This September, The Portal to Texas History was happy to sponsor and attend the Texas General Land Office’s Save Texas History Symposium in Austin, Texas. The symposium provides attendees the opportunity to learn from scholars discussing the rich history of Texas. This year’s theme, Cartographic Frontiers: Putting Texas on the Map, focused on how the map and map making influenced the social, political, and economic history of Texas.
The Portal to Texas History announced its most recent call for submissions for the 2024 Rescuing Texas History program. This is the sixteenth year of the program, which has brought to light over 82,000 items from 448 projects. The resources added to The Portal to Texas History from these collections have had more than 19.5 million uses since the program began back in 2006!
Each year, the Rescuing Texas History program offers up to $1,000 of digitization services to applicants. The materials the awardees share with the Portal come from a variety of places including libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and private collectors.
We are thrilled to announce this year’s awardees!
Congratulations to:
| Museum of the American Railroad | Private Collection of TB Willis | Alpha Delta Pi of Gamma Upsilon | Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site |
| Riesel Historical Society | Dallas Municipal Archives | Tomball Museum Center | Midland Historical Society |
| Private Collection of the Whitehead Family | Private Collection of Sharon Smith | Private Collection of the Ritchie Family | Bastrop Public Library |
| Experience Wrestling | Denton Public Library | Lamar University | Collin County Genealogical Society |
| Rainbow Garden Club of North Texas | Private Collection of Jim Mahoney | West Side Port Arthur | Private Collection of the Whaley Family |
| City of Galveston Development Services | Texas Lutheran University | Murphy Historical Society | Rice University, Woodson Research Center |
| Ft Worth Jewish Archives | Texas Military Forces Museum | University of Dallas Archives |
The Texas Digital Newspaper Program on The Portal to Texas History has reached a huge milestone of over one-million newspaper issues openly available!
These one-million newspaper issues comprise 11,256,533 pages, contributed by 226 partners from across Texas, and representing 210 counties.
Multiple partners have helped to build the Texas Digital Newspaper Program Collection, to make it the largest, single-state, openly accessible digital newspaper repository in the U.S. These include:
The staff in the Digital Newspaper Unit get to handle almost every newspaper that is uploaded into the TDNP collection, and we all have a favorite newspaper title, masthead, or time period. Tim Gieringer, who oversees the newspaper descriptions for what you see in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program, loves a good masthead. He says that two titles, in particular, have stood out to him: The Palacios Beacon and Diogenes.
Brooke Edsall, the head of the physical page and large-format scanning area, has said that her favorite newspaper collections are The Galveston Tribune and The Ennis Daily News. Hannah Lindsey, who oversees newspaper issue processing, says that her favorite newspapers are the Beeville Bee, the Houston Informer, and Svoboda. Sarah Lynn Fisher, former staff member of the Newspaper Unit and now Digital Collections Librarian, reports that she loves all of the local Denton newspapers, including UNT’s own NT Daily, the Denton Record-Chronicle, and her hometown newspaper, The Allen American. As the person who has worked with all the partners across Texas to add their newspapers, I’m not sure how to begin choosing a favorite title, though I do love reading through the Spanish-language newspapers, civil rights newspapers, like The Chicano Times, and this wacky handwritten, Union POW camp newspaper, The Old Flag.
All of the newspaper issues you see in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program represent conversations and people who have worked hard to preserve and build access to history, and while we mention some titles here, we value every single page and every single person who has helped to grow this collection.
Access to the newspapers available in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program has been supported by multiple financial donors, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, through the National Digital Newspaper Program; the Texas State Library and Archives Commission TexTreasures Competitive Grant Program, funded by the Institution of Museum & Library Services Library Services Technology Act; the Tocker Foundation; the Summerlee Foundation; the Ladd & Katherine Hancher Foundation; and the Matagator Foundation.
This Fourth of July post comes to you from Ricardo Carter, one of the Digital Newspaper Unit’s newest student assistants! Ricardo is a fifth-year student at the University of North Texas, majoring in Professional and Technical Communication with a minor in Public Relations. Ricardo will eventually pursue a career in public relations, either with a high-level tech company or in sports and entertainment.
Are you ready for a fantastic Fourth of July celebration? As The United States’ greatest holiday approaches, great food will be essential to the celebration. Whether you’re hosting a backyard BBQ or a festive gathering, The Portal of Texas History has delicious recipes to help make your Independence Day even more special. Let us dive into some mouthwatering dishes that are perfect for the occasion.
This no-bake dessert is a showstopper with its layers of creamy filling, graham crackers, and fresh berries. It is a perfect fit for the patriotic theme of the day. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1495349/)
Bring a taste of the tropics to your 4th of July celebration with this delightful pineapple cake, from the Denton Record-Chronicle. 
The sweetness of pineapple and moist cake layers will transport you to a summer paradise. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1370717/)
From Taylor Press, you can switch up your traditional pizza routine with this grilled Mexican pizza. Loaded with flavorful ingredients, this dish brings a fun and spicy twist to any 4th of July menu.(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth759709/)
The Cedar Hill Chronicle has you covered because raspberries are in season, making this red raspberry cobbler the perfect choice for a summer celebration. The vibrant color and juicy berries are sure to be a hit. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth480386/)
A classic Southern dessert, peach cobbler is a comforting and timeless treat. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a truly irresistible dessert. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1495348/)
Fire up the grill and treat your guests to these mouthwatering char-grilled beef burgers. They are a true crowd-pleaser and a must-have for any 4th of July celebration. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth819363/)
No matter which recipes you choose for your 4th of July spread, they will be a hit. We wish you a wonderful Independence Day with good food, great company, and memorable moments!
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC), in collaboration with the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Library Services Technology Act funds, offers an annual competitive grants program to libraries across Texas. This month, TSLAC has announced multiple newspaper digitization grant awards recipients, whose materials will be added to The Portal to Texas History over the course of the upcoming year. All of these materials will be digitized from either microfilm or physical page and uploaded to the Texas Digital Newspaper Program collection on The Portal to Texas History.
The Plano Public Library has received funds to digitize 38,500 pages of the Plano Star-Courier, established in 1902 through the consolidation of the Plano Star and Plano Courier newspapers. It is the longest-operating Plano newspaper and serves as a vital record of the history of the city and surrounding area.
The Moore Memorial Library in Texas City has received an award to digitize 38,740 pages of the Texas City Sun, from 1934-1950. With its first edition in 1915, the Texas City Sun took on the responsibility of providing news for the Greater Galveston County Mainland. Alvin, Santa Fe, Dickinson, Bacliff, Kemah, Algoa, Alta Loma, Hitchcock, La Marque, and League City received regular attention from The Texas City Sun, even after some of these towns supported their own local papers. Once digitized, these newspapers will connect to the Moore Memorial Library’s current Portal to Texas history materials.
The Fort Worth Public Library has received funds to expand its editions of the Fort Worth Press by an additional 37,950 pages. The Fort Worth Press currently spans 1921-1945 on The Portal to Texas History. At the time of this writing, the Press collection has shown tremendous research popularity, with over 21,000 uses across 4,873 individual newspaper issues, representing a usage rate of 430%.
In addition to partner libraries receiving TexTreasures awards, University of North Texas Libraries is pleased to announce that they have also received a TexTreasures award of $40,000, to digitize the El Paso Herald-Post. Currently, The Portal to Texas History hosts issues of The El Paso Herald from 1910 to 1921. Due to difficulty locating complete year runs of this title, until this past year UNT had difficulty adding more years to this collection. However, in 2023, UNT was able to obtain master microfilm for The El Paso Herald and the El Paso Herald-Post, spanning 1927 up to 1965. For this grant award, UNT will expand this newspaper content from 1927 up to 1940, to represent a critical era in the history of El Paso, the State of Texas, the U.S., and even Mexico.
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