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Dr. Joseph Lyman Kingsbury, a member of the History faculty, founded a museum on campus 1925 “In the two and one half years that I have been engaged in this work the Historical Collections have grown from a few hundred items to about seven thousand and we are now occupying three rooms of the third floor of the Library building of the Teacher’s College….It is the ambition of both President Marquis and myself to make the Historical Collections the largest in the United States…We are determined to make a collection that shall be comprehensive.”[ a letter from Dr. Kingsbury to Mr. Dick Chapman, 1928-11-01]
“In the spring of 1925, the students of the Criddle Society voted to sponsor a museum in memory of E. D. Criddle, the history department head who had just died. The first few exhibits were quartered in the history offices in the Administration Building [now the Auditorium Building]. A year later the Board of Regents named Dr. J. L. Kingsbury of the history faculty a curator of the Historical Collection, which was given one room on the third floor of the Library Building [now known as Curry Hall]. Two ore rooms had been taken over by 1929. In March 1930 the legislature designated the college museum as a State Historical Collection. Dr. Kingsbury by 1931 had developed a collection of manuscripts and documents, arms and weapons from 1840 through the World War, articles representing American economic and industrial development, foreign items, and archives of the college.” [
Eventually the Historical Collection would be moved down stairs and take over all the rooms on the first floor. The museum had a large collections of firearms, dolls, blue glass, and ethnographic artifacts. It was closed in 1986. Part of the collection went to the Layland Museum in Cleburne, Texas. Artifacts that had been placed on loan to the museum were returned or became the property of the state. Some of the artifacts remain in the collection of Special Collections.
This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Transferred to Archives from the Historical Collection in 1986.
Reproduction and publication of materials in this collection are subject to the policies of the UNT Special Collections department. Copyright restrictions may apply.
This collection is not restricted.
Historical Collection-Museum Records, University of North Texas Special Collection.
This collection is stored off-site and requires a minimum of 24 hours notice prior to use.
The materials are divided between the following series: 1) Boxed Records; 2) Framed Items; 3) Ready Reference; 4) Clippings; 5) Artifact Inventory Sheets; and 6) Archivist's Files.
The papers document the running of the Historical Collection, the museum on campus that ran from the 1920s to 1986. The items include artifact inventory sheets, artifacts, and operational documents.
This box contains Historical Collection budget records, 1970s posters for events in the Lyceum, and a transparency Denton street map.
This box also contains materials from the College of Visual Art & Design (U0703) and University of North Texas Library Records (U0153).
These clippings primarily concern the loan of artifacts and sister museums in the North Texas region.
The sheets give descriptions of artifacts, many with hand drawn images.
This binder contains sheets for: Building Fragments, Site Feature, and Unclassified Structure.
Catagories covered include: Bedding, Floor Coverings, Furniture, Household Accessory Lighting Device, Plumbing Fixture, Temerature Control Device.
Catagories in this binder include: Adornment, and Clothing: Accessory.
Clothing: Footwear and Headwear
Clothing: Outerwear and Underwear
Personal Gear
Personal Symbol and Toiletries
Acoustical; Agricultural; Animal Husbandry
Armament: Chapman Collection
Armament: Ammunition, Artillery, Bludgeon, Body Armor
Armament: Edged
Armament: Firearm
Food Processing
Food Service
Blue Glass: Catagories 2 and 4
Blue Glass: Category 4
Blue Glass: Categoies 4, 5, and 7
Forestry; Glass and Plastics; Housekeeping; Leatherworking; Masonry; Mechanical; Medical and Psychological; Meteorlogical' Mining' Musical: Brass, Percussion, String, Woodwind, Unclassified; Nuclear Physics
Painting; Papermaking; Photographic; Power Production; Printing; Surveying and Navigational; Textileworking; Thermal, Timekeeping; Weights and Measures
Woodworking; Unclassified: General and Special
Astronomical; Biological; Chemical; Construction; Data Processing; Drafting; Electrical and Magnetic; Fishing and Trapping; Food Processing
Advertising Medium; Documentary; Sound Communication; Telecommunication; Visual Communication; Written Communication
Aerospace; Land; Rail; Water
Aerospace; Land; Rail; Water
Commercial Decorative Art; Folk Art
Games; Toys
Toys: Weaver Dolls
Behavioral Artifacts; Ceremonial Artifacts; Exchange Artifacts; Governmental Artifacts
Product Package; Unclassified Package
Artifact Remnant; Function Unknown
Taxidermy
Some of the files used by University of North Texas archivist, Richard Himmel, reguarding the artifacts in the Historical Collection.
Documents that show the process of clearing title to the artifacts in the Historical Collection.
Documents and handwritten lists of artifacts on loan to the Historical Collection. These lists were produced during the process of clearing titles to the items.
A collection of papers that document the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act law and the process of compliance.
This is a copy of the Federal Register.
The items on this list were tranferred to the Layland Museum in Cleburne.
The notice was published to inform people with items on loan to the Historical Collection that UNT wanted to return those artifacts.