More than 79,000 pages of Dallas Voice, dating back to the first issue on May 11, 1984, have been digitized by the University of North Texas Library as part of its Portal to Texas History.

The issues are in searchable PDF format — not only the articles, but photo captions and ads as well.

Grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Texas State Library and Archives Commission funded most of the project. The school received some additional funds and is still fundraising to make up the difference.

Dreanna Belden, UNT libraries’ assistant dean for external relations, said they underestimated the number of pages and are still trying raise about $7,000 for the $32,000 project.

Digitizing the newspaper began as an offshoot project of The Dallas Way, the North Texas LGBT history project that is collecting artifacts and written and oral histories of the community. The Dallas Way connected with UNT early on in its efforts.

“UNT already had committed to being the largest LGBT repository in the Southwest,” said Robert Emery, one of The Dallas Way’s founders.

To learn more, please see the Dallas Voice article, UNT Digitizes Dallas Voice.