Students visiting Special Collections for the first time
often tell us the Rare Book Room brings Harry Potter to mind, with its dark
wooden cabinets filled with books of all sizes. Wandering through the room, students see books
focused on the arts, on history and several first editions of books written by
famous named authors. Sometimes they’re
surprised to discover they can also find books and collections focused on so
many other different areas – such as our current exhibit on environmental studies.
 |
| Big Bend National Park (Courtesy of the NPS) |
This exhibit includes a diversity of material. Records of early battles to stop development efforts over
the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone are found in the Fay Sinkin Collection, while
the newly processed William B. Tuttle collection chronicles his efforts to
raise money in San Antonio for the statewide effort to purchase additional land
necessary for Big Bend to become a national park, rather than state park. He
spoke to numerous organizations within the city, trying to raise the San
Antonio share of $25,000 for the overall effort. This would be the first
national park within the state and he believed the financial benefits for the
state would be great, along with perhaps even increasing the state population
from visitors who might decide to make Texas their home. Col. Tuttle was also a member of the San
Antonio Airport Company which played a major role in securing land used for a
new flying field in San Antonio. That field was named Randolph flying field and
the land is now part of Randolph Air Force Base. His papers include maps and
even copies of deeds for the land purchased and given to the state, and
eventually the federal government for the new flying field.
This summer also brought about the addition of the Char
Miller Collection, a former Trinity University history professor, whose writings
have focused on the environment and include an award winning book on Gifford Pinochet,
the first chief of the United Sates Forest Service and a former governor of
Pennsylvania. To learn more about the
collection, take a moment to read the Special Collections Blog post by Sarah Alger, former processing archivist, who processed the collection this past
summer.
Discover more information about our collections on the
Special Collections and Archives homepage.
Even better – come to Coates Library to visit Special Collections and
Archives (2nd Floor) and view our new Discovering Special Collections and Archives: Environmental Studies exhibit. We are open Monday through Friday, 1:15-5pm unless otherwise posted. Find current hours by visiting the homepage linked above.
--Meredith Elsik
--Meredith Elsik
