate surgeon Ferdinand E. Daniel, served as the organization’s unofficial publication. This collection contains many other serial titles as well—14 at this time—most of which were independently owned and operated.

These early journals, which lacked sponsoring organizations or a standardized format for articles, often reflected the personality and beliefs of their editors.

Texas Medical Journal, volume 21, number 10, 1906

Daniel, F. E. Texas Medical Journal, Volume 21, Number 10, April 1906, periodical, April 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1820697/; Texas Medical Association.

 Overall, this collection provides insight into what the medical field was like over a hundred years ago. There are articles addressing the early-1900s epidemic of pellagra—a disease caused by a nutritional deficiency of niacin (vitamin 83) which, nowadays, is virtually eliminated from the United States. There are advertisements for medicinal arsenic and something called an “inhalatorium cabinet.” There are articles about surgeries that are routine now but were new and risky back then. But there are also more unfortunate aspects of Texas history—for instance, F. E. Daniel was a notable proponent of the eugenics movement, even including a “Eugenics Section” in the Texas Medical Journal for a time. 
Texas Medical Association Library Collection presents deeper insights into Texas medical history for research, analysis, and study.