DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Texas Collection over in McLennan County. Now, every great archive has a beginning, and this one starts with a man and a worry. Dr.
Kenneth Hazen Aynesworth — born in Florence, Williamson County, in 1873 — was the kind of man who collected things. Books, pamphlets, documents, the whole paper record of Texas life. He'd attended Baylor, gone on to graduate from the University of Texas medical school down in Galveston, and set up a general surgery practice in Waco.
He served in community, vocational, and scholarly organizations. By all accounts, a busy man. But there was one thing gnawing at him.
All those volumes he'd gathered — what happened to them if the house caught fire? That fear, that simple, very human fear of watching a collection turn to ash, is what set everything in motion. In 1923, Dr.
Aynesworth donated approximately one thousand volumes to Baylor University. Just like that. And then, because apparently one thousand wasn't enough to ease his mind, he donated another one thousand volumes — plus three thousand pamphlets and documents on top of that.
Baylor had been keeping a small section over in Carroll Library with books about Texas. Small. Then this flood of material arrives, and the staff got to work — sorting, organizing, cataloguing, assessing.
Before long, an entire room on the second floor of Carroll Library was holding the collection. That same room became the meeting place for Baylor's first course in Texas history, which was also one of the first college-level Texas history classes taught at any university in the state. Think about that.
A doctor's fear of a house fire helped bring Texas history into the classroom. The collection kept growing, the way good collections do. In 1939 it moved to Pat Neff Hall.
In 1955 it came back to Carroll Library, this time on the third floor. By 1968 the materials had outgrown that space too and moved into a larger area on the second floor. Then in 1994, after a renovation of Carroll Library, the collection finally landed in a space specifically designed for it.
Dr. Aynesworth died in 1944, so he didn't see all of that — but what he started in 1923 with a donation born of worry became a world-class center of research on Texana topics, serving faculty, students, scholars, and just about anyone who needs to know something about Texas. Not a bad legacy for a Waco surgeon who really, really did not want his books to burn.
What the marker says
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)