Microforms at the UNT Libraries

The UNT Libraries' Microforms Department http://www.library.unt.edu/microforms is located on the Lower Level of Willis Library and contains the largest microform collection in the North Texas region, with well over 2 million items. It has regular service desk hours. Photocopying is also available.

Major research collections include U.S. and Texas Population Censuses, UNT Dissertation and Theses, the Sabin Collection of Early American Imprints, and the American Periodical Series. Indexes to many individual microform sets are available. Please consult the Libraries' Online Catalog for titles and holdings contained in the General Microforms Collection.

Microform generalities:

• Often individual titles within a collection are not found in the online catalog.
• APS American Periodicals Series (described above) is an exception to this at UNT.
• Guides and/or indexes for the collection may or may not be housed with the collection.
• Guides and/or indexes will provide general overall descriptions of the individual titles and contents on a reel and probably not much else.

What types of materials can be found on microforms?

• Newspapers, dissertations, periodicals, monographs, personal papers, business
  records, government records, photographs, maps, etc.

What types of microforms are there?

• Microfilm – reels
• Microfiche – sheets
• Microcard – opaque cards (can’t be photocopied)

Finding aids for the Microforms Department:

Goldmine Microform Resources in the UNT Libraries / History:

A finding aid to the collection, http://www.library.unt.edu/microforms/microforms-collection/list-of-subjects/goldmine-microforms-finding-aid , is accessible on-line. Using the Goldmine Project, researchers can locate information in the Microforms Department such as census information Texas from 1850 to 1920, and for other selected states from 1790 to 1820 and historical newspapers.  The newspaper collection covers many time periods and includes several Texas newspapers.

Representative microform collections at UNT [located in the Microforms Department]

• American Periodical Series (APS)
  Over 1,100 early American periodicals and newspapers.
   UNT owns entire series I (1741) and II (1800-1850) but not III
  (1850 - 1900).
   
• Papers of Clara Barton Film M819
   
• Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from -- to --
   
• Interviews with Former Slaves, 1936-1938 Film J860
   
• Papers of the NAACP: Part 4, Voting Rights Campaign, 1916-1950 Film M771
   
• Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Virginia, bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1870 Film K122
   
• Records of the Superintendent of Education for the State of Texas, bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1870 Film K118
   
• Texas County Tax Records Film M228

Not all county tax rolls are cataloged in the Libraries’ online catalog, but to see what is in the online catalog, go to the catalog (http://iii.library.unt.edu), click on “Subject” and type “taxation Texas”. You will then see an alphabetical list of the county Texas tax rolls with their specific call numbers.

Indexes and Guides:

• Microform Research Collections: A Guide (1984) General Reference Z 1033 .M5 D64
   
• Guide to Microforms in Print (1997) General Reference Z 1033 .M5 G8.
   
• An Index to Microform Collections (1984) General Reference Z 1033 .M5 I53.
   
• Guide to the Microform Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division [Library of Congress] http://www.loc.gov/rr/microform/guide/intro.html
   
• Newspapers in Microform: United States 1948-1977 General Reference Z 6951 .U56a.
   
• United States Newspaper Project http://www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html

Other useful microform collections -- not available at UNT:

• The Gerritsen Collection of Women's History, 1543-1945 (TWU)
   
• Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations: From the Revolution Through the Civil War (SMU, FWPL)
   
• American Women's Diaries (TWU, SMU)
   
• Travels in the New South I and II, 1865 – 1955 (Rice, UT-Austin