Aside from the "Ghosts" series, work also continues on a few other long-term blog projects, some of which have been in the pipeline for as long as a year or more. I expect to have these completed and published sometime during the summer. All this means that 2025 should be the best year to date for this blog, not to mention a good year for finally getting out a lot of other content that's been on the sidelines for years - more concert photos and other photo galleries, more road trip travelogs, maybe even additional old footage of the local scene (working on this!). I also expect to roll out a long-needed e-mail newsletter by the start of next week so I can (hopefully) drive engagement for the website as a whole. Overall, when it comes to projects, things have been very productive as late and will continue to be so for quite some time. I originally created this website in 2008 as a showcase for my work, but it's never really shown its true potential until now. Here's looking forward to a productive and fulfilling next chapter.
Tag: Research projects
bookmark_borderIt’s been a while…

bookmark_borderResources for researching DFW area history
- The Portal to Texas History, especially the included old city directories
- Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives via the Dallas Public Library
- HertageQuest, via Dallas Public Library website (login required)
- Dallas trade journal published by the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, via the Internet Archive
- Jim Wheat's Dallas County Texas Archives site, especially his upload of the 1911 Worley's Dallas City Street Directory, an extremely valuable reference when dealing with pre-1911 Dallas addresses
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps via the University of Texas Libraries, covering the period from 1877-1922. Click on the first letter of the city being looked for. Maps of both Dallas and Fort Worth (and other area municipalities) are available.
- Paula Boose's Flashback: Dallas blog and website
- Library of Congress website
- Wikimedia Commons
- Internet Archive, which contains plenty of great resources but can require substantial digging
- limited Dallas Times Herald and other newspaper/newsletter archives, 1920-1921 via NewspaperArchive.com
- The Images of America series of books published by Arcadia Publishing
- Dallas: The Deciding Years - A Historical Portrait by A.C. Greene, published 1973 by The Encino Press
- Dallas Yesterday by Sam Acheson, edited by Lee Milazzo, published 1977 by Southern Methodist University Press
- Dallas Rediscovered: A Photographic Chronicle of Urban Expansion 1870-1925 by William L. McDonald, published 1979 by The Dallas Historical Society
- This Used to Be Dallas by Harry Hall, published 2020 by Reedy Press
- Dallas Filth: Raw Histoire
- Dallas, Texas History
- Deep Ellum
- Memories of Dallas (private group)
- Plano History (& Nostalgia)
- You Were There: A History of Culture in Dallas

bookmark_borderItems I’m looking for in 2025
- Original, non-commercial (i.e., amateur) photo prints, snapshots, negatives, and slides of the Dallas-Fort Worth area from the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly those showing buildings, streets, and important events (but not parades). This includes amateur real photo postcards, and especially includes amateur photos from local band performances taken prior to the advent of digital cameras.
- Original flyers for local shows at area clubs and music venues from the 1990s and earlier, or originally made (i.e., not taken off the internet) high quality images of them
- Original memorabilia of any kind related to businesses located on or along Poydras Street in Dallas, from any time period, especially photos, postcards, business cards, advertisements, and physical promotional items (advertising handouts, branded items and other such artifacts) (high priority)
- Cabinet cards and CDVs produced in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from 1870 through 1900
- Vintage, original photo prints, negatives, and slides of areas and attractions I've visited on prior road trips
- Vintage, original 8mm films of sites in the DFW area (amateur films, not commercial, and not films of private events such as weddings and birthday parties unless they include notable individuals)
- Photos of interracial couples predating Loving vs. Virginia (i.e., before 1967), including slides
- Original music-related 'zines from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, from any time period
- Route 66-related slides and photos, amateur only (not commercially produced)
- Any "found footage" style audio and video recordings related to DFW happenings, on any format I can play (cassette, 1/4 inch reel-to-reel, home-recorded 8 track cartridges, microcassettes, VHS/VHS-C, Video8, Hi8, miniDV, DVD-R and other recordable DVD media)
When it comes to cabinet cards, photos of places outside the DFW metroplex, and the pre-Loving photos, I am looking to acquire originals, but in all the other instances, I only need permission to reproduce materials and don't need to actually acquire originals as long as a good quality copy can be provided. This is particularly the case for the various historical research projects that concern local history or the DFW music scene in particular.
Plans for 2025 include finishing up the Ghosts of DFW Music History blog series, some historical posts concerning Dallas history, completing my Road Trips and Live Performance Photography photo galleries, a few recipe and cooking-related posts, and possibly some photography-related experiments and/or videos. And of course, whatever else I may feel like doing at any given time.

bookmark_borderEarly photography studios in Dallas – a walking tour

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