A collaborative project between two critical components of West Texas A&M University’s research efforts is offering a permanent repository for vital regional history.
Cornette Library and the Center for the Study of the American West are working together to flesh out the library’s digital archive with photos, oral histories, maps and other articles that help tell the story of the region.
“We are working to protect and preserve our region’s history in a digital format so that anyone can find it,” said Dr. Alex Hunt, CSAW director, Regents Professor of English and Vincent-Haley Professor of Western Studies.
The partnership also includes Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, whose archives will store physical copies of the items.
CSAW interns—funded through grants by such entities as Xcel Energy and the National Endowment of the Humanities—are cataloging items for preservation. Among them are oral histories for CSAW’s ongoing Forgotten Frontera project; histories of Barrel and Indian Creek Ranch and Buffalo Lake; and snapshots of the life of Montie Ritchie, the grandson of pivotal area pioneer Cornelia Adair.
“It’s not just portraits that are important historically,” Hunt said. “These photos are a great view of the everyday life of this significant man.”
The digital archive also includes the map collection of area history teacher J. Michael Harter—colorful, hand-drawn renderings of the history and geography of the Llano Estacado.
Also preserved is the Texas Panhandle Curriculum Initiative, which provides educators with lesson plans about regional topics that meet Texas Education Agency’s Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements.
“It’s rewarding and comforting to have this material available online,” said Coco Duran-Anzua, a junior general studies major from Abernathy who has assisted with the Forgotten Fronteras oral history project. “What you have worked so hard on, so passionately on, is safe and available to the public. It feels more formal to have it preserved.”
Also being digitized are dozens of boxes of newsletters and photographs chronicling the history of Southwest Public Service.
Cornette’s institutional repository has been in place since 2014 and is an easily accessible repository of the vast array of WT’s contributions as a regional research university. Included in the archive are data sets from professors in WT’s College of Engineering; political science research from Dr. Dave Rausch, WT’s Teel Bivins Professor of Political Science; theses and dissertations from 2014 on; and posters from faculty and student research presentations dating back to 2020, among others.
“All of this is still growing,” said Patrick Diepen, Cornette Library archivist and manager of the repository. “We are spending more time on this project to make it grow.”
Exceling as a regional research university is the primary goal of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.
That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised nearly $160 million.
About West Texas A&M University
WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of about 10,000 and offers 59 undergraduate degree programs and more than 40 graduate degrees, including two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.