Special Collections and Archives
Our major goal in Special Collections is to acquire, preserve, and make available to researchers, historical materials of enduring value reflecting the history of Texas, Mexico, the U.S. - Mexico War, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the cartography of the Greater Southwest.
Unique collections include:
- Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library
- Texas Labor Archives
- A Continent Divided: U.S. Mexico War
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection
For more, see our Featured Collections.
Members of the 1974 UTA Basketball team viewing Special Collections materials at an alumni reunion event.
Dr. Shelly Wigley’s Crisis Communication class, who analyzed primary source documents in Special Collections to construct case studies about how people in the past communicated through a crisis.
The Data through the Decades mini-exhibit showed different types of media that are obsolete but critical to the historical record.
Evan Spencer, Public Services Librarian and Archivist, spoke with CBS 11 about creating a replica of a volvelle from 1534.
The mechanical room of our cold storage vault, which preserves over 8 million historic photos and negatives from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper.
Location and Hours
Central Library (map), 6th Floor
The most convenient parking for visitors is in the Maverick Parking Garage. For more information, please see UTA Visitor Parking.
Services
- Reference Services. We assist users in locating, accessing, and utilizing unique and rare materials. No appointment is required, but contacting ahead of time is encouraged, as some collections are stored off-site and require at least 48 business hours to retrieve.
- spcoref@uta.edu
- 817-272-3393
- UTA Faculty Resources. We give course-related tours and instruction sessions about conducting research. To schedule a tour or class, contact:
- Rights and Reproduction Services. We offer mediated reproduction services to students, faculty, staff, and the general public. Please see Rights & Reproductions.
Many items housed in Special Collections are rare and irreplaceable. Please be careful when Using and Handling Special Collections Materials.
News and Events
The Compass Rose
The purpose of the Compass Rose is to raise awareness of Special Collections' resources, foster the use of these resources, and report significant new programs, initiatives, and acquisitions.
At UTA Libraries, some of the most meaningful learning moments don't start with a lecture; they start with a question, a set of materials, and a group of…
For a group of students studying nonprofit management, some of the most meaningful lessons this semester came not from a textbook, but from boxes of…
At UTA Libraries, history is preserved, but it is also experienced, and shared, in sometimes deeply personal ways.
Current Exhibit
We are currently putting together a future exhibit. Please stay tuned.
Biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography
The 15th Biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography will be held at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries’ Special Collections on October 1-2, 2026. This year’s event, Frozen Frontiers: 500 Years of Mapping Antarctica, will explore how...
Featured Collections
Physical Collections | Digital Collections |
Searching Our Collections
Use the following resources to begin your search of our collections:
- Finding Aids – Browse detailed inventories and guides to primary source materials in archival collections. Special Collections’ finding aids are hosted on ArchivesSpace.
- Library Catalog – Search for books, maps, journals, microfilm, newspapers, archival collections, and other material held in Special Collections.
- Digital Gallery – View over 76,000 digitized images from various collections located in Special Collections. Learn more about how to search the Digital Gallery here.
- Digital Archive - The UTA Libraries Digital Archive preserves and provides access to born-digital materials held by the UTA Libraries Special Collections.
- Archived Websites – Browse and view preserved websites related to the University of Texas at Arlington, Texas labor organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Texas history. Archived websites are accessible through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Learn more about how to search the UTA Web Archives here.
Special Collections Staff
Academic Subjects: History
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