The Portal to Texas History is a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas.

The Portal to Texas History

A gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas.

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This section provides ways for you to get periodic updates about the site, and links to share it on popular social media networks.

Collection Highlights

This section provides a sampling of some of our collections.

Texas Digital Newspaper Program

Check out the News from:

 25 years ago in October, 1996 50 years ago in October, 1971 75 years ago in October, 1946 100 years ago in October, 1921 150 years ago in October, 1871 This day in history
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More Collections

Spanish Archives of Laredo

Covering 1749-1872, these handwritten official documents contain records of boundary surveys; land allotments; Indian raids; church, school, and social development; …

William H. "Bill" Nelson, Jr. and Jean Nelson Collection (The Dallas Way)

Letters, speeches, poetry, and memoirs predominately dated 1971-1990 written by mother and son, Jean and Bill Nelson. Bill Nelson was …

Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room

Materials documenting local and state history, including images of businesses, cemeteries, churches, courthouses, lawmen, monuments, outlaws, schools, Native Americans, and …

Marfa, Diversity in the Desert

These photographs document the local history of Marfa and the surrounding area, as well as local families and the ghost …

Explore all 716 Collections

Featured Partner

Every time you visit this page, we'll highlight a different partner in this section.

Rose Marine Theater

The Rose Marine Theater opened as a movie house in the 1920s and was well-known for screening Spanish-language films. These photographs include images of notable actors and performers.

About This Partner Browse Contributed Items
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News and Announcements

Horse Photos Featured in New Book

The UNT Libraries recently published Through the Lenses of Ray Bankston and Don Shugart, a captivating sample of the extensive collection of prints and negatives held in the Libraries’ Special Collections.

Ray Bankston and Don Shugart were two of the most prolific photographers of American Quarter Horses and horse show events in the South and Southwest during the last four decades of the twentieth century.

Their work is also featured in The Portal to Texas History’s Ray and Joyce Bankston Dalco Photography and Don Shugart Photography Collections.

What we do: Educate, Preserve, Build

Hundreds of years of Texas' cultural heritage exist in the physical holdings of communities across the state. The Portal seeks to digitize originals, preserving and presenting online copies for the long-term. Doing so highlights hidden collections, builds statewide connections, and provides access to you, regardless of the time or your location.

Resources4 Educators

We offer teaching materials that connect K-12 students with primary source historical documents to dramatically enrich their learning.

"We are very excited about the outstanding lessons on your site and plan to use it as one of the cornerstones of implementing a long needed overhaul on the method of instruction for Texas history."

Daniel M. Reyes, San Antonio ISD
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Texas Digital Newspaper Program

Learners of all ages can use TDNP to stand in the shoes of people from over 180 years ago to the present. Through our newspaper collection, we provide an understanding of the lives of Texans across history and miles.

"The newspaper digitization project places our library in position to reach out toward the future. By taking a piece of the past and bringing it with us, we are sure to grow and learn, appreciate and respect what was, what is and what will be."

Leslie Whitaker, Claude Public Library
About the Program

Rescuing Texas History

The Portal to Texas History periodically offers mini-grants for its Rescuing Texas History series. Each grant provides up to $1,000 of digitization services to libraries, museums, historical societies, and other groups that house historical materials. All of the materials are scanned at UNT Libraries and hosted on the Portal.

"I collect old Texas photographs. Thanks to the Portal, they can now be viewed by the world."

Brad Willis — T. B. Willis Photograph Collection
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Help Us Save Texas History!

Last month, we counted 2,038,567 uses of items on the Portal by people all over the world. Many were provided by small communities and funded by the generosity of donors like you.

Become a Partner

Information for libraries, museums, schools, historical societies, civic groups, and individuals interested in the digital preservation and sharing of cultural heritage materials on this site.

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On-line Giving

You can support the preservation of small, disappearing, and at-risk communities and provide free access to them for students, educators, and researchers of all ages and abilities.

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