The Texas Collection
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in 1923 when Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth donated books to Baylor University, the Texas Collection is a library and archives research center holding a vast compilation of materials about Texas. Dr. Aynesworth (1873-1944) was born in Florence (Williamson Co.) and attended Baylor before graduating from the University of Texas medical school in Galveston. Dr. Aynesworth opened a general surgery practice in Waco and served in numerous community, vocational and scholarly organizations. He was also an avid collector of materials about Texas. Worried that his collection could perish in the event of a house fire, Dr. Aynesworth donated approximately one thousand volumes to Baylor University in 1923. He soon donated a further one thousand volumes, and three thousand pamphlets and documents to Baylor. The donations expanded what was then a small section in Carroll Library containing books about Texas. Baylor staff sorted, organized, catalogued and assessed the new materials and soon, an entire room on the second floor of Carroll Library held the collection. The room also became the meeting place for Baylor’s first course in Texas history, one of the first college-level Texas history classes taught at a university. The collection continued to expand throughout the years. In 1939, it was moved to Pat Neff Hall. In 1955, it returned to the Carroll Library, now on the third floor. In 1968, the materials moved into a larger area on the second floor. In 1994, after a renovation of Carroll Library, the extensive collection moved to an area specifically designed for it. Today, the Texas Collection continues to serve faculty, students, scholars and others as a world-class center of research on Texana topics. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Fearing his prized library might burn, Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth — a Waco surgeon and avid collector — donated about a thousand volumes on Texas to Baylor University in 1923, then thousands more. His gift grew into the Texas Collection, a research center that also hosted one of the first college-level Texas history courses. Over the decades it moved through several campus buildings before gaining a purpose-built home.
Why it matters
It shows how one collector's foresight can seed a world-class archive and help establish the serious study of a state's history.
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Related people
- · Dr. Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Carroll Library
Waco, TX
When Waco University merged with Baylor in 1886, the combined school's books were scattered across societies and rooms, making research a chore. Prompted by the student newspaper and led by President Oscar Cooper, Baylor created a librarian's post and, with funds donated by F.L. Carroll, opened this library in 1903 with some 18,000 volumes. Though fire gutted it in 1922, alumni rebuilt it, and it later became the home of the university's celebrated Texas Collection.
Dr. David Richard Wallace
Waco, TX
North Carolina–born physician David Richard Wallace came to Texas in the 1850s, taught at Baylor University, and served during the Civil War before becoming one of Waco's most prominent doctors and civic leaders. He helped organize state and local medical associations and, as an early pioneer in psychiatry, was chosen to head the state asylums at Austin and Terrell. His career spans the professionalization of medicine—and of mental-health care—in nineteenth-century Texas.
Old Main
Waco, TX
Completed in 1887, Old Main was the first building raised on Baylor's Waco campus after the university moved from Independence, and for years its 17 classrooms and 24 offices served as the whole institution at once. It held the 3,000-volume library, campus religious groups, and even a radio studio and tower. Damaged in the 1953 tornado and threatened with demolition in the 1960s, the Italianate and Gothic landmark was fully restored and rededicated in 1976.
Burleson Quadrangle
Waco, TX
Named for Rufus C. Burleson, the first president of Baylor's Waco campus, Burleson Quadrangle took its enduring shape as the university's four original buildings rose between 1886 and 1903. For generations it has been the setting of Baylor traditions, from the spring "Ring Out" ivy-chain ceremony to the passing of the key to a 1945 centennial time capsule. Its bronze statue of Burleson, unveiled in 1905, is the work of the noted sculptor Pompeo Coppini.