| dc.description.transcription | Be it known to the reader of these words that the writer of them has spent a morning in looking back over the catalogs of Add-Ran College and of Texas Christian University from 1873 to the present date, March 1926, reviewing the history of the library as found therein. The file of the Horned Frog has been scanned likewise for material and pictures on this subject. More information has been found than can be given here, but what follows has been gleaned mainly from these sources. The beginning of the library at Thorp's Spring, Hood County, Texas, cannot be dated with certainty, but it may be conjectured that there were books in the various class rooms before a general collection was formed. The first mention of a library is found in the catalog of Add Ran College for the year 1880-'81. In 1895-'96 we find that a collection of 1,045 volumes of well-selected and cataloged books were donated by Mr. Edwin J. Toof of New HAven, Conn. Mr. Toof was at one time the pastor of the Central Christian Church at Dallas, Texas. In this same year it is noted the gift of a $75 edition of the Century Dictionary from J.B. Sweeney, pastor of the Christian Church at Tyler, Texas. Another gift received at this time was a set of the Millennial Harbinger from President Addison Clark. The school was moved to Waco, Texas, on Christmas day, 1895. The catalog of 1896-'97 the gift of neat and substantial book-cases by Dr. Chas. T. Young of Waco is mentioned; pictures of the interior of the library, found in this catalog and in the Horned Frog for 1905, confirm the statement that the cases were neat and substantial. In 1899 the library had grown to "several thousand volumes." The first mention of a librarian is found in 1901-'02 and in the catalog of the following year, among the officers of the University, appears the name of Mabel Gray Crosse, A.B. (Hiram College) as librarian. Plans were being made for classifying the books according to the Dewey classification system, and students in advanced classes were being assigned to do collateral reading in the library. In 1904-'05 the name of Mrs. M.B.M. Gibbons appears as librarian; the books have been classified and files of the leading peridicals have been added. In 1905-'06, Mrs. E.C. Boynton was librarian. The library was in the northwest wing of the main building. The Central Christian Church of Dallas offered to donate $1,000 a year for five years to improve the quarters and the book collection of the library. In 1906-'07, Mrs. Edwin C. Boynton continued as librarian; Miss Nell Andrew is listed as the registrar of the University. The Central Christian Church of Waco place improvements in the library amounting to several hundred dollars. The following year Miss Nell Andrew became librarian, having had some instruction in library work from Mrs. Boynton. Incidenally (sic.), a picture of Miss Andrew may be found on page 28 of the Annual for 1909. How interesting it is to look back through the old annuals and see, for instance, how Dr. Lockhart looked with moustache and side-burns, etc., etc. On March 22, 1910, the Main Building at Waco was destroyed by fire, all the library books being lost with the exception of the books which happened to be charged out at the time plus the 41 volumes which were rescued from the flames by Mr. H.F. Houtchins, one of the ministerial students. An account of this service of Mr. Houtchins will be found in The Skiff for April 8, 1910. In the words of Miss Andrew, "On the morning after the fire, our new library began with the daily newspaper. It did not enter my mind that I as librarian might be out of a job because of the fact that the library had been destroyed." Publishers were liberal in donating books to replace those that had been lost, and with donations from many friends a stock of new books was rapidly collected. The University was moved to Fort Worth in 1910. Mrs. J.J. Cromer sent 600 books and hundreds of magazines; Chalmers McPherson sent over 600 magazines; a new set of the Millennial Harbinger from the library of John D. Newcomer was donated by the son, Mr. Jacob L. Newcomer of Hagerstown, Md. So the library continued to grow. The Mollie Elliott Strange memorial library of classical language and literature, presented by L.C. Strange of Temple, Texas, in memory of his wife, was an outstanding gift, reported in the catalog for 1913-'14. Mrs. J.C. Gorham of Fort Worth gave 101 volumes; senior classes and literary societies, as well as individuals too numerous to mention here, made generous contributions of books and money to aid in building up the book-collection of the library. The following tabulation shows the growth in number of volumes over a period of years: 1910 1911 1912 1913 3,141 (1913-14) 1914 3,091 (Annual 1914) 1915 3,950 + 600 bd. mags. (1914-15) 1916 5,292 (15-16) 1917 13,000 (16-17) 1918 15,000 (17-18) 1919 17,000 (18-19) 1920 21,343 (1919-20) 1921 8,541 P.D.S. 2,863 Law 1922 15,000 9,000 P.D.S. (21-22) 1923 17,000 (1922-23) + 8,000 P.D.S. 1924 9,856 (1923-24) + 2500 Law bks 1925 25,000 10,000 P.D. (1924-25) "Librarians who have served as Mabel Grey Crosse, '02-'03, '03-'04; Mrs. M.B.M. Gibbons, '04-'-5, '05-06'; Mrs. E.C. Boynton, '06-'07, '07-'08; Nell Andrew, '08-09, '09-'10, '11-'12, '12-'13, '13-'14." - Horned Frog, 1914, p.27 (Picture, on op. p., of Miss Andrew.) | |
