The upcoming KERA documentary, “Living with the Trinity,” includes photographs and video from the Jim Wright Papers. It airs Monday, 23 November, at 9pm on channel 13. Check it out.
The finding aid for the Henry B. Hardt Papers is now online. The collection was processed and the finding aid written by history graduate student, Jensen Branscombe, supervised by Senior Archivist Mike Strom.
Henry B. Hardt was born on June 6, 1897 in Hondo, Texas. Dr. Hardt was professor of
Chemistry at TCU from 1947 through 1967, serving as department chair from 1946 to 1961. Prior to that he held positions in the chemistry departments of Texas Women’s College, Columbia University, Westminster College, and Stephen F. Austin College. Hardt also spent many years on the Texas State Board of Examiners in the Basic Sciences. In 1967, Hardt resigned his teaching position at TCU and in 1969 joined the administration of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM). He retired in 1974.In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Hardt was active in athletics administration, serving on TCU’s Athletic Council for 20 years and acting as the Faculty Representative and then President for the Southwest Athletic Conference. He was also active in the NCAA, serving as Faculty Representative, Vice President, President (1961-1962), and member of the Executive Committee.
The papers document Hardt’s scholarly pursuits as well as his support of, and service to, TCU and intercollegiate athletics. Materials include correspondence, newspaper clippings, transcripts of Hardt’s talks, and a few samples of his publications.
From Ms Branscombe’s finding aid
Banner advertizing Dr Gracy’s talk
Mike Strom, Senior Archivist, introduces Dr David Gracy II
Dr Gracy delivers his talk
Part of the audience of faculty, students, archivists, and librarians
Dr Gracy makes a point
Dr Gracy takes a question
Part of the exhibit
And there was cake!
October is Archives Month. To mark the occasion, the TCU library is pleased to host a talk by David B. Gracy II. Gracy will speak about the importance of archives and the historical record on Thursday, October 22, at 4pm. Gracy has taught Archival Enterprise at UT-Austin for nearly thirty years and his distinguished career includes establishing the Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University and serving as the State Archivist of Texas. He is a past president of both the Society of American Archivists and the Academy of Certified Archivists and he has written extensively in both archival enterprise and history. Guests from outside the TCU community are welcome to attend.
In addition, Special Collections will be exhibiting selections from some of its archival collections on October 22. The exhibit will be in the Special Collections Department on the second floor of the library and will be open from 8:00-5:30.
Please contact Mike Strom, 817-257-7595 or m.strom@tcu.edu, with any questions.
Special Collections has acquired three new additions to its collection of nineteenth-century British novels originally published in weekly or monthly parts. This form of serialization was re-popularized in the nineteenth century among authors, publishers, and the public by the very great success of Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers published by Chapman and Hall in London in 1836-1837. Special Collections holds thirty novels in parts by such authors as Dickens, Surtees, Thackeray, Lever, and Trollope. The recent additions are all by Anthony Trollope. Trollope published forty-seven novels, 8 of which were originally published in parts. Special Collections now holds 5 of these.
Orley Farm, published by Chapman and Hall in twenty monthly parts from March 1861 through October 1862, was the first of Trollope’s novels to be published in parts. It contains forty full-page plates by the Pre-Raphaelilte artist John Everett Millais. The pages of advertisements are particularly fine in this set, still including the cambric frilling sample with its ad in part six. Trollope declared in his autobiography that the plot of this novel was “probably the best I have ever made.”
The Vicar of Bullhampton, considered one of the scarcest of Trollope’s parts issues, was originally published in 1869-70 by Bradbury Evans and Company in eleven monthly parts. In all, there are 33 illustrations (22 plates and 11 vignettes in the text) by Henry Woods. According to Michael Sadleir in his Anthony Trollope: a commentary, the novel was “ostensibly . . . written in defence of the ‘fallen woman,’ [and] has a quaintly solemn preface in which the author apologizes to his public for venturing on ground so delicate. But the book itself fails admirably to fulfill its proclaimed intentions. It is as characteristically Trollopian in plot and staging as the preface in its self-conscious propagandism is uncharacteristic. A vigorous story of village life, The Vicar of Bullhampton presents a delightful parson, several charming ladies, a gruff farmer, a pompous marquis and some aggressive nonconformity.”
Detail of the cover of the Vicar of BullhamptonThe publication of the parts of the novel The Prime Minister published in 1876 by Chapman and Hall is a bit unusual in that the novel was issued in both the expected paper wrappers but also bound in cloth. Special Collections has acquired a set of the cloth-bound issue. Sadleir, in his in bibliography of Trollope’s works, suggests that perhaps the novel was offered in cloth-bound parts to give the lending libraries of the day (Mudie’s, W. H. Smith, the short-lived Library Company, and the like) a sturdier product, better able to withstand repeated lending and readings. The paper parts were often “read to death” requiring the library to replace them. This, the next to last of the Palliser novels, was issued in 8 monthly parts.
These, and the other Victorian novels originally published in serial form, may be seen any time Special Collections is open.
Check out the new exhibit in the lobby of the library displaying photographs and other items from the Amon G Carter collection. Entitled “Amon G. Carter, TCU’s Man in the Field,” the exhibit was assembled and mounted by Susan Swain.
Susan describes the exhibit:
Amon G. Carter was a big booster of TCU football as well as publisher and founder of the Fort Worth-Star Telegram. He started life poor, but with wit and drive, he became a person of renown and influence, meanwhile amassing a great fortune. He spearheaded the building of the Amon G. Carter Stadium at TCU, and threw his money and personality into the football team.
In 1938, a great brouhaha went up and rumors flew when TCU accepted an invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans, rather than in the Cotton Bowl at Dallas. Columnists opined on hidden motives and shady schemes, with Amon Carter in the middle.
Reproductions from The Amon Carter Papers and photos from Special Collections tell the stories.
Today, 15 April, is the anniversary of the publication of Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, in 1755. Special Collections holds the folio two-volume first edition of this great reference work. Although not the first dictionary of the English language, it would become the standard of the genre until the 1880s when it was replaced by the New English Dictionary, or the Oxford English Dictionary as it is styled today.
The complete title is A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar.
Perhaps just a few examples:
Booklearning – Skill in literature; acquaintance with books; a term of some contempt.
Curtain-lecture – A reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed.
Dull – Not exhilaterating; not delightful; as, to make dictionaries is dull work.
Excise – A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
Lexicographer – A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.
Merrythought – A forked bone on the body of fowls; so called because boys and girls pull in play at the two sides, the longest part broken off betokening priority of marriage.
Oats – A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Tarantula – An insect whose bite is only cured by music.
Vaticide – A murderer of poets.
X – Is a letter, which, though found in Saxon words, begins no word in the English language.
For additional information on Dr Johnson’s Dictionary see:
Henry Hitchings. Defining the world : the extraordinary story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary. PE 1617.J7 H58 2005
Anniversary essays on Johnson’s dictionary. PE 1617 .J7 A56 2005
Allen Reddick. The making of Johnson’s dictionary, 1746-1773. PE 1617 .J7 R4 1990
The Lewis B. Miller Papers have been processed and the finding aid is now online. The collection was processed and the finding aid written by history graduate student, Jensen Branscombe, supervised by Senior Archivist Mike Strom.
Lewis B Miller, an alumnus of Add-Ran, was the author of numerous novels and short stories set in the American Southwest. Titles include Fort Blocker boys and Saddles and lariats; the largely true story of the bar-circle outfit. Many of the documents are very fragile, even fragmentary, as his drafts were largely written on highly acidic paper and not ideally stored. The collection is known among Special Collections staff as the “chicken coop papers” as they were stored for many years in a farm outbuilding exposed to the weather and to various creatures, including chickens. It was in this setting that one Dan Rightmer, a student at TCU, found them, abandoned to the elements and the chickens. Rightmer donated the collection to the university in 1972 in exchange for part of his tuition.
From Ms Branscombe’s finding aid:
The papers document Miller’s writing career and personal pursuits. The bulk of the collection consists of materials related to Miller’s writings, including manuscripts, publications, illustrations, promotional material, and correspondence with fans and publishers. The personal papers document Miller’s education, family, and personal interests and include material from Miller’s time at Add-Ran College, correspondence, photographs, and materials related to Miller’s interests in politics, religion, and charitable causes.
“In cultures possessing fluent scripts, paper, and printing, books have acquired a stable material form. Those quiet, reliable, portable, legible objects are the benchmark incarnation of the book for most of us now, yet we know that, to be real, a book must be more than a physical object. What makes the tangible form of a book rewarding is that it stands for an intangible reality alive in the heart and mind.”
Robert Bringhurst, Canadian poet, typographer, and author
Today, 25 March, is the 26th anniversary of the dedication of the “expanded” Mary Couts Burnett Library. Ground had been broken for the expansion on 11 April 1981. The new building had been occupied in late August 1982, but the dedication was delayed until the renovations in the old building had been completed.
The program included remarks by then Chancellor William Tucker, as well as representatives of the faculty and students. Dr Paul Parham, University Librarian, spoke for the library and its staff. Chancellor Tucker led the assembly in a “Litany of Dedication.” A brass quintet and the Concert Chorale provided music.
From the program:
The library expansion project has effectively integrated the spaces of three buildings into a single, functional library facility. The unique character of each of the two earlier structures has not only been maintained but improved. The special flavor of the 1924 reading room, now housing current periodicals, has been restored by uncovering the vaulted ceiling and arched windows. The modular open spaces of the 1957 addition have been remodeled to provide spacious accommodations for bound periodicals, serials department, the music library, graduate research areas, and open stack collections.
The 1982 addition, of contemporary design, houses the departments of reference, circulation and technical services on the first floor. Reading areas for Brite students, special collections, and display areas are located on the second floor. The basement level provides space for instructional media, faculty research areas, group study rooms, and open stack areas with perimeter seating. The lounge level accommodates a well-appointed student lounge and a storage area where opportunities exist for future expansion.
The architectural history of the library complex is dramatically revealed in the exterior facade of the building. The four arched windows of the 1924 building rise just to the left of the main entrance. The 1957 addition is now characterized by the small, recessed slot windows which have replaced the vertical louvers. The triangular skylights and the large faceted bay windows which extend through the southeast facade are the central design features of the 1982 library addition. The geometric patterns of the skylights are repeated in the covered portico of the main entrance and again in the ceiling design of the main building itself. Yellow or tan brick which has come to be called TCU brick has been utilized to harmonize all these components of the library expansion into a beautiful library facility designed to meet the needs of the university.
Building Summary:
Size of addition: 74,260 sq. ft.
Size of total library complex: 158,605 sq. ft.
Reader stations: 1,100
Collection capacity: 1.8 million volumes
Total cost: $10 million, including endowment
Architects:
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Chicago
Walter Netsch, partner (retired)
Don Ohlson, associate partner
Craig Hartman, associate partner
Engineers:
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Chicago
Friberg, Alexander, Maloney, Gipson and Weir, Inc., Fort Worth,
Consultant
Contractor:
Walker Construction Company, Fort Worth
For a PDF copy of the entire dedication program, click here