UNT Leader digitization project preserves local history
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The Graham Leader from Aug. 9, 1945 which is available for free on the University of North Texas website The Portal to Texas History. This edition is the 69th volume of The Graham Leader. Two years ago the Library of Graham gave UNT 136 rolls of microfilm so they could start the digitization project. The Portal to Texas History is an online resource for rare, historical and primary source materials from or about Texas created by and maintained by the University of North Texas Libraries.
Two years ago the process to digitize 136 rolls of microfilmed archives of The Graham Leader began. Now papers have been uploaded from the first edition in Aug. 19, 1876 to Jan. 4, 1965 on the University of North Texas’ The Portal to Texas History.
The Library of Graham was awarded a grant in March 2016 by the Tocker Foundation of Austin, in order to achieve the digitalization of the papers. The foundation was established in 1964 to implement the philanthropic interests of Phillip and Olive Tocker, and in 1992 the foundation board decided to focus its grants to smaller rural libraries serving a population of 12,000 or less.
“The grant paid through 1965(…)when they brought my microfilm back to me they took the remaining microfilm I have and they are just going to upload that because they want to have it all there,” Library of Graham director Sherrie Gibson said. “They are going to do that at no charge to me, but it will probably take more time to get that done because the first part had to be done in a year because that was the stipulation of the grant.”
For more from this story see the Saturday, Feb. 2 edition of The Graham Leader.
