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On Saturday, September 27, 2014, Rio Grande Valley residents participated in the Brownsville History Harvest at the Brownsville Public Library Central Branch.

More than seventy community members brought items from their family collections, including glass plate negatives from the Gilded Age, haunting photographs of the Mexican Revolution, maps of historic Fort Brown, and letters from World War II.

Eight scanning stations were set up around the community room, staffed by sponsoring organizations and volunteers from The University of Texas at Brownsville, Texas Southmost College, and Brownsville Independent School District who digitized hundreds of unique items along with collecting detailed documentation for each. The collection owners were able to take their original materials home, along with free digital copies. The sponsoring organizations created and retained a digital copy in accordance with the owner's approval.

The objective of the History Harvest is to create a community collection from the area's families documenting local, regional, and national history to be held at The University of Texas at Brownsville Library and made available for research, teaching, and educational exhibitions.

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) also participated in the History Harvest collecting Texas-based film and video for free digitization as part of their Texas Film Round-Up program. These materials are digitized in Austin and returned by mail to the owners, along with a digital copy.

Sponsoring local organizations include Brownsville Public Library, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library, Brownsville Historical Association, and Texas Southmost College.

View photos from the event, as well as some of the photographs and documents brought in by community members, in the slideshow below.

Flyer from the September 27, 2014, History Harvest in Brownsville.
History Harvest in Brownsville! : Slideshow
  1. Manuel Gutierrez, student volunteer from The University of Texas at Brownsville, and Sheena Moore, Humanities Texas staff member, scan glass negatives from the turn of the twentieth century at the Brownsville History Harvest. <em>Brownsville Herald</em> photo by Miguel Roberts.
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  1. Thumbnail of: Manuel Gutierrez, student volunteer from The University of Texas at Brownsville, and Sheena Moore, Humanities Texas staff member, scan glass negatives from the turn of the twentieth century at the Brownsville History Harvest. <em>Brownsville Herald</em> photo by Miguel Roberts.
  2. Thumbnail of: History Harvest participants watch historic film footage of Brownsville provided by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
  3. Thumbnail of: Volunteers and staff work with Brownsville residents to digitize items from their family collections at the Brownsville Public Library.
  4. Thumbnail of: Brownsville residents arrive at the Brownsville History Harvest and check in at the intake table.
  5. Thumbnail of: Humanities Texas staff member Stephanie Donowho (center) and student volunteers from The University of Texas at Brownsville record information about photographs brought to the History Harvest by a Brownsville resident.
  6. Thumbnail of: Brownsville residents brought items from their family collections to be digitized at the History Harvest.
Manuel Gutierrez, student volunteer from The University of Texas at Brownsville, and Sheena Moore, Humanities Texas staff member, scan glass negatives from the turn of the twentieth century at the Brownsville History Harvest. Brownsville Herald photo by Miguel Roberts.
History Harvest in Brownsville! : Thumbnails
  1. Thumbnail of: Manuel Gutierrez, student volunteer from The University of Texas at Brownsville, and Sheena Moore, Humanities Texas staff member, scan glass negatives from the turn of the twentieth century at the Brownsville History Harvest. <em>Brownsville Herald</em> photo by Miguel Roberts.
  2. Thumbnail of: History Harvest participants watch historic film footage of Brownsville provided by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
  3. Thumbnail of: Volunteers and staff work with Brownsville residents to digitize items from their family collections at the Brownsville Public Library.
  4. Thumbnail of: Brownsville residents arrive at the Brownsville History Harvest and check in at the intake table.
  5. Thumbnail of: Humanities Texas staff member Stephanie Donowho (center) and student volunteers from The University of Texas at Brownsville record information about photographs brought to the History Harvest by a Brownsville resident.
  6. Thumbnail of: Brownsville residents brought items from their family collections to be digitized at the History Harvest.
  7. Thumbnail of: Brownsville resident Ford Lockett provides information about a 1939 photo of himself as a boy dressed for Charro Days, a heritage festival held each spring in Brownsville and Matamoros. <em>Brownsville Herald</em> photo by Miguel Roberts.
  8. Thumbnail of: Brownsville Historical Association staff member Ayla Jarmillo collects information about historic family photographs before they are scanned for the community collection.
  9. Thumbnail of: Manuel Gutierrez and Humanities Texas staff member Erica Whittington scan glass negatives from the turn of the twentieth century.
  10. Thumbnail of: Student volunteers and library staff from The University of Texas at Brownsville display a few of the historical photographs that were brought to the History Harvest.
  11. Thumbnail of: Scan from glass negative of two men in a carriage in Kansas at the turn of the twentieth century. Courtesy of Gene Balch Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  12. Thumbnail of: Woman reading to young girls outside in Kansas at the turn of the twentieth century. Courtesy of Gene Balch Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  13. Thumbnail of: Photograph of Macedonio Manzano, who was executed on June 4, 1913, at age fifteen during the Mexican Revolution. Courtesy of Mary Teresa Champion Ayers Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  14. Thumbnail of: Brownsville fire department, 1918. Courtesy of Matilde Ninfa Guillen Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  15. Thumbnail of: Brownsville baseball team, 1920. Courtesy of Guillermo Gomez Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  16. Thumbnail of: Grocery store belonging to Enrique Marks, ca. 1930s. Courtesy of Emilia Garcia Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  17. Thumbnail of: Maximino Trevino Guerra resident alien identification card and a wartime letter written by Guerra to Maria Antonia Trevino, 1944. Courtesy of Maria Contreras Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  18. Thumbnail of: Front and back of photograph of a Cantu family member during World War II. Courtesy of Juanita R. Cantu Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  19. Thumbnail of: Gomez family member at Charro Days, 1939. Courtesy of Guillermo Gomez Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  20. Thumbnail of: Loading bananas at the Port of Brownsville, ca. 1930s. Courtesy of Matilde Ninfa Guillen Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  21. Thumbnail of: Map of Fort Brown by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ca. 1940s. Courtesy of Pelayo Quintana Jr. Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
  22. Thumbnail of: Pineda family member who served with the 12th cavalry at Fort Brown, March 10, 1924. Courtesy of Gilbert Pineda Collection, Brownsville Community Collection, The University of Texas at Brownsville Library.
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