In September 2017, UNT Libraries’ Digital Newspaper Unit was awarded a newspaper digitization grant through TexTreasures, the competitive grant program supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and made available through the Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission. This grant, the Texas Borderlands Newspaper Digitization Project II, serves as a continuation of the Texas Borderlands Newspaper Collection, which was created through the support of a 2016-2017 TexTreasures award. Through the Borderlands II award, the Texas Digital Newspaper Program will build access to an additional 23,000 pages of border and South Texas newspaper titles.

From Maverick County, we will digitize a rare set of the Eagle Pass Guide, spanning 1893-1896 and 1909-1910.  These newspapers were purchased by UNT’s Special Collections Department, and we look forward to seeing what historical treasures these newspapers will reveal after they are available in the Borderlands Newspaper Collection.  By request of the newspaper publisher, we will add another pair of South Texas newspaper titles to this collection. The first title, La Voz, was contributed by Alfredo Cardenas and published by his father in 1937.  La Voz documents political turmoil in Duval County during the 1930s, and Mr. Cardenas has given permission for UNT to include it on the Texas Digital Newspaper Program. The second newspaper, The Duval County Picture, was published by Alfredo Cardenas himself, from 1987-1998, and in talking with him about other newspaper titles for the Borderlands I project, he asked if we could also consider digitizing La Voz and Duval County Picture because they represent significant historical situations in South Texas.

This is just a small window into the complete set of newspapers will will load into the Borderlands collection. Visit and start your own research project in the Texas Borderlands Newspaper collection–you never know where your research might take you!

TexTreasures is an annual competitive grant program designed to help member libraries make their special collections more accessible to researchers across Texas and beyond. TexTreasures awards have been made possible by the Library Services and Technology Act through the support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.