Latest partners added for The Portal to Texas History

Herman Brown Free Library

2026-03-05T15:23:35-06:00

The Burnet County Free Library began in 1948 on the second floor of the first county jail, starting with just $500 worth of books and 1,000 volumes on loan from the State Library. By 1951, it had moved into its first purpose-built home behind the jail, with an additional wing added in 1962. As the community grew, so did the need for a larger space. Thanks to a land donation from Gavin Garrett and major support from the Brown Foundation of Houston, a new 9,200-square-foot library was built in 1976 and named the Herman Brown Free Library.

Private Collection of Levi H. Davis

2026-03-02T11:02:00-06:00

Levi H. Davis is a North Texas public servant, business leader, municipal government history-maker, and educator. After completing his military service, he began his career serving the city of Dallas in 1973 and was the first Black Assistant City Manager from 1978 to 1986 and again from 1990 to 1998. Davis has held executive positions at several prominent investment banking firms and taught courses in public administration and government at several area colleges. He has served on numerous civic boards, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, KERA, the State Fair of Texas, the Visiting Nurses Association Foundation, and the African American Museum of Dallas.

Kaufman County Library

2026-02-24T10:11:33-06:00

The Kaufman County Library was officially organized in 1971 by the Kaufman County Commissioner's Court. The Kaufman Clover, a federated women's group, was instrumental in leading the charge for a public library in Kaufman.

Private Collection of Dr. Teresa Marrero

2026-02-04T13:40:06-06:00

The Private Collection of Dr. Teresa Marrero consists of performance reviews written by Teresa Marrero, a UNT professor of Spanish, who specializes in Latin American and Latinx theater and performance. These reviews throughout the Dallas/Forth Worth area focus on Latino, Latina, Latinx, Hispanic, etc. theater, and includes theater festival reviews of Teatro Dallas and Cara Mia Theater Company, both based in Dallas. There are also reviews of non-Hispanic pieces. Included are reviews of dance, Q & As, and Essays from 2013 to 2019. They were originally published on www.TheaterJones.com. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this site was closed, and all the public access to the six years if North Texas performance history was limited.

Private Collection of the Luis and Iris A. Dovalina Family

2026-02-04T12:51:58-06:00

The Private Collection of the Luis and Iris A. Dovalina Family is a multi-generational archive documenting the history of four South Texas families: the Dovalina, Garza, Peña, and Codina families. The collection is categorized into three major eras: The Ancestry Collection (1882 - 1958), The Antecedent Dovalina-Garza Era (1959 - 1996), and The Modern Era (1997 - Present).

Weston Heritage Guild

2026-01-15T10:02:45-06:00

Weston Heritage Guild seeks to preserve, cherish, and celebrate the history, tradition, and heritage of Weston, Texas. The digitization of materials from the Weston Heritage Guild was funded in part by the Collin County Historical Commission.

Private Collection of the Whitehead Family

2025-11-04T10:43:25-06:00

The Private Collection of the Whitehead Family includes the Whitehead Dance Register contains the complete list of society dance lessons taught in Texas by Henry Swepson Whitehead and his son, William Rufus Whitehead. Date, location, student and cost are all listed. Some additional notes are also included. In addition to teaching dancing and playing the violin, Henry Swepson Whitehead was a member of the Sommervell Expedtion and fought in the Red River Campaign.

Private Collection of Sharon Smith

2025-11-04T10:23:20-06:00

The Private Collection of Sharon Smith focuses on historical familial items from her great-grandparents: Lucia “Lucie” Beilharz Busch and Hugo Albert Max Busch, as well as some of their children. Lucia “Lucie” Beilharz of Wuttenberg was the sister of Theodore Beilharz, a prominent German stonemason in Dallas. She married Hugo Albert Max Busch of Berlin, distantly related to Adolphus Busch. Both families (Busch and Beilharz) had emigrated through New York City, both reportedly fleeing the Kaiser. Hugo Albert Max Busch settled in Dallas after doing business in Houston & Galveston with the Houston Post. Busch opened one of the first printing shops in Dallas. The Busch family had eight children (with five surviving to adulthood), several of which assisted in the print shop. Hugo Albert, Lucie Beilharz Busch, as well as his son Hugo Adolph Max Busch, and Hugo Adolph’s wife Metha, were active within the Dallas Sons of Hermann - a German social club.

Scottish Rite Hospital for Children

2025-11-03T10:15:26-06:00

In 1921, Texas Masons approached Dallas’ first orthopedic surgeon, W. B. Carrell, M.D., with an urgent need to help children affected with polio. Their union forged Scottish Rite for Children’s values and mission. With the introduction of the Salk and Sabin vaccines in the mid-1950s, which virtually eradicated polio in the Western hemisphere, Scottish Rite broadened its focus to other orthopedic conditions. Today, many members of the board of trustees belong to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Masons throughout Texas continue to support the organization through their personal time and individual contributions.

Center for Big Bend Studies

2025-10-10T14:11:57-05:00

The Center for Big Bend Studies, established by Sul Ross State University in 1987, promotes archaeological and historical research in the Greater Big Bend region of Texas and northern Mexico. The Center annually publishes The Journal of Big Bend Studies, with articles that draw from multiple disciplines to increase our understanding of the historical and cultural development of the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, focusing on the Big Bend region of Texas, Chihuahua, and Coahuila.

County Line Magazine

2025-09-16T16:21:56-05:00

Bimonthly magazine discussing the arts, entertainment, music, dining, and other activities in northeastern Texas along with stories about people, places and events in the area.

Farmersville Historical Society

2025-09-12T08:59:02-05:00

Farmersville Historical Society is an all-volunteer organization formed to preserve the rich history of the Farmersville, TX area. In 1989, the Bain Honaker House was donated to the historical society in public trust. Today we use the home to educate people on the founding people of Farmersville, TX, and their way of life from the mid-19th century through WWII.

Private Collection of Brenda Lincke Fisseler

2025-09-05T09:01:14-05:00

The Private Collection of Brenda Lincke Fisseler is part of The Roland and Junell (Wulf) Lincke Family Memorial Collection. The items in the collection include postcards, ephemera, publications and family photographs from DeWitt County, Texas, especially Yorktown, Texas and surrounding rural communities.

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center

2025-08-28T09:46:19-05:00

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center is a component of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) and serves as the official regional historical resource depository for the 10 Southeast Texas counties of Chambers, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto and Tyler.

Grayson College Foundation

2025-07-03T10:31:00-05:00

The Grayson College Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in March 1992, as a 501 (c) 3, a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity formed solely for the purpose of support of Grayson College.

Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site

2025-06-12T16:05:32-05:00

Sam Bell Maxey was a Mexican War veteran, former Confederate general, and future U.S. Senator when his family moved into their fashionable, newly built home on the south side of Paris in 1868. In this home, the Maxey family navigated the political and social landscape from Reconstruction Era Texas through the start of the First World War. The home’s newly restored interiors showcase original family furnishings, clothing, and letters. These give insight into the lives of the three generations of the family that bore witness to Reconstruction’s challenging legacy.

Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park

2025-06-12T15:54:40-05:00

The Heritage Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other content.

African American Museum of Dallas

2025-06-12T15:44:00-05:00

The African American Museum is the only one of its kind in the Southwestern Region devoted to the preservation and display of African American artistic, cultural and historical materials. It has one of the largest African American Folk Art collections in the US.

Private Collection of the Hardin Family

2025-06-04T12:53:10-05:00

Private Collection of the Hardin Family

Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance

2025-06-02T13:13:41-05:00

The Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance provides letters dating from 1786 to about 1825 from the Steele family who owned Handsell house. The “old brick house” known as Handsell, located in the Indiantown north of Vienna, Dorchester County, Maryland, was purchased by the Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance in 2005 with a Preservation Easement from the Maryland Historic Trust. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, the site is used to interpret the Native People’s contact period with the English, the enslaved and later African American story, and the life of all those who lived at Handsell.

Plano Public Library

2025-05-06T13:35:10-05:00

Plano Public Library has served the City of Plano since 1965. Plano Public Library serves a vibrant, diverse community just north of Dallas. Library staff engage our community with an array of virtual and in-person learning opportunities for all ages, access to technology, and a robust collection of print and digital resources at five library locations.

Alpha Delta Pi of Gamma Upsilon

2025-04-15T14:42:52-05:00

Alpha Delta Pi has a great history at UNT. A group of women formed the Phoreff sorority in 1935 to provide greater social opportunities for women on campus. In 1953, this pioneering group petitioned Alpha Delta Pi and became the Gamma Upsilon Chapter, making them one of the first sororities at UNT. This rich history continues today, with many Alpha Delta Pi alumnae becoming successful professionals, like former professional golfer Sandra Palmer. Additionally, our members actively contribute to the university community, as exemplified by their donation of 100 trees for North Texas' 100th anniversary. Digitizing these historical composites will not only benefit our sorority by preserving our legacy, but it will also document the impact and history that our sisters have had on the UNT campus

Rainbow Garden Club of North Texas

2025-04-04T10:23:20-05:00

The Rainbow Garden Club of North Texas (RGC) began in 1992 as an internet chat room for a group of gardeners looking to form a club. Since that time, RGC has met on the 2nd weekend of the month for over 350 meetings. RGC has a diverse membership from all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Everyone is welcome. Our experience ranges from Novice to Master Gardeners, many of whom happen to be gay or lesbian.

Tomball Museum Center

2025-02-25T10:14:08-06:00

The Tomball Museum Center is an open-air museum where you can tour old homes, a church, a fellowship hall, a pioneer country doctor’s office, a one-room schoolhouse, a Wendish log cabin, an oil camp house, a jail, a barn with a one-horse cotton gin, a smokehouse, an outhouse, and a sawmill.

Clear Lake Shores Civic Club History Committee

2025-02-19T12:10:52-06:00

The Clear Lake Shores Civic Club is a not for profit organization that hosts and supports a multitude of events and activities annually. We work closely with our members and local businesses to sponsor over a dozen fun-filled events throughout the year that encourage community involvement and philanthropy. It is our mission to promote an inclusive community while giving back through volunteering, acts of service, and fundraising.

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

2025-01-07T15:22:13-06:00

The Manuscript Division seeks to acquire, preserve, and make available for research use personal papers and organizational records documenting the scope and diversity of the American experience. With more than twelve thousand collections and over seventy-three million items, the collections touch upon nearly every aspect of American history and culture.

Madison County Library

2024-12-18T15:03:49-06:00

In 1966, a dream became a reality for the people of Madison County when Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Parten (local civic leader, rancher, oil man, and businessman) gave 400 shares of Union Oil of California stock to its citizens to purchase a building for the Madison County Library.

Private Collection of the Donnell Family

2024-12-16T12:16:23-06:00

Genealogical Information Collected by Alton P. Donnell, Jr. Alton Donnell began developing his genealogy based on the initial work of his Great Uncle Charles E. Donnell who published “A Genealogy of Donnell, Langford and Other Families” in 1949. Initially his work was to flesh out the known descendants, but it expanded into research of his other Texas great-grandparents, the Knipp and Hibbeler families. This effort takes the families back to their roots in Europe. His great-grandfather on his mother’s side, Col Alexander R Piper, had started a genealogy that was never published, which he has also published as “West Point Connections, Pipers, Cozzens, Donnells and Others”. It is available on archive.org, at the archivist of the United States Military Academy Library, and the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Panhandle Archaeological Society of Texas

2024-12-11T15:05:08-06:00

The Panhandle Archaeological Society was organized in 1970 to promote, preserve, and disseminate scientific knowledge concerning the history and prehistory of the 26-county Texas Panhandle region. Membership is open to all, and all members agree to abide by the ethics and compliance provisions of the Texas Archeological Society. A newsletter, Pastimes, began publication in 1973, and an occasional monograph series began in 1977 with 10 numbers currently in the series. Over the years the PAS has been involved in numerous professional and community activities, including rock art recording, field surveys, testing and excavation projects, field trips, assisting Federal and State agencies, and annual participation in local school history festivals and science days

Private Collection of Dr. George E. Keaton, Jr.

2024-12-06T10:18:16-06:00

The Private Collection of Dr. George E. Keaton, Jr. provides access to historical family records of the late Dr. George E. Keaton, Jr. Keaton was the founder and executive director of Remembering Black Dallas, Inc., a non-profit organization that preserves and promotes the African American life, history, artifacts, and culture of Dallas and its surrounding cities.

National Juneteenth Museum

2024-11-18T10:19:50-06:00

The National Juneteenth Museum (NJM) connects the stories of freedom of the enslaved to modern-day liberation in daily pursuit of equity and justice.

Private Collection of David Lindsey

2024-11-15T10:33:43-06:00

The Private Collection of David Lindsey consists of a series of audio recordings made by his mother, Hazel Lorraine Moss Lindsey, during the late 1970s with some of the older founding family members of the settlers of Coke County, and Robert Lee, the county seat.

Riesel Historical Society

2024-09-25T09:42:59-05:00

The Riesel Historical Society promotes the appreciation of and preservation of local history in Riesel and its surrounding rural communities, through educational programming and allied projects like digitization and an oral history program.

Texarkana Museum System

2024-09-20T09:31:32-05:00

Texarkana Museums System offers high-quality learning experiences focused on history, science, art, and music. TMS is committed to the collection and conservation of materials, the preservation of buildings it holds, and the enhancement of cultural opportunities and quality of life for all its residents.

Apple Corps of Dallas

2024-08-08T08:51:55-05:00

The Apple Corps of Dallas (ACD) is the oldest Apple Computer User Group still in operation, established in January of 1978. Our members are primarily from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area. Our aim is to provide members with the latest information on their Apple device, to offer help in solving problems, to present forums for discussion, and to provide insight on the ever expanding world of technology.

Private Collection of C.K. and Marjorie Burns

2024-08-08T08:39:10-05:00

The Private Collection of C.K. and Marjorie Burns is happy to share yearbooks from Temple, Crawford, and Valley Mills Texas.

Private Collection of Jamie Powell Sheppard

2024-07-29T11:17:52-05:00

The Private Collection of Jamie Powell Sheppard is primarily comprised of photographs, snapshots, negatives, slides, postcards, real photo postcards, and ephemera dating from the late nineteenth century through the 1980s. A significant number of the snapshots were printed by the Fox Photo company.

Midland Historical Society

2024-05-28T12:38:49-05:00

The Midland Historical Society manages the Midland County History Museum Archives which includes over 3000 photographs documenting the history of Midland County and the surrounding area. No other organization has a collection devoted to this specific region and many of these are the only known copies of these images. The collection includes photographs of early ranching and farming life in the area, images of the city of Midland from the late 1800s to recent times (street scenes, various businesses, interior shots of businesses, etc.), and photographs of many individuals who played a role in Midland history. Included in the collection are several photographs taken by E. E. Hoyt, who operated a studio in Midland around 1900. The collection also includes original brochures advertising Midland in the early 1900s as well as early day fair and rodeo programs.

Private Collection of the Wensowitch Family

2024-05-28T11:26:10-05:00

A collection of materials related to the interests of the Wensowitch Family including Missing Air Crew Reports and letters written by family members.

Private Collection of Priscilla Goin

2024-05-28T11:09:03-05:00

Collection of two ledgers containing a compilation of clippings featuring primarily creative works, such as stories, jokes, illustrations, and poems compiled by Cornelia Dearing Cline.

Private Collection of M M Davis

2024-05-28T10:41:32-05:00

The Private Collection of M M Davis has collected and documented 165 years of the best of West, Texas and presented it in a manner that even adults can’t resist. It’s a teachers’ guide, textbook & page-turner rolled into one.

Remembering Black Dallas

2024-05-28T10:32:54-05:00

Remembering Black Dallas, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization that preserves and promotes the African American life, history, artifacts, and culture of Dallas and its surrounding cities. We offer genealogical research, educational presentations, heritage tours, and more.

Lunar and Planetary Institute Library

2024-05-28T10:04:40-05:00

The library at the LPI organizes and maintains a collection of space-science-related materials in a variety of media. The collection is one of the international Regional Planetary Image Facilities (RPIFs) created by NASA in 1977 for the purpose of facilitating access to planetary mission data. Reference services are provided to scientists, educators, students, media representatives, and the public requesting information related to lunar and planetary science.

Journal of Texas Archeology and History

2024-05-28T09:40:40-05:00

The peer-reviewed Journal of Texas Archeology and History annual volume includes articles on archeological and historical topics and themes relevant to Texas and contiguous areas including New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and northern Mexico plus the four northern states of Mexico; an area we call the “Texas Borderlands.” All articles appearing in the JTAH annual volume are peer-reviewed by members of our Editorial Board and an outstanding team of professional archeologists and historians serving as subject matter experts. The JTAH annual volume is our primary publication and is representative of the academic integrity of our published materials. Any Special Publications or other materials published on the JTAH.org website must meet similar peer-reviewed standards.

Badge of Pride, LLC

2024-05-28T09:15:48-05:00

Badge of Pride is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which aims to collect and activate artifacts from LGBTQ+ history to inform and engage the power of the contemporary Queer experience. With a strong commitment to preserving and celebrating the rich legacy of the Queer community, Badge of Pride seeks to create an inclusive and engaging environment which fosters understanding, inspiration, and progress.

Garland Heritage Crossing Landmark Museum

2024-05-20T15:17:10-05:00

The Heritage Crossing Landmark Museum, which has resided in Garland’s former Santa Fe depot since 1974, displays local artifacts from early settlers, old newspapers, farm tools, quilts, clothing, commerce and industry and more.

Sam Houston High School

2024-05-20T15:12:36-05:00

Sam Houston High School, located in east Arlington, Texas, is a public high school serving grades 9–12. It is one of the six high schools comprising the Arlington Independent School District in Arlington, Texas.

Reber Memorial Library

2024-05-20T15:06:11-05:00

Serving Raymondville and wider Willacy County, the Reber Memorial Library has contributed _The Willacy County News_ and _The Raymondville Chronicle_ to The Portal to Texas History, through the support of a Tocker Foundation grant.

Cozby Library and Community Commons

2024-05-14T10:58:51-05:00

The story of Coppell's library began in 1974 when Bob Hefner, a former city councilman, started a movement to establish the Coppell library. He said, "Every town uses one. Coppell must have one." The original library, housed in less than 1,000 square feet, opened in 1974 with a donation of 3,000 books from Hefner's private collection.

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

2024-05-10T08:53:20-05:00

The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library holds more than 16 million objects including manuscripts, archival records, rare books, maps, broadsides, photographs, audio and video recordings and more.