Special Collections in 2023: 1st 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 is the newest in an ongoing series spotlighting new acquisitions and reproductions of our content. For more on our previous featured material, read our previously published Quarterly Review blogs.

Special Collections is continually acquiring new materials and image reproductions of items from our collections are regularly used in new publications and by media outlets. This post reviews where and how materials from our collections are being used around the world in January, February, and March of 2023.

This quarter, we acquired a multitude of maps from donors David Finfrock and Dr. Jack Franke. Special Collections hosted an open house exhibiting the donated maps of David Finfrock in March (see exhibition section at end of blog). The donated maps include:

Gifts of David Finfrock:

• George Annand, Authorized Map of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition (New York: General Foods Corporation, 1934)
• After Guillaume Delisle, Hemisphere Meridional pour voir plus distinctement les Terres Australes (Amsterdam: Ottens, 1714)
• Christoph Weigel, Facies Poli Antarctici ex recentissimis itinerariis descripta [from Johann David Koehler, Descriptio Orbis Antiqui (Nuremberg, ca. 1820)]
• John Thomson with W. & D. Lizars and/or James Kirkwood, Southern Hemisphere [from Thomson's New General Atlas OR possibly New Edinburgh General Atlas] (1817)
• Philippe Vandermaelen, Iles Shetland Meridionale [from Vandermaelen, Atlas Universel de Geographie Physique, Politique, Statistique (Brussels, 1827)
• Benedetto Marzolla, Carta Generale dell'Antartica [from Marzolla, Atlante Geografico (Naples: Marzolla, 1842)]
• August Petermann Institute, Sud-Polar-Karte (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1882)
• Eisverbreitung Einst und Jetzt / Polar Ansicht der Erde in Lambert's flachenrechter Azimutal Projection (1886)
• Royal Geographical Society, Sketch Map Showing the first year's work of the National Antarctic Expedition to illustrate the paper by Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B. (London, 1901)
• Hermann Habenicht, Sud-Polar-Karte (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1908)
• Antarctic Regions, showing the routes of the most important explorations (New York: C.S. Hammond & Co., 1909 with updates in subsequent editions to 1914)
• Stanford's Geographical Establishment, The Antarctic Regions [London Atlas Series (London: Edward Stanford, 1913)]
• David Finfrock, [Hand-drawn Map of Antarctica], 1960s

Gifts of Dr. Jack Franke:

• Nicholas Picart after Jodocus Hondius, Africa nova Tablua (Paris, 1644)
• Jacob van der Schley, Kaart van alle de bekende Eilanden op de Kust van Zanguebar en van Madagascar... (Amsterdam, ca. 1760)
• NSDAP, Deutschlands Grenzen im Westen / Der Westwall  [Nazi Map of the Phoney War Phase of World War II], late 1939-early 1940 (see below)

John W. Carpenter (1881-1959) was a prominent Dallas businessman, civic leader, agriculturalist, and industrialist that inspired tremendous growth throughout Texas and the Southwest in the 20th century. The Carpenter Papers include records of the Trinity Improvement Association, which revolve around the navigation and canalization of the Trinity River, and the development of reservoirs and dams including flood control, soil, and water conservation. The collection includes several maps, two of which were recently transferred to the general map collection:

• George E. Kessler and E. A. Wood, Kessler Traffic Map (Dallas: Kessler Plan Association and Egan Printing Company, 1928)
• U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Western Gulf Region, Flood of May 17, 1949, City of Fort Worth (Fort Worth: Universal Drafting Map and Drafting Company, 1949)

The map above at left shows "The Kessler Traffic Map: Showing Streets to be Widened and Extended." The "Kessler Plan" was the City of Dallas’ managed growth plan from 1910-1930s, authored by George E. Kessler, a German-born city planner. In 1909, the Dallas Chamber of Commerce established the City Plan and Improvement League (later called the Kessler Plan Association) and hired Kessler to draft a design for a long-range plan of civic improvements. Kessler designed the plan to solve many of the city's problems, including the uncontrollable flooding of the Trinity River, the dangerous railroad crossings, and narrow, crooked downtown streets. The plan was ultimately not implemented because it was not believed to be practical, but it became increasingly clear that changes were needed. The Trinity River was later improved and the levee system was completed in the 1930s.

The map above at right shows the precise areas that were affected by the historic flood of 1949 in Fort Worth as determined by the USDA Soil Conservation Service. On May 16, 1949, 6-12 inches of rain fell on the Fort Worth area, overflowing the banks of the Trinity River and its tributaries. On May 17, 1949, the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in Fort Worth broke through its levees and spilled floodwaters into the city's commercial, industrial and residential districts. The flood claimed the lives of at least 10 people, caused over 11 million dollars in damages, and incapacitated the city’s water treatment facility; in one location, the floodwaters crested at 29 feet. This map shows

TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online) makes descriptions, or "finding aids," of the rich archival collections in repositories across the state available to the public. Finding aids assist users in locating information in our collections and serve as a descriptive guide to the unique materials only available here in Special Collections. Here are our most recent finding aid uploads to TARO:

• Knights of Pythias. Grand Texas Lodge Records (AR762)
  • The Order of Knights of Pythias, an international non-sectarian fraternity, was founded in Washington, D.C, by Justus H. Rathbone in 1864. It became the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the U.S. Congress. The Knights of Pythias order was established in Texas with the founding of Lodge #1 in Houston on March 22, 1872. This collection documents the work of the Knights of Pythias in Texas for over a century and is a rich resource to local Texas historians and genealogists researching their Texas Pythian ancestors.
• Jan Jones Papers (AR764)
  • Jan Jones was a local historian in Fort Worth, Texas. This collection was created through the research materials that she gathered for her two published works on the theatrical history of Fort Worth: Billy Rose Presents. . .Casa Mañana (pub. 1999, TCU Press) and Renegades, Showmen & Angels : a Theatrical History of Fort Worth from 1873-2001 (pub. 2006, TCU Press). Collection materials cover various individuals, theaters, and shows, and includes newspaper scans, personal notes, audio of interviews conducted by Jones and their transcripts, and printed materials, such as brochures and programs.
• UTA Athletics Film Collection (AR799)
  • This collection contains films in various formats of sporting events from North Texas Agricultural College (1923-1949), Arlington State College (1949-1965), and the University of Texas at Arlington (1965-present).
• University of Texas at Arlington Reference Files (AR800)
  • The UTA Reference Files (also known as Vertical or Clip files) contain extracted and photocopied materials as well as ephemera on a variety of subjects related to the history of UTA and its predecessor institutions. They are intended to be used for quick reference purposes to aid researchers in their initial research.
• Edith Reynolds Texas Postcard Collection (AR802)
  • This collection of postcards, dated 1908-2012, depicts different locations throughout the state of Texas.

Students from a variety of classes and organizations visit Special Collections to engage in experiential learning activities using our unique materials. Visits this quarter have included History, Art History, Philosophy, Museum Studies, Biology, Mexican American Studies, and Spanish classes. Pictured below are a few examples from class instruction over the past few months.

Graduate students in Dr. Chris Conway’s Spanish Art and Literature (SPAN5513, pictured at upper left) class visited Special Collections to engage with our collection of El Malcriado newspapers. With the tagline “El Voz de Campesino” (“The voice of the worker”), El Malcriado was the newspaper of the United Farm Workers’ Organizing Committee (UFWOC) in the 1960s and early 1970s. Under the leadership of labor organizer Cesar Chavez, UFWOC attempted to reach and convince Mexican-American farmworkers to organize. El Malcriado features stories from and about laborers, scathing political cartoons by graphic artists Andy Zermeño, and strike information. As part of an assignment for their class, students had to assess a cartoon from an issue of El Malcriado. Prior to viewing the newspapers, students looked at other visually-oriented items from Special Collections’ collection of Mexican and Mexican American materials.

This semester, Special Collections is serving as a learning laboratory for a graduate History class (HIST5343, pictured at upper right), taught by Dr. Gerald Saxon, focused on the Principles of Archives and Museums. Over the course of the entire semester, students serve as archivists-in-training under the guidance of Special Collections archivists Don Ivey, Priscilla Escobedo, Kathryn Slover, and Evan Spencer. Each student was assigned an “unprocessed” collection (a collection that has been donated or purchased by Special Collections, but has not yet gone through the steps necessary to ensure full accessibility of the collection). Their goal over the course of the semester is to assess, arrange, describe, and make their collections accessible. We salute them for their great work so far!

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 2022, 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 14 stories: 

• "Roof design of the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum was fan friendly. But would it cave in?" by Carol Roark, January 21, 2023
• "How this long-forgotten piece of Fort Worth history found a home in a North Texas yard," by Megan Cardona, January 26, 2023
• "'Mass hysteria ... gripped the crowd.' Elvis made women shriek, faint, sob in Fort Worth," by Mike Nichols, January 28, 2023
• "When the Kansas City Chiefs played in 1964 Fort Worth game," by Bud Kennedy, February 10, 2023
• "New Fort Worth TV ad features voice of actor Jimmy Stewart," by Bud Kennedy, February 17, 2023
• "HBO’s ‘Love & Death’: Where is Pat Montgomery today?" by Dalia Faheid, February 21, 2023
• "What happened to Betty's Gore's house in Texas where she died?" by Dalia Faheid, February 21, 2023
• "Yodeler returns to close Edelweiss restaurant in Fort Worth," by Bud Kennedy, February 23, 2023
• "Zoning, redlining, combative integration hurt Morningside," by Carol Roark, February 25, 2023
• "Where to find bluebonnets as bloom season starts," by Megan Cardona, February 27, 2023
• "Berachah Home redeemed prostitutes from Dallas and Fort Worth," by Mike Nichols, March 4, 2023
• "'Own a piece of history': An iconic Art Deco building in Fort Worth listed for $2.9M," by Matt Leclercq, March 9, 2023
• "How Mansfield became known as the 'Pickle Capital of Texas,'" by Megan Cardona, March 16, 2023
• "Saving Fort Worth's 'forgotten' girls: In 1917, effort began to give young women hope," by Hollace Ava Weiner, March 19, 2023

Photographs from the collection were also used in 4 photo features:

• “THEN & NOW: Historic photos of Fort Worth’s Stock Show All-Western parade back to ’30s,” by Matt LeClercq, January 10, 2023
• "Photos of President Jimmy Carter’s Fort Worth visit seen for first time in 45 years," by Matt Leclercq, February 27, 2023
• "PHOTOS: Elvis Presley in Fort Worth, for all you fans of Oscar-nominee Austin Butler," by Matt Leclercq, March 10, 2023
• "From the Star-Telegram archive: Paschal High School photos from the 1950s," by Matt Leclercq, March 16, 2023

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

• City of Arlington video story, "Remember UT Arlington alumna and astronaut Kalpana Chawla," February 1, 2023; images used from the Shorthorn Photographs Collection, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, and the Shorthorn Newspaper Collection
• Dallas Morning News article, "20 years after Columbia explosion, UTA remembers NASA astronaut, alum Kalpana Chawla," by Adithi Ramakrishnan, February 1, 2023; image used from the Shorthorn Photographs Collection
• Fort Worth Report article, "Fort Worth’s oldest airport counts on $170 million plan for continued growth, success," by Sandra Sadek, February 4, 2023; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
• NBC News Now video story, "Texas students demand removal of statue linked to school's racist past," March 3, 2023; images used from the Rebel Theme Controversy Collection and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
• The Shorthorn article, "Resolution to rename Woolf Hall brings former UTA President Jack Woolf's legacy into question," by Jonathan Perriello, March 20, 2023; images used from the UTA Photograph Collection, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, and the Jack R. Woolf Papers
• The Shorthorn article, "The making of Bed Races over the years," by Sam Salabit, March 28, 2023; images used from the UTA News Service Photograph Collection and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection

• Young at Heart by Linda Blackwell Simmons, published in the February 2023 edition of 360 West Magazine (pages 14-16); image used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
• Black Archives: A Photographic Celebration of Black Life by Renata Cherlise, published February 14, 2023; images used from the Elzie and Ruby Odom Papers
• Texas Lithographs of the Nineteenth Century by Dr. Ron Tyler, published February 28, 2023 by University of Texas Press; maps, lithographs, graphics used from general collection
• Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé by Elizabeth Cobbs, published March 7, 2023 by Belknap Press; image used from the Etta Hulme Papers

• The Lady Bird Diaries, produced by Trilogy Films, premiered at SXSW festival on March 10, 2023; image used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram collection

• Traveling exhibit, “Black Cowboys: An American Story,” curated by the Witte Museum, on display at the African American Museum of Dallas (January-April 2023); images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection and Jenkins Garrett Texas Postcard Collection
• Permanent commemorative plaque created by the Lucretia Council Cochran Chapter of the Texas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, commemorating the Stagecoach Inn at Johnson Station Cemetery, located at 1129 W Mayfield Rd, Arlington, TX; image used from the J. W. Dunlop Photograph Collection
• Public presentation, "If Walls Could Talk: 100 Years at Lily B. Clayton," presented by Debra Nyul for the Billy W. Sills Lecture Series on February 11, 2023 at the Billy W. Sills Center for Archives in Fort Worth; images used from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection and the Gracious Ladies Research Collection
• Bridging the Gap at UTA, bridge design competition; teams S.A.D. & MavTracers used images from the UTA News Service Photo Collection, UTA Publications Collection, and UTA Photograph Collection
• Open house exhibit, "Featuring the Antarctic Map Collection of David Finfrock," held at UTA Special Collections on March 21, 2023 (see photos below)
• Temporary exhibit, "Uncrated: Reimagining the Arlington Museum of Art, 1950-2025," on display at the Arlington Museum of Art (April 1-May 14, 2023); materials used from the Arlington Art Association Records

Visit The Compass Rose in June for our next quarterly blog review!