Special Collections in 2021: 4th Quarterly Review

The purpose of The Compass Rose is to raise awareness of Special Collections' resources and to foster the use of these resources. The blog series also reports significant new programs, initiatives, and acquisitions of Special Collections. 

This post was co-authored by Special Collections Metadata Librarian Stephanie Luke and Photograph Collections Coordinator Sara Pezzoni.

This is the newest in an ongoing series spotlighting new acquisitions and reproductions of our content. For more on our previous featured material, read our posts on the first, second, and third quarters of 2021.

At Special Collections, we are continually acquiring new materials. Additionally, image reproductions of items from our collections are regularly used in new publications and by media outlets. In this post we will review where and how materials from our collections are being used around the world in October, November, and December of 2021.

This extremely rare French map, Plan des Terres Appartenant a la Societe de Colonisation Europeo-Americaine dans le Comte de Dallas, Texas, is the first large-scale printed map of a portion of the city of Dallas, Texas. It shows the land belonging to the Society for European-American Colonization in Dallas County. The Utopian-Socialist organization, led by Victor Prosper Considerant (1808-1893), was responsible for the short-lived La Reunion Colony in what is now in the western part of the city of Dallas. The map shows land ownership, for which the darker sections engraved with diagonal hauchures represent lands belonging to the Society. At lower left an inset depicts the lot plans and gardens of the Reunion settlement in greater detail, showing a store, some buildings, and a well or cistern.

This work is an anonymous account of the settlement of French Bonapartists in Texas that was published in France in 1820. Twenty veterans of the Napoleonic Wars founded Champ d’Asile (“Field of Asylum”) in January 1818 along the banks of the Trinity River. The settlement was a failure and was abandoned a few months later in July 1818. This folded frontispiece shows the soldiers-turned-farmers constructing buildings and plowing fields.

Davy Crockett’s death at the Alamo did not mark the end for the American soldier and politician. Crockett’s folk hero status resulted in the publication of a number of almanacs that recounted various journeys and adventures on the frontier. This 1840 issue of the almanac joins two other similar works from 1849 and 1850 that are currently housed in Special Collections. The storytelling and illustrations in these pieces are a wonderful example of 19^th century American humor and caricature.

Sometimes libraries discover items in their general collections that should be transferred to special collections. This book, titled Deutsche Kulturbilder, is a collection of 300 cigarette cards featuring tableaus of German life from 1400 to 1900. This work was published in 1934, at a time when the call for a unified national identity was supported by the Nazi government.

This is the official annual 1936 publication of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 850, from Mesquite, Texas. The original owner was Marvin Richardson, who served in Company 850 from July 1934 to December 1937. The CCC was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Unmarried men ages 17 to 28 could volunteer for the Corps, where they participated in projects that improved national infrastructure and protected natural resources.

In an ongoing effort to increase diversity and representation in our collections, Special Collections has received funding by the Dean of the Libraries to acquire materials that document the lives of people of color in North Texas. One such recent purchase includes an issue of SNAP magazine, published by the San Antonio alumna chapter of the African American sorority Delta Sigma Theta. This issue from January 22, 1960 highlights the celebration of the group’s founders day. Another acquisition includes the first issue of the journal Roots, published by Texas Southern University’s English Department in 1970. The publication describes itself thusly: “A journal of critical and creative expression…[which] have come from the pens of young, Black Texas Southern students.” The issue includes poetry, pose, and artwork from students and faculty.

A steel die stamp used to create the Carlisle Military Academy (1902-13) hat insignia, donated by William Block. He found and purchased it on eBay. Mr. Block had previously donated one of the insignia (worn on cadet uniform hats) that was made by this die along with other CMA and UTA-related cadet insignia, pins, and patches. The CMA insignia still fits perfectly into this die, more than 100 years after both were made.

Materials found within Special Collections’ holdings have been used across a wide variety of outlets, including (but not limited to) features in local news stories, on television shows, printed in publications, and used in public exhibitions. Below are some examples of where and how our materials have been used this quarter.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, which came in increments to UTA Libraries from 1984 to 1999, is often used in a variety of news articles and columns published by the original donor, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. This quarter, the Star-Telegram used photographs from the collection for three stories:    

•  "These Fort Worth twins were artists who painted birds, the dome of Bass Hall and more," October 9, 2021 by Hollace Ava Weiner
• "Before the Parade of Lights, this Fort Worth parade was like a Black Friday promotion," November 27, 2021 by Carol Roark
• "This spot was the center of life in early Arlington. How the city is bringing it back," November 29, 2021 by Kailey Broussard

Other local news outlets published the following stories using our collection materials: 

• Green Source DFW: "Quanah Parker descendant to speak at Green Source Awards," November 17, 2021 by Marshall Hinsley; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

• Imagined Realism: Scott and Stuart Gentling, The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, published October 2021; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection and W.D. Smith Commercial Photography, Inc. Collection
• Legacies article, re: Drive-In Movie Theaters, by Nancy McCoy, published October 2021; images used from the W.D. Smith Commercial Photography, Inc. Collection, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, and the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection
• The Most Land, the Best Cattle: The Waggoners of Texas by Judy Alter, published October 2021; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection and the W. D. Smith Commercial Photography Collection
• A Girl Named Carrie by Jerrie Marcus Smith, University of North Texas Press, published November 30, 2021; images used from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection and general SPCO collection

• Gentling Symposium lecture/presentation by Scott Barker, Gentling Fellow, at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, November 13, 2021; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
• Exhibit titled Black Cowboys: An American Story, displayed at the Witte Museum (3801 Broadway St, San Antonio, TX), November 2021-April 2022; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection and Jenkins Garret Texas Postcard Collection
• Digital exhibit, “Texas Bound: Syrian-Lebanese Immigrants in the Lone Star State,” displayed online via Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at NCSU; image used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
• Temporary display of photos for the College of Nursing and Health Innovation's 50th anniversary in Pickard Hall and on lamppost flags along Cooper Street, in front of the Maverick Activities Center, and outside of University Center; images used from the UTA News Service Photograph Collection and UTA CONHI Kinesiology Records Collection

• Album artwork for digital distribution of the Drugstore Cowboy album, “Maverick,” via online streaming platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal), released Fall 2021 by The Frequency Group; image used from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. Collection
• Equine Network documentary film project titled American Icon – Cowboys – Stockyards, aired October 2021; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection 
• ABC News program, “JFK UNSOLVED: The Real Conspiracies,” aired December 7, 2021; image used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

Visit the Compass Rose in March 2022 for our next quarterly blog review!