Home > Tension in the Archives: An Exploration of Hidden Histories

Tension in the Archives: An Exploration of Hidden Histories

Welcome to Tension in the Archives: An Exploration of Hidden Histories!

The mission of this exhibit is to highlight a small portion of the battles for social justice that are hidden in our archives. Events and movements that played pivotal roles in social and political tensions have been well-documented in the archives and libraries located at the University of Texas at Austin. For many reasons, many of these conflicts have been hidden from the public eye. We have set out to shine a spotlight on the collections where these histories are kept, and to show the commonalities between fights for social justice that are sometimes worlds apart.

About This Project

This online digital archive was created by the students of Dr. Elon Lang's Spring 2018 LAH/HUM350 course, Treasure Hunt in Campus Archives. In this class, students engaged in direct archival research with collections related to social justice at the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, and LILLAS Benson Latin American Collection. Students learned about the theoretical approaches to archiving, as well as the role of archives as an institution. This small set of interrelated Omeka exhibits is part of the students' collaborative capstone projects. It aims to showcase some of the University's lesser-known archival holdings and to contextualize the archival material with research the students conducted in the University's libraries.