THE INSIDER - FALL 2024

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME

Former presidential portraits included: President W.R. Banks (1915-1926); President D.R. Glass (1931-1961); President Haywood L. Strickland (1994 2000); and President William C. Hawkins (2000-2007). The unveiling congruently included portraits of current President Dwight J. Fennell and current Board Chairman Lawrence Reddick III. While the project focuses on the aforementioned collection of portraits, it also entails the building and digitization of the Texas College archive collection to establish archival safeguards to ensure the College’s history remains preserved for future generations. The portrait unveiling ceremony supported this digitization initiative, as it likewise served as the first opportunity to collect and digitize primary archival materials, such as Texas College documents, correspondence, photographs, yearbooks, and paraphernalia, from alumni to create a unique digital collection for scholarly and stakeholder use. The “Keepers of the Flame” project is overseen by Ms. Linda Simmons-Henry, Director of Library Services.

MS. LINDA SIMMONS-HENRY, DIRECTOR OF LIBRARY SERVICES, MAKES REMARKS AT THE “KEEPERS OF THE FLAME” PORTRAIT UNVEILING

Texas College was awarded funding from the HBCU Alliance and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for a project titled “The Keepers of the Flame: Building a Safeguard for a Unique Archival Collection at the D. R. Glass Library.” On Saturday, October 12, the D.R. Glass Library hosted the “Keepers of the Flame” Portrait Unveiling, which unveiled portraits of former Texas College Presidents, as well current, for a special Texas College leadership collection to be displayed in the D.R. Glass Library. PAGE 31| THE INSIDER