Girls on Wheels find the TWU library filled with new discoveries.
Vicki Baker
Although universities started popping up in the U.S. in the 1600s, women were largely barred from a higher education. Then in the 1830s, women’s colleges began to appear. As women’s education advanced in the 20th century, advocates sought a state-supported college focusing on a practical education, including domestic skills young women needed to prepare as wives and mothers. The Texas Legislature established the Girls Industrial College, later known as Texas Woman’s University (TWU), which opened its doors in 1902.
Taking more than 100 years to achieve, women now comprise the majority of students earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. Girls on Wheels (Shirley Monge, Vicki Baker, Nancy Burns, and Cassie Richardson) explored this epic journey at TWU’s best-kept secret: the Blagg-Huey Library’s Women’s Collection, a gateway to women’s history.
Housing the largest collections on the history of American women, the archives included manuscripts, artifacts, clothing, media, rare books, photographs, faculty papers, scrapbooks, and university memorabilia. The library is now the principal resource for women’s history researchers, writers, film makers, and journalists.
The Official Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) Archives told the story of the brave women who marked a pivotal step forward. They left their homes and jobs during the height of World War II to become the first female aircraft pilots in U.S. military history. Surpassing all expectations, they proved women could fly military aircraft as well as their male counterparts. This one-of–kind collection preserves the history and legacy of the WASP for future female aviators.
How better to learn how pop culture, politics, education, and religion influenced society than through the ultimate history books: cookbooks? The Cookbook Collection contains more than 90,000 publications, including vendors’ pamphlets, cookbooks dating to 1624, conduct manuals, and menus from around the world. In addition to recipes, cookbooks provided advice to homemakers and new brides on how to run a household and oftentimes documented food trends, culinary traditions, and diets affected by world and local events.
The Texas Women’s Hall of Fame featured the biographies and photographs of women who left their mark in the arts, community service, education, leadership, health, science, and business. Inductees included former First Ladies, astronauts, entrepreneurs, Olympic athletes, a governor, and a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The exhibit ensures the achievements and contributions of women from across Texas are written into the state’s legacy.
The gowns in the Texas First Ladies Historic Costume Collection provided a glimpse into the fashion trends throughout Texas history. The collection highlighted not only fashion, but also presented the challenges faced by the First Ladies and their influence on the history of the state.
Girls on Wheels found the Blagg-Huey Library was much more than a resource center for enrolled students. It was a symbol of the University’s dedication to higher learning and its recognition of women and their accomplishments—a symbol of the sweeping societal changes women shaped from the status quo which prevailed throughout most of U.S. history.