Welcome to the Border Heritage Center Digital Collections!

 

What will you discover today?

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Real photo postcard of soldiers leaving a passenger train car. Text on postcard reads "U.S. troops arriving at Border, El Paso, Texas, April 26, 1914".

What are the Digital Collections?

The Border Heritage Center's (BHC) Digital Collections are an extension of BHC's physical holdings. Included are rare, unique, and significant materials relating to the history and culture of the city of El Paso and the surrounding Southwest region. We hope a greater understanding and appreciation of our community's history emerges with the ability to remotely discover and use primary resources first hand!  

BHC's Digital Collections site is a work-in-progress as we continue to digitize and catalog collections for inclusion. We encourage you to revisit the site and check out what's new!

Join us in celebrating American Archives Month and Borderland Communities at the 8th Annual Border Archives Bazaar. The Border Archives Bazzar is a free, educational, fun event organized by the Border Regional Archives Group (BRAG). The Bazaar not only showcases our border region's unique, historic archival materials but, also introduces you to the various institutions and repositories dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and accessibility of those materials.

This year, two 90-minute panel presentations featuring scholars and researchers on their use of archives to document and preserve borderland community histories is programmed.

To learn more about this year's Bazaar, panelists, and participatig institutions, please visit our News & Events page. 

We hope to see you there!

New Collection Alert!

 

Make sure to browse/search through our new collection - Local Newspapers & Newsletters.

This collection focuses on the smaller, regional publications of the greater El Paso area acquired by the library over the decades. Many are single issue holdings. Nevertheless, much can be learned about the communities and themes featured in these publications.

U.S. Military on the Border Collection

The U.S. Army on the Border Collection consists of real photo postcards and photographs of U.S. Army and National Guard troops serving along the U.S.-Mexico border in the early 20th century. All aspects of military life are captured, including servicemen on duty, in camp, in training exercises and out on excursions. Some of the postcards were mailed to family and friends and included notes of personal experiences, providing first-hand accounts of soliders' activities and sentiments.

McGaw Photograph Collection

The McGaw Collection is named after its donor, William C. McGaw, author and historian. The collection is comprised of the compiled works of at least two photographers, Russell Metcalfe and James Alexander. Close to 1,500 photographs of the El Paso/Juarez area, the Mexican Revolution, New Mexico towns, national parks and nature were given to McGaw by the widow of Russell Metcalfe. McGaw in turn, donated the collection to the El Paso Public Library's Southwest Department in 1965. Only a portion of the collection is available at this time, however, additional images will be included in the future.

Description and Travel Collection

This collection features early descriptive publications about a city or town. Presently, the collection is comprised of publications about El Paso but we aim to expand the holdings to include other Southwest locations in the future. The publications date from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. These works informed tourists, prospective businesses and residents about a city's advantages and promising future. A city's history, business sector, economic prospects, agriculture, climate, local government, residential life and neighboring communities were commonly addressed and explored.

Need help getting started?

Select one or more search terms below to locate materials relevant to your research and interests. 

Note: New search terms will be added to catagories as new materials and collections are added to the website.

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Share your thoughts with us!

The Border Heritage Center's Digital Collections site is a new endeavor we're thrilled to share with all of you, but as with most anything new, there may be a few kinks to work out. We'd love to hear your thoughts about the site. What are its positives? Do you have suggestions for improvements? What kind of materials and/or content would you like seen on the site in the future? Can you help identify or provide additional information on images on the site? If so, please contact us at LibBorder@elpasotexas.gov.