Many historical documents from Howard Payne University, Daniel Baker College and the Brownwood Bulletin are now available online through the West Texas Digital Archives, a digital repository of significant historical materials belonging to the members of the Abilene Library Consortium (ALC). The digital source is now available online at http://wtda.alc.org/.  This virtual collection preserves and provides access to valuable historical resources previously unavailable to the general public.

Within the HPU portion of the archives, notable documents including yearbooks from HPU and DBC, Dr. Thomas H. Taylor papers, the university catalog, archives from the Brownwood Bulletin newspapers and more files are easily accessible. These original documents, stored and maintained at HPU’s Walker Memorial Library, were digitized by the library’s staff for use in this archive project.

The West Texas Digital Archives makes it possible for these rare historical resources to be used by a wide range of people regardless of geographical limits.  These materials will be useful to the casual browser, the school child and the scholarly researcher, all from the convenience of their computer screen.

Files from all five of the ALC libraries, including Abilene Christian University, Abilene Public Library, Hardin-Simmons University, HPU and McMurry University, are available.

The Consortium began the digital archives project in 2004.  In 2006, the project received a $2.1 million grant from the Dodge Jones Foundation and the Dian Graves Owen Foundation.  The West Texas Digital Archives was developed in conjunction with the service provider Atmire.