The UNT Music Library boasts an interesting and vastly varied assortment of musical treasures in its special collections. This commemorative volume celebrates its 75th anniversary with a brief history of the Music Library and a selection of items from its unique collections.

The selected Horse Photos in this book represent samples images produced by the two most prolific equine photographers, Ray Bankston and Don Shugart between 1962 and 2000. While Ray Bankston and Don Shugart traveled extensively, many of their clients, including prominent ranches and prestigious performance horse events, were located in Texas, home of the American Quarter Horse Association, the National Cutting Horse Association, and the American Paint Horse Association. In addition to formal portraits of famous horses and their owners and riders, their photo collections also contain never-before-published informal shots of riders and horse-show exhibitors, as well as those of farms, ranches, rodeo arenas, and performance rings of a bygone era. Where available, the dates when horses were photographed are noted, as well as the names of their owners, riders, trainers, and the ranches and farms that represent them.

Joshua C. Chilton first described UNT as “independent, original and progressive” in his inaugural speech opening the university in 1890. In the 125 years since then the university has more than lived up to his expectations. The University Archive holds countless photographs, artifacts and publications which tell the remarkable story of UNT from its beginnings in a downtown hardware store to its place today as the one of the nation’s largest public universities. This book features stories about the people and events that helped to define the character and spirit of UNT. Each story is illustrated with photographs and artifacts specially chosen from the Special Collections department and the Music Library, both part of the UNT Libraries, whose staff are proud to share these wonderful memories with you.​