Spotlight on North Texas: The City of Dallas

FAIN: PY-258670-18

University of North Texas (Denton, TX 76203-5017)
Laura Jean Treat (Project Director: June 2017 to August 2019)

A community digitization event and public programs to preserve the visual histories of Dallas, Texas.  The proposed project aims to collect community materials related to Dallas’s motion picture history, especially from underrepresented groups, in order to redefine perceptions of how North Texas contributed to film production and consumption.  The applicant and project partner TAMI (Texas Archive of the Moving Image) would provide participants with free digitization of up to 1,000 feet of motion picture film, five videotapes, and two documents per person.  Materials would include motion picture histories collected and created by members of the community, including home movies and amateur films as well as print documents of local film production and distribution.  The University of North Texas would provide access to materials through its Portal to Texas History.  Community events at two historic businesses in Oak Cliff, one of Dallas’s oldest and most diverse neighborhoods, would promote engagement with public history and media preservation.  The proposed project would build on a previous Common Heritage award, which focused on preserving the visual histories of Denton, Texas.

The University of North Texas Libraries seek $11,859 to preserve and provide access to the visual histories of Dallas, Texas. This project will support the digitization and preservation of community materials related to Dallas' motion picture histories, including 30,000 feet of film, 150 videotapes, and 750 documents. We will support access and education by providing access to digitized content on The Portal to Texas History. We will emphasize the value of community records through public programming that situates Dallas within Texas' film history and explores the evolving urban landscapes of one of Dallas' most diverse and historic neighborhoods, Oak Cliff. Focusing on materials related to our filmic past-home movies, amateur film, advertisements, and photographs-we will illuminate the value of community records and redefine how cities like Dallas contributed to film history.