The Texas Collection is one of the special libraries at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Situated in the Carroll Library Building, the Texas Collection serves as a collection of various documents, items and artifacts significant to Texas history.

History

The Texas Collection, founded in 1923 by a gift of several hundred items from the personal Texas history collection of Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth, is one of the specialized libraries of Baylor University. From its early beginnings, The Texas Collection has grown to the largest privately held collection of Texana, containing nearly 200,000 volumes, more than 3,000 current serial subscription titles, and over 13,000 audio-visual pieces. In addition, there are over 1.4 million photographs, over 3,600 oral history tapes/transcripts, approximately 15,000 maps, and over 2,500 archival collections. The original materials, along with other Texas-related holdings of the Baylor University Library, were housed in a single room of the Carroll Library Building until 1939, at which time it was moved to occupy an entire wing on the second floor of Pat Neff Hall. By the end of another 15 years, The Texas Collection was in need of yet more space. In 1955, The Texas Collection returned home to Carroll Library building, this time with the entire third floor designated for the collection. In 1968, with the completion of the Moody Memorial Library, the general collection moved out of the Carroll Library Building, leaving three floors solely to The Texas Collection. In 1993, the University renovated the Carroll Library Building, forcing The Texas Collection into a temporary home in the basement of Roxy Grove Hall.

Print Materials

The collection of print materials contains nearly 200,000 volumes concerning Texas and Texans. The collection is strong in Texas history, genealogy, popular literature, Baptists and their institutions, religious denominations, and Texas cookery. Print materials come in a variety of formats including books, periodicals, vertical files, microforms, and audiovisual materials. The collection is a regional depository for Texas state documents and receives publications from state agencies. It is also a depository in the Regional Historical Records Depository program and provides these microfilmed county records for both in-house use and Inter-library loan patrons.

Manuscript Archives

The Texas Collection preserves and makes accessible manuscript collections about the diverse lives of Texans—their faith, politics, struggles, and triumphs. These daily events, recorded in the collections from before Texas’ birth as a Republic to the present, link Texas and Texans past with those of today. This rich history includes diaries, letters, photographs, and other materials on all things Texas. Collection strengths include early Texas, Baptist and missionary history, the Civil War, World War I and World War II, Branch Davidians, and the Central Texas region.

University Archives

The University Archives is Baylor University’s memory, providing insight into the rich heritage that gives context and meaning to the university’s future. Holdings include Board records, presidential papers, office/departmental records, university publications, student organization records, and other materials that are invaluable resources in documenting Baylor's past.

Photograph Collection

From daguerreotypes to digital and over two million strong, the ever expanding photographic holdings of The Texas Collection capture the lives, events, and scenery of Texas and its citizens. With emphasis on central Texas and Baylor University, holdings also include various Texas cities and parts of the U.S. Collections of several prominent central Texas photographers are also represented, such as Fred Gildersleeve. The Texas Collection is home to several thousand pieces of his photographic works.

Map Collection

The majority of maps available at The Texas Collection focus on the state of Texas. The collection contains over 17,000 maps that show the geographic region through its various transitions into the present day state. The map collection in housed in the Frances C. Poage Map room on the second floor of Carroll Library at Baylor University, a gift from former Congressman W. R. Poage.Hooda, Samreen. (2010, October 28). Historic maps to debut at library. The Lariat (Waco, TX). Retrieved from http://www.baylor.edu/lariatarchives/news.php?action=story&story=82929

Collections

Collection holdings include: *

Pat Neff Pat Morris Neff (November 26, 1871 – January 20, 1952) was an American politician, educator and administrator, and the 28th Governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925, ninth President of Baylor University from 1932 to 1947, and twenty-fifth presid ...

Jules Bledsoe Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe (1898 – July 14, 1943)
by John Troesser. Retrieved ...

Ruth Montgomery Ruth Shick Montgomery (June 11, 1912 – June 10, 2001) was a journalist with a long and distinguished career as a reporter, correspondent, and syndicated columnist in Washington, DC. Later in life she transitioned to a career as a psychic and aut ...

Leon Jaworski Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski (September 19, 1905 – December 9, 1982) was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon af ...

Dorothy Scarborough Emily Dorothy Scarborough (January 27, 1878 – November 7, 1935) was an American writer who wrote about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories and women's life in the Southwest. Early life Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Te ...

* Madison Cooper *

Grant Teaff Grant Garland Teaff (; born November 12, 1933) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at McMurry University (1960–1965), Angelo State University (1969–1971), and Baylor University (1972–1992), compiling ...

Samuel Palmer Brooks Samuel Palmer Brooks (December 4, 1863 – May 4, 1931) was the President of Baylor University from 1902 to 1931.Lawrence Sullivan Ross Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (September 27, 1838January 3, 1898) was the 19th governor of Texas, a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, and the seventh president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, now ...

Branch Davidians The Branch Davidians (or the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) were an apocalyptic new religious movement founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of ...

* Gordon Kidd Teal *

Elisabet Ney Franzisca Bernadina Wilhelmina Elisabeth Ney (26 January 1833 – 29 June 1907) was a German-American sculptor who spent the first half of her life and career in Europe, producing portraits of famous leaders such as Otto von Bismarck, Giuseppe G ...

Rufus Columbus Burleson Rufus Columbus Burleson (August 7, 1823 – May 14, 1901) was the president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, from 1851 to 1861 and again from 1886 to 1897. Biography Burleson was born near Decatur in northern Alabama. In 1840, he moved to Na ...

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

Richard Coke Richard Coke (March 18, 1829May 14, 1897) was an American lawyer and statesman from Waco, Texas. He was the 15th governor of Texas from 1874 to 1876 and was a US Senator from 1877 to 1895. His governorship is notable for reestablishing local ...

Vivienne Malone-Mayes Vivienne Lucille Malone-Mayes (February 10, 1932 – June 9, 1995) was an American mathematician and professor. Malone-Mayes studied properties of functions, as well as methods of teaching mathematics.Jacob De Cordova Jacob Raphael De Cordova (6 June 1808 – 26 January 1868) was the founder of the ''Jamaica Gleaner''. He settled in Texas in 1839 and lived in Galveston. After living in Galveston, De Cordova moved to Houston, Texas where he was elected ...

Camp MacArthur Camp MacArthur (or Camp McArthur) was an American military training base in Waco, Texas during World War I. It was named for General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. Arthur MacArthur Jr. (June 2, 1845 – September 5, 1912) was a lieutenant general of ...

William Cowper Brann William Cowper Brann (January 4, 1855 – April 1, 1898) was an American journalist known as Brann the Iconoclast and famous for the articulate savagery of his writing. Early life The son of Presbyterian minister Noble J. Brann, he was born in ...

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Fort Parker The Fort Laramie Indian Treaty of 1868, which closed travel on the Bozeman Trail and the Yellowstone Valley, stipulated that the re-defined Crow Reserve would have a new "centerpoint" or agency for the Crow. The first Crow Agency, which wa ...

William Carey Crane William Carey Crane (March 17, 1816 – February 27, 1885) was an American Baptist minister, an educator, and the president of Baylor University from 1864 to 1885.Samuel Boykin, ''History of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia - Vol. 2 of 2'', The ...

Abner Vernon McCall Abner Vernon McCall (June 8, 1915 – June 11, 1995) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas in 1956, Dean of Baylor Law School from 1948 to 1959, and the tenth president of Baylor University from 1961 to 1981. Biography McCall was born ...

* Oscar Henry Cooper *

George Washington Baines George Washington Baines (December 29, 1809 – December 28, 1882) was an American frontier politician, editor, teacher, and Baptist preacher in Texas; he was also president and co-founder of Baylor University. Background Baines was born near ...

* Robert B. Sloan *

Independence, Texas ---> Independence is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. Located twelve miles northeast of Brenham, it was founded in 1835 in Austin's colony of Anglo-Americans. It became a Baptist reli ...

Texas, Our Texas "Texas, Our Texas" is the regional anthem of the U.S. state of Texas, adopted in the late 1920s as the official state song. History It was written in 1924 by William J. Marsh, who was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, and emigrated to Texas ...

American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations. The AAUP's stated mission is ...

* Clark W. Thompson (Texas politician)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Texas Collection Baylor University Libraries in Waco, Texas 1923 establishments in Texas