Holiday Spirit in the Digital Collections
Even when the December weather doesn't feel wintry, there are plenty of things in the Portal and the Digital Library to help you get into the holiday spirit.
The Digital Library has a selection of music recordings, including:
- Ensemble: 2005-12-09 - New Horizons Holiday Concert
- Ensemble: 2007-11-27 - UNT Concert Choir
- Doctoral Recital: 2007-11-20 - Jessica McCormack, soprano
- Ensemble: 2002-11-25 - Collegium Singers and Baroque Orchestra
Or watch this video of the Columbus Boychoir performing Christmas carols on An Album of Christmas Carols.
There are a variety of Christmas-related items in both the Portal and the Digital library such as:
- [Christmas Decorations at Night], Children And Dog At Christmas, [Photograph of a Christmas Tree in the Kammlah House] and other photos
- Christmas trees as a cash crop for the farm
- A Comfort Christmas
- Christmas overseas gifts (poster)
- Christmas cards
There are also some items related to Succot and wintertime. Find more holiday-related items on the Portal and the Digital Library.
--submitted by Hannah Tarver, Head, Digital Projects Unit
The Portal's Hidden Gems: Holiday Recipes
Looking to impress the guests at your holiday potluck or dinner party? Consider one of the historical recipes available on the The Portal to Texas History.
A book from the Denton Public Library’s collection, 50 Selected Recipes by 50 Denton Women, is available as part of the digital collection “From Plowshares to Diplomas: Digitizing Early Denton History.” It was compiled and edited by “Three Married Men” of The Central Presbyterian Church in Denton, Texas (now St. Andrew Presbyterian on 300 West Oak Street), with the proceeds of the book sale benefiting the church’s “Young People’s Organization.” The book includes, as advertised, 50 recipes for a variety of courses, from Fried Celery to Potato Cake, along with advertisements for local businesses. Included in the book is Mrs. R. L. Marquis’ recipe for Divinity Candy. If you have some lemon Jello™ on hand, consider recreating Mrs. J. W. Erwin’s Carrot Salad or Mrs. J. H. Boyd’s Bavarian Plum Pudding.
To view more historical books, photographs, letters, newspapers, or objects related to food and cooking, search the Portal using the subject terms “Food and Cooking” or the keyword “recipes.”
Happy Cooking!
Three Newspaper Titles Added to the Portal
The Mineola Monitor, the Crosbyton Review, and the Sweetwater Reporter are now available on The Portal to Texas History. These newspapers serve as archival records of their respective towns' existence, providing not only valuable information to the genealogy researcher, but also documenting historic local events.
For example, the Wood County, Texas, newspaper industry boomed during the late 19th-century because railroads were literally racing each other to get to Mineola. The Texas and Pacific Railroad and the International Great-Northern Railroad competed to complete tracks to Mineola in 1873. The International Great-Northern won by reaching the town fifteen minutes before its competitor. The history of Mineola continued to be tied to the railroads, and its timber industry and later oil industry greatly profited from it.
All newspapers available on The Portal to Texas History are fully text-searchable and contain issue-level metadata description. This facilitates primary source research. Genealogists often comment on how helpful it is to type in a last name and immediately find information about where their ancestors had traveled, about how they passed away, and about what they wore in their weddings. These new additions to the Portal and to the Texas Digital Newspaper Program serve as primary source evidence for researchers, and it is through the generous support of the Tocker Foundation that these three titles are now available to the world.
--submitted by Ana Krahmer, Supervisor, Digital Newspaper Unit
Trial of Social Explorer
This trial is active until June 30, 2013, or until the subscription contract review is complete. Use the following link to access: https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=http://www.socialexplorer.com
Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use Web interface lets users create maps and reports to better illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. In addition to being a comprehensive data resource, Social Explorer also offers features and tools to meet the needs of both demography experts and novices. To learn more about Social Explorer, visit http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/aboutus/home.aspx.
The Thanksgiving Switch
You can find all kinds of interesting things in the Texas Digital Newspaper Collection of The Portal to Texas History. Who knew:
Prior to the 1940s, Thanksgiving was a holiday declared each year by presidential proclamation. State governors then chose whether to observe the holiday in their own states. Controversy ensued in 1939 when President Roosevelt selected a non-traditional date for Thanksgiving.
In 1939, Texans observed Thanksgiving both on November 23, as declared by President Roosevelt, and on November 30, the traditional "last Thursday."
Borger Daily Herald (Borger, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 23, 1939, p. 1
Citizens of Tulia, Texas were firmly in favor of the traditional date.
The Tulia Herald (Tulia, Tex), Vol. 30, No. 46, Ed. 1, Thursday, November 16, 1939, p. 1
Students at Howard Payne College reasoned that Thanksgiving should be celebrated for the entire week from November 23 to November 30.
The Yellow Jacket (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 10, Ed. 1, Thursday, November 23, 1939, p. 2
Two years later, in December 1941, Congress passed a joint resolution officially establishing Thanksgiving Day as a legal public holiday to be observed on the fourth Thursday in November each year. President Roosevelt signed the measure into law on December 26, 1941. (See 1941 Cong Rec 10130 and 55 Stat 862.) Apparently, a new federal holiday wasn't big news compared to the start of World War II. We have been unable to find any mention of the Thanksgiving legislation in our newspaper collection.
The Texas Digital Newspaper Collection in The Portal to Texas History contains more than 109,000 historic newspaper issues. Find more about Thanksgiving at http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TDNP/browse/?q=thanksgiving&t=fulltext.
--submitted by Nancy Reis, Publications Specialist, Digital Libraries Division
Photograph: [A turkey looks at the camera] by José L. Castillo http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24004/