Library Tour Guide

Welcome to Texas Woman's University Library!

The Blagg-Huey Library was completed and opened its doors in January 1986. The Library stands where University residence halls once stood.

The Fountain

Architectural plans called for a fountain as a center of the front Library Plaza, a gathering place for students on their way to the residence halls, the Library, the Dining Hall, the Student Center, and the classroom buildings.
Mr. and Mrs. Gus Davis donated the funds to purchase the library fountain. Mrs. Davis was chair of the TWU Board of Regents at the time. The fountain itself was imported from France.

Dedicatory Plaque

The dedicatory plaque on the front of the building bears the quotation by Edith Hamilton which reads: "To be caught up in a world of thought--that is to be Educated." The quotation was recommended by the late Dr. Joyce Thompson of the TWU English Faculty.

In a surprise move unknown to Dr. Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey, who was then President, the Alumni recommended to the Regents that the new Library be named in her honor. She was the University's first woman president, and it was one of her primary goals to provide a new library for the students and faculty. Her portrait is in the foyer on the wall to the left of the front entrance. The portrait was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Gatlin (Hoy Casey Gatlin, TWU Class of 1941).

 

Ground Floor

The ground floor of the library includes: Children’s Collection, the Media Viewing room, and 4 study rooms.

Children's Collection

The Children's Collection is located on the Garden Level of the Library. The collection houses a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction, reference materials, software, and multimedia materials.

First Floor

The first floor of the library includes: Circulation/Reserve, Computer Lab, Reference/Information, Lecture Hall, Herbarium, University Mace, Presidential Medallion, Lady of the Day, Woman of the Night.

Joyce Thompson Lecture Hall 101

To the right of the front entrance is the Joyce Thompson Lecture Hall 101 used by the library staff to provide instruction on the library's resources. It is equipped with a teaching computer, telecommunications, and a large-screen projector.

Library Academic Computing Lab

Directly across from the lecture hall is the Library Academic Computing Lab equipped with computers and variety of software. Computers are connected to the university network.

Reference/Information Desk

The Reference/Information Desk area is located on the first level, just beyond the lecture hall.
In this area, computer workstations are available for database research. Reference Librarians and staff are available to assist students with research needs.

Circulation/Reserves

The Circulation/Reserves area is located on the first level, just across the hall from the Reference/Information Desk.

 

The University Mace

The University Mace - Designed and handmade by Alfred E. Green, associate professor of art, the mace is a symbol of the spirit and nature of the university. It finds its origin in the pageantry of the thirteenth century.
The mace consists of a staff of rare vermillion wood topped with a silver sphere banded by ivory. The silver sphere is repeated at the base and a gold seal of the university is imbedded in the shaft. The mace is carried at all formal university ceremonies.

The Presidential Medallion

The medallion worn by the Chancellor and President bears the seal of the University on its face and the names and years in office of the twelve Presidents’ on the reverse. Encircling the Presidents’ names are the four names by which Texas Woman's University has been known since the founding in 1901. Professor Ingrid Psuty, M.F.A., of the School of Visual Arts (UNT) designed and fashioned the medallion and chain of fine silver and burgundy enamel.

TWU Herbarium Native Plant Specimens

The Herbarium features various plant specimens which date from 1909-1949. Over 325 specimens in theTWU Herbarium were collected by faculty and students from 1915-1949.

“Lady of the Day” and “Woman of the Night”

The two sculptures pictured here were dedicated to the TWU Library in September 1996 by Valerie M. Bentz, former associate professor in sociology at Texas Woman's University. About the Artist: David Shipley is from Lubbock, Texas, and lived in Southern California at the time of the 1996 dedication. He attended the Dallas Art Institute, the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, the University of Texas and Texas Tech University. He is a museum and gallery artist.

 

Second Floor

The second floor of the library includes: the administration office, Woman's Collection, the WASP Statue, and the Library's circulating collection.

Woman’s Collection

The Woman’s Collection Named in Memory of Lou Halsell Rodenberger - is a major research collection on the history of American women. At the suggestion of TWU president, Dr. Louis H. Hubbard, the Library first began collecting the biographies of great women in 1932 "to serve as role models" to students.

University Archives

The Woman's Collection also houses the University Archives, which provide rich research materials on the history of women's education in Texas. An international cookbook collection offers insight into culinary and cultural history. Reading Room - Pictured here is the Reading Room located in the Woman's Collection area.

WASP Memorial Statue

The WASP memorial statue was sculpted by Jewel Estes of Dallas and donated to the Texas Woman's University Library on April 20, 1995, by the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WWII. The life-size bronze statue commemorating the experience of America's women pilots of World War II is located on the second floor of the Blagg-Huey library in the Woman's Collection.

Third Floor

Current Journal Shelving Area - Pictured here is the A section which begins the Current Journal Collection.

The Virginia Thomas Memorial Windows

University alumna, Mrs. Mary Thomas Marshall, generously gave funds which made it possible to embellish the Library's central dome with nine stained-glass windows. These are in loving memory of her sister, Virginia Thomas, also an alumna of the University.
The stained-glass windows include representations of Classical goddesses and muses and of flowers. The motifs were selected because of their appropriateness to the Classical style of the building.

Rose Medallion

The central medallion, at the apex of the dome, contains a red rose. This emblem of the Texas Woman's University has long carried much happy and positive symbolism in literature, the arts, and religion; and its representation in both bud and full-blown flower reflect the role of her college years in a young woman's life. Its color, the American Beauty red, is combined with white-the University's emblematic color. In 1986, the Congress of the United States adopted the rose as the official flower of our Nation.

Goddess Medallions

Four additional medallions in the dome represent Greek goddesses

Athena (goddess of learning and wisdom)	Hygieia (goddess of health and healing)
Nike (winged goddess of victory)	Demeter (goddess of the harvest)

The Windows of the Muses

The semicircular windows below the dome provide representations of the nine Muses.

Figures in the first window: Urania, muse of astronomy, and Clio, muse of history.

Figures in the second window: Terpsichore, muse of dance, and Euterpe, muse of music.

Figures in the third window: Erato, muse of lyric poetry; Polyhymnia, muse of sacred poetry; and Calliope, muse of epic poetry, holding a book, which is one of her symbols.

Figures in the fourth window: Thalia (comedy) and Melpomene (tragedy), muses of the drama.

About the Artist

The artist and creator of the Library's stained-glass windows was John Kebrle, Jr. Born in Dallas in 1927, he is son and grandson of stained-glass artists. He learned his art and his craft through studies at Dallas Art Institute; Famous Artists School of Westport, Connecticut; and Southern Methodist University and through apprenticeships to George Brozius and John Kerbrle, Sr.