Digital encyclopedia maintained by the Texas State Historical Association documenting historic and modern people, places and events in Texas history, along with curated sets of entries and information about related resources.

This is the story of Victor Rodriguez, star track athlete and San Antonio educator. From his earliest days in South Texas in the 1940s he broke many barriers. As a football player and track star he set records and won trophies at Edna High School, at Victoria College, and at North Texas State College. At each stage of his education, he often found himself the only Mexican American in his group. He developed his sports prowess from nine years of early morning running to the church in Edna, to ring the bell before Mass. He earned the first Hispanic scholarships as an athlete at both Victoria Junior College and North Texas State College. After graduating in 1955, he began a career in the San Antonio School District, ultimately retiring in 1994 after twelve years as Superintendent of the District. As a pioneer Mexican American educator in San Antonio, he brought dignity and respect to the people of the Westside, where he remains a role model today.

Denton County and the City of Denton are named for pioneer preacher, lawyer, and Indian fighter John B. Denton, but little has been known about him. He was an orphan in frontier Arkansas who became a circuit-riding Methodist preacher and an important member of a movement of early settlers bringing civilization to North Texas. After becoming a ranger on the frontier, he ultimately was killed in the Tarrant Expedition, a Texas Ranger raid on a series of villages inhabited by various Caddoan and other tribes near Village Creek on May 24, 1841. Denton’s true story has been lost or obscured by the persistent mythologizing by publicists for Texas, especially by pulp western writer Alfred W. Arrington. Cochran separates the truth from the myth in this meticulous biography, which also contains a detailed discussion of the controversy surrounding the burial of John B. Denton and offers some alternative scenarios for what happened to his body after his death on the frontier.

During World War II, tens of thousands of African Americans served in segregated combat units in U.S. armed forces. The majority of these units were found in the U.S. Army, and African Americans served in every one of the combat arms. They found opportunities for leadership unparalleled in the rest of American society at the time. Several reached the field grade officer ranks, and one officer reached the rank of brigadier general. Beyond the Army, the Marine Corps refused to enlist African Americans until ordered to do so by the president in June 1942, and two African American combat units were formed and did see service during the war. While the U.S. Navy initially resisted extending the role of African American sailors beyond kitchens, eventually the crew of two ships was composed exclusively of African Americans. The Coast Guard became the first service to integrate—initially with two shipboard experiments and then with the integration of most of their fleet. Finally, the famous Tuskegee airmen are covered in the chapter on air warfare. Proud Warriors makes the case that the wartime experiences of combat units such as the Tank Battalions and the Tuskegee Airmen ultimately convinced President Truman to desegregate the …

Dirty Eddie’s War is the true account of the war-time experiences of Harry Andrew March, Jr., captured by way of diary entries addressed to his beloved wife, Elsa. Nicknamed “Dirty Eddie” by his comrades, he served as a member of four squadrons operating in the South Pacific, frequently under difficult and perilous conditions. Flying initially from aircraft carriers covering the landings at Guadalcanal in August 1942, he was one of the first pilots in the air over the island and then later based at Henderson Field with the “Cactus Air Force.” When he returned to combat at Bougainville and the “Hot Box” of Rabaul, the exploits of the new Corsair squadron “Fighting Seventeen” became legendary. Disregarding official regulations, March kept an unauthorized diary recording life onboard aircraft carriers, the brutal campaign and primitive living conditions on Guadalcanal, and the shattering loss of close friends and comrades. He captures the intensity of combat operations over Rabaul and the stresses of overwhelming enemy aerial opposition. Lee Cook presents Dirty Eddie’s story through genuine extracts from his diary supplemented with contextual narrative on the war effort. It reveals the personal account of a pilot’s innermost thoughts: the action he saw, the effects of …

Established in Waco in 1968, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum honors the iconic Texas Rangers, a service that has existed, in one form or another, since 1823. Thirty-one individuals—whose lives span more than two centuries—have been enshrined in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. They have become legendary symbols of Texas and the American West. In The Ranger Ideal Volume 3, Darren L. Ivey presents capsule biographies of the twelve inductees who served Texas in the twentieth century. In the first portion of the book, Ivey describes the careers of the “Big Four” Ranger captains—Will L. Wright, Frank Hamer, Tom R. Hickman, and Manuel “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas—as well as those of Charles E. Miller and Marvin “Red” Burton. Ivey then moves into the mid-century and discusses Robert A. Crowder, John J. Klevenhagen, Clinton T. Peoples, and James E. Riddles. Ivey concludes with Bobby Paul Doherty and Stanley K. Guffey, both of whom gave their lives in the line of duty. Using primary records and reliable secondary sources, and rejecting apocryphal tales, The Ranger Ideal presents the true stories of these intrepid men who enforced the law with gallantry, grit, and guns. This Volume 3 is the finale …

This is the collection of WARCs created by the University of North Texas Libraries for the End of Term Presidential Harvest 2020, an effort by the Library of Congress, Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, the University of North Texas Libraries, the Internet Archive, Stanford University Libraries, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and the U.S. Government Printing Office to preserve public United States Government web sites at the end of the presidential term that ended January 20, 2021. This collection documents federal agencies' presence on the World Wide Web during the transition of Presidential administrations.

Website documenting compiled resources related to The Portal to Texas History, intended for use by educators. It includes lesson plans, activities, posters, and other materials related to Texas history.

Debate held during the 2019 Constitution Day on the topic "Does 'promoting the general welfare' require capitalism or socialism?"

From October 2 to November 20, 2017, a working group of individuals representing multiple NDSA member institutions and interest groups conducted a survey of organizations in the United States actively involved in, or planning to start, programs to archive content from the Web. This effort builds upon and extends a broader effort begun in three earlier surveys, which the NDSA Web Archiving Survey working group has conducted since 2011.The goal of these surveys is to better understand the landscape of Web archiving activities in the United States by investigating the organizations involved; the history and scope of their Web archiving programs; the types of Web content being preserved; the tools and services being used; access and discovery services being offered; and overall policies related to Web archiving programs. The responses from this survey document the current state of U.S. Web archiving initiatives and the comparison with the results of the 2011, 2013, and 2016 surveys enables an analysis of emerging trends. This report describes the current state of the field, tracks the evolution of the field over the last few years, and points to future opportunities and developments.

Photograph of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. The photograph was taken from across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois at Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park on top of the Mississippi River Overlook. The photograph is a stitched 360-degree panoramic image.

The Performance and Accountability Report (PAR), an annual agency requirement from the Office of Management and Budget, presents the agency’s program and financial management results, key accomplishments, and new initiatives during FY 2018.

The Public Libraries in the United States Survey (PLS) examines when, where, and how library services are changing to meet the needs of the public. This FY 2015 PLS summarizes the reported data provided by 98 percent of public libraries and outlets in the United States.

Anthology of writing by the ten winners of the 2016 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. The pieces are published in order of places awarded: McCoy, “It Was an Accident, Baby” (1st place); Dreier, “A Child’s Scraped Knee” (2nd place); Baker, “The Power of Will” (3rd place), and runners up, Cox, “A Marine’s Conviction”; Goffard, “Framed”; Thompson, “The Long Way Home”; Kleinfield, “Fraying at the Edges”; Kuchment and Thompson, “Seismic Denial”; Caruba, “55 Minutes”; and Wangsness, “In Search of Sanctuary.”

The report provides details on IMLS digital library funding since 2015 and explains three focal areas identified within the digital library infrastructures and initiatives portfolio of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.

IMLS convened a meeting in November 2017 to discuss strengthening the formal education component of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The report summarizes issues and themes from that meeting.

Compilation of architectural drawings documenting planned construction and renovations for Willis Library as of May 2018. The first page includes an index to the rest of the schematics which outline the various components of the project including demolition and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) work, mechanical piping, electrical and lighting, and fire sprinklers for each of the five floors (lower level and floors one through four). Each sheet includes technical details, schedules, notes, and other relevant technical information for the work.

The poems in James Najarian’s debut collection are by turns tragic and mischievous, always with an exuberant attention to form. Najarian turns his caprine eye to the landscapes and history of Berks Country, Pennsylvania, and to the middle east of his extended Armenian family. These poems examine our bonds to the earth, to animals, to art and to desire.

The brochure provides an overview of the agency mission, vision, goals, and objectives, and includes highlights of IMLS initiatives and projects.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent grant making agency and the primary source of federal support for the nation’s approximately 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums and related organizations. IMLS helps ensure that all Americans have access to museum, library, and information services. The agency supports innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement, enabling museums and libraries from geographically and economically diverse areas to deliver essential services that make it possible for individuals and communities to thrive. The agency’s mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, learning, and civic engagement and to provide leadership through research, policy development, and grant making.Those goals are reflected in this year’s report as IMLS continues to be an outstanding steward of federal funds. IMLS will continue to look for ways to achieve even greater impact on library and museum services throughout the United States.

Series of fictional stories and commentaries about sports in the United States and how they affect individuals and communities.

The State Library Administrative Agencies Survey: Fiscal Year 2016 report provides highlights of the Fiscal Year 2016 State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAA) Survey, which collects financial, staffing, and service information from every SLAA in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The NDP at Three report describes grants and explores themes which emerged from the first three years of grant-making under the national digital platform (NDP) funding area in the IMLS Office of Library Services.

Personal accounts of U.S. marine Roy Elrod based on transcripts of oral histories about his experiences in the service, with particular emphasis on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan. It includes editorial and historical notes and to provide context and clarification. Index starts on page 273.