This weekly series provides a view into various archives and their importance for genealogical research. This week’s selection is The Portal to Texas History (Portal). This system’s design began in 2002 with a goal to grow into a long-term sustainable, digital gateway to historical materials. With their initial partners, the Portal began delivery of online access to the materials in 2004. The Portal is hosted by the University of North Texas and works with private collectors and over 480 collaborative partners, including libraries, museums, archives, and other historical groups.
Read more about the history of the portal, their Rescuing Texas History (RTH) program, and the collaboration efforts by their partners and external support from entities like DPLA (see last week’s blog), National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, to list just a few.
Searching the Portal:
The simple Portal search screen (shown above) is a great way to start your research. Users can type in a name (or first and last name within quotes), subject, place, or other words, click “Search” and begin the journey. If you’d like a tour, you can click on Take a Tour from the main page which introduces some of the key features and usage.
Other methods for starting a search is:
- Explore Locations to begin a search where materials are sourced (Texas Counties, States in the U.S., and even a global view with Countries).
- Explore Resource Types narrows it to the materials by type (like newspapers, books, yearbooks, etc.).
- Explore Subject area allows the user to pick a specific area (over 1,000).
- Explore Dates provides the user the ability to search based on time periods, decades, years, and range of years, plus a “Show Me Things From” 100, 75, 50, or 25 years ago and this day in history.
Using Filters in your search to narrow the results:
Once the search has been started, filters are available in the left navigation pane, including:
- Partners – user can choose a specific partners, like Brownwood Public Library
- Collections – these items are grouped by collections of the partners
- Serials/Series Titles – items like newspaper titles, for instance, The Brownwood Bulletin
- Resource Types – 36 different types
- World Regions – collections in other regions like continents (Europe, as example)
- Countries -157 different countries
- U.S. States – all 50 states
- Counties – all 254 Texas counties
- Decades – like 1920-1929
- Years, Months, Days
- Languages – other than English, like German newspapers.
An Example – Greenleaf Fisk, my 5th great-grandfather
Searching for information on “Greenleaf Fisk” (b. 1807, d. 1888) resulted in 258 hits. I know he was the “founder” of Brown County, having donated land for the town. He was married twice and had at least 15 children, with my ancestor born in the second marriage. He was prominent in Brownwood, Georgetown, and Bastrop, with a road in Austin named for him (and a community no longer there), Middle Fiskville Road.
I can narrow down the results to each decade, or by county (Brown, Williamson, Bastrop, and Travis), or by resource type (possibly newspapers), and by any of the other filters. With the filtering added (or removed by clicking on the “X” by the filter), I can narrow the results for specific accomplishments and even recent dedications.
By using this Portal, I have discovered information about my relatives I did not know and found photographs, yearbooks, and newspaper articles, all which helped me develop the family stories.
Clippings above (L-R)
Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 42, Ed. 1, Wednesday, October 16, 1844, newspaper, October 16, 1844; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth78070/m1/3/?q=%22Greenleaf%20Fisk%22: accessed September 4, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
The Texas State Times (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 32, Ed. 1 Saturday, July 19, 1856, newspaper, July 19, 1856; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth235811/m1/3/?q=%22Greenleaf%20Fisk%22: accessed September 4, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
The Galveston Daily News. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 35, No. 141, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 22, 1875, newspaper, June 22, 1875; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth462874/m1/2/?q=%22Greenleaf%20Fisk%22: accessed September 4, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.
Contact SYFT:
If you need any help navigating this site, I’m happy to talk through the conversations and offer advice. You can fill out the Contact Me! form or email me directly at shapingyourfamilytree@gmail.com.
Images. Featured Photograph. The Portal To Texas: Search Screen. The Portal to Texas History, courtesy of UNT Libraries via the University of North Texas. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ : accessed 4 September 2023.