Dallas-Fort Worth TV Station Donates 30 Years of Historical News Film Footage to University of North Texas Libraries

From  NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth:

NBC 5 / KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth announced today the donation of three decades of historical news film to The University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, Texas.
Thousands of donated film reels from the 1950s, 60s and 70s offer a moving picture history of newsworthy events to North Texas audiences through the years.  NBC 5, then WBAP-TV, signed on as Texas’ first television station in 1948 and soon after began broadcasting news by splicing together film shot daily by station photographers.
“‘The Texas News’ was a pioneering newscast format developed by a few WBAP staffers in the late 1940s and early 50s,” said Brian Hocker, NBC 5 vice president of programming.  “The film in this collection was at the heart of the original television news programs of the day created specifically for North Texans.”
Scripts providing context to the images still accompany many of the reels and will be valuable to researchers digitizing and cataloging the archive.
The University of North Texas (UNT) will permanently preserve the film and script images in digital files through their library’s digital preservation network as funds specifically designated for the archive preservation become available.
“UNT through The Portal to Texas History project is doing remarkable work making the past available to university researchers and the public,” said Tom Ehlmann, NBC 5 president and general manager.  “We’re hoping our film collection becomes a valuable part of that project and accessible to all.”

Direct to The Portal of Texas History

Filed under: Digital Preservation, Libraries, News, Preservation