Tuesday, February 24, 2026
UNT Libraries launch Levi H. Davis Dallas Oral History Collection, preserving voices that shaped the city
DENTON (UNT), Texas — The University of North Texas Libraries has unveiled the Levi H. Davis Dallas Oral History Collection, a newly preserved archive in the Portal to Texas History showcasing more than 100 video interviews documenting Dallas’s civic and cultural history through the voices of the people who lived it.
The collection captures firsthand accounts from community leaders — including activists, educators, public servants, business leaders and artists — whose contributions helped define Dallas across generations. Featured interviews include the first Dallas County Hispanic judge, a school administrator during integration, Dallas County’s first female director of Health and Human Services, and the city’s first Black dentist.
The initiative was created by Levi H. Davis, a longtime North Texas public servant, educator, business leader and Dallas’s first Black assistant city manager. Davis spent decades gathering and working with interviews from individuals whose leadership and lived experience shaped the region.
Levi H. Davis created the initiative.
“I wanted to capture the history and the essence of what makes Dallas what it is today,” Davis said. “Throughout the years, I began to collect and conduct over one hundred interviews with key public and private individuals who helped shape the community we know today. To better understand Dallas and where we are and going as a community, I give those interviews to the community as a gift.”
Building on this vision of shared history, the UNT Libraries have worked to preserve, digitize and make the collection accessible to researchers, students and the broader public via the Portal to Texas History. In doing so, the collection enhances understanding of Dallas’s evolution through stories that might otherwise remain untold.
“These interviews showcase the history of Dallas as it was actually lived,” said Sian Brannon, University Library and Vice Provost. “The UNT Libraries are thankful to Levi for providing us the ability to connect our students, researchers, and history enthusiasts around the world, to these illuminating firsthand experiences.”
The UNT library collection showcases more than 100 video interviews about Dallas's history.
On Thursday, March 5 at 2 p.m., the UNT Libraries will host a public celebration at the Hall of State at Fair Park to mark the launch of the collection. The gathering will bring together community leaders, university partners and guests who care deeply about Dallas and its story. Together, attendees will celebrate the Portal to Texas History, recognize Davis’s extraordinary contribution and reflect on why preserving lived experience matters — enriching cultural memory and strengthening public access to meaningful historical insight.
From UNT News – General News