The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 500

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

tures. On three sides the monumental arched windows of the
building dominate the room. On the fourth elaborate carved open
work doors and a vast open arch lead to the stairway, Loan Desk,
and the Research Study. Among the decorative elements are a
number of seals. One of these carries a Latin inscription, the
motto of the Earl of Granard. Many find its translation a fitting
motto for the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center:
The flame of glory is a torch to the mind;
Mind moves matter;
There is no delay, no rest;
The palm of victory comes not without the
dust of toil;
Who goes not forward goes back.
On the card catalogue case are busts of Sam Houston (plaster),
Sir Swante Palm (marble by Elisabet Ney), Governor O. M.
Roberts (marble by Elisabet Ney) and Mrs. Mary A. Maverick
(plaster by Pompeo Coppini).
In the north end of the room is a fine collection of cattle and
Texas scenery by Frank Reaugh. In the cases along the walls are
a plaster relief of Albert Maverick and his wife by Pompeo Cop-
pini and exhibits of maps and pictures.
The west section of the building was designed primarily as a
book-stack. Now, the basement and three stack-floors are devoted
to Archives, two to books. Two others are not yet equipped. As
to the extent of the archives let me quote the Barker Center
Leaflet:
The archival and manuscript holdings constitute more than 2,500
collections ranging from a few pages to several thousand pages. In
1898 the Bexar Archives, covering more than a century of Texas
history prior to the founding of the Republic of Texas, came to the
University and inaugurated the Archive Collections. Notable manu-
scripts of original source material added since 1899 include the
Austin Papers, the Guy M. Bryan Papers, the James F. Perry Papers,
the James Harper Starr Papers, the James Stephen Hogg Papers,
the Thomas J. Rusk Papers, and the Solms-Braunfels Archives to
mention only a few. The Nacogdoches Archives, Matamoros Ar-
chives, and Massie Plantation Papers are representative of material
preserved as transcriptions. The Charles W. Ramsdell Microfilm
Collection is among the many records of regional history made
possible through the Littlefield Fund for Southern History.

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