Category: Feature Stories

Poage Library at 40: A New Director and A Bright Future (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

On September 21, 1979, dignitaries from around the nation gathered on a sunny Waco afternoon to dedicate a new $1.5 million 25,000 square feet facility on the Baylor campus. The new library was built to house an office for the recently retired Texas Congressman W. R. “Bob” Poage, his extensive archives, several new political collections, a reading room, and the…

Ecology and Religion Conference Breaks New Ground with “Flightless” Model (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

From September 18-21, 2019, scholars from around the world will gather for the Ecology and Religion in Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference. However, unlike traditional academic conferences, nobody will travel by plane or more than 500 miles on the ground to enjoy the international conversation. Avoiding flights matches the spirit of the conference, taking seriously the ecological impact of the time-honored tradition…

Readers and Writers Unite: Welcoming the University Writing Center (UWC) to Moody Memorial Library (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

Baylor University strives to provide its students with a diverse, well-rounded education — one that sets it apart from other learning institutions. One cornerstone of this objective is the nourishing of the written word. Required writing and English classes provide the foundation, but for many students and faculty, help is needed beyond the classroom. For writers — both burgeoning and…

Still “Our Voice:” The Keston Institute Celebrates 50 Years (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

This fall, the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Keston College to be the voice of the voiceless for those experiencing religious persecution under communism and other totalitarian regimes. In the heart of the Cold War, Michael Bourdeaux, a young Oxford student, became enthralled with the majestic beauty of Russian…

A Bigger Voice for Research: Institute for Oral History Becomes Part of University Libraries (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

On June 1, the Libraries welcomed the Institute for Oral History into its organizational structure, greatly expanding the reach and depth of the Libraries’ research and scholarship activities. The move unites the IOH’s pacesetting work in the area of gathering oral history memoirs with the strength and expertise of the Libraries and its team of expert faculty and staff. “We…

Support for R1 Status, Illuminated: Baylor Libraries Acquire Heritage Edition of Saint John’s Bible (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

When calligrapher Donald Jackson sat down with a group of Benedictine monks at Minnesota’s St. John’s Abbey in the mid-1990s, he could not have dreamed that his idea to create the first medieval-style, illuminated version of the Bible in almost 500 years would one day impact scholars at Baylor University. But that’s exactly the kind of impact the vision of…

New Venue, Same Soulful Sound: The 2019 Voices & Vinyl Concert (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

Golden light bled through the stained glass windows into a worn but revered space. The wooden floorboards creaked as Baylor’s Heavenly Voices Gospel Choir walked to the front of the room. Everything seemed to stand still as Eric Witherspoon, the music director for Heavenly Voices, lifted his hand to cue the choir. Suddenly, the choir’s voices filled the former sanctuary…

Exit, Pursued By A Legacy: Celebrating Tim Logan’s Stageworthy Career (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

Adapting a piece of William Shakespeare’s stage direction from The Winter’s Tale as the headline for a library staffer’s retrospective may seem unusual, but it is perfectly fitting for an article about Tim Logan. As he ends a stellar 38-year career with Baylor, Logan sat down with us to discuss the twists, turns, and lessons learned from his early days…

Unique Archival Resources Provide “By the Books” Approach to Texas History (From the 2019 ITS & Libraries Magazine)

The Baylor Libraries are widely known for their special collections. The Texas Collection and University Archives receives frequent inquiries from historians, novelists, journalists, Baylor faculty and staff, and many others inquiring into resources on Baylor and Texas history. While the library regularly features its collections via social media, traditional publications remain an important way to introduce its holdings to a…

Texas Collection Acquires Letter Detailing the Capture of Texas Navy Ship “Invincible”

A recent acquisition by The Texas Collection sheds new insight on the capture of the Texas Navy’s Invincible, one of four schooners employed by Texian forces in their fight for independence from Mexico. A letter written by an officer of the U.S.S. Warren – a United States Navy ship tasked with capturing the Invincible in April of 1836 – is…