by Library News
Exhibit Spotlights History of UTA
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Members of the UTA community and the public will have the opportunity to learn about the university's history in the exhibit "A Brief History of UTA," which is on display in the Special Collections Department on the sixth floor of the UTA Central Library.
"A Brief History of UTA" shows the university's history, starting with its founding as Arlington College, a private primary and secondary school, in 1895. The exhibit's timeline ends with the university moving into the UT system in 1967, becoming UTA. This exhibit was designed and curated by Special Collections student employees Piper Burchell, Sophia Motyka and Rodrigo Lizaola.
One of the items that is on display that is a part of the exhibit is a diploma from Arlington College.
Piper Burchell, Student Reference Assistant, stated that the exhibit works to provide a good overall history of the university as it has grown. The items in the display also give insight into student life.
"This was a project made for homecoming as a display of the history of UTA. So, we picked items that would interest students who want to know more about UTA," Piper said. "Everybody that comes up here is immediately drawn to the yearbooks first. They begin to flip through them."
An artist drawing that is a part of "A Brief History of UTA" exhibit of what the UTA Central Library would look like when it was first built.
Fellow Student Reference Assistant Sophia Motyka stated that people could see the human connection with the displayed items. She noted that one of the yearbooks from 1925 is autographed in several places by the classmates of the book's owner. To see that tradition of signing a yearbook go back that far was really "cool" to see.
Other items that are a part of the exhibit include:
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Several diplomas.
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Historical photographs.
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A student cookbook.
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A campus directory from the 1990s.
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An artist's drawing of the future Central Library building.
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A timeline showing different historical milestones at the university, starting in 1895 and ending in 1967.
These are several of the items on display that are in "A Brief History of UTA" exhibit in the Special Collections Department at the UTA Central Library.
Sophia stated that the item that catches people's attention in the exhibit is an aerial photo of the UTA campus from the 1960s. The image is popular because the campus has changed so much over the last 60 years.
Some of these notable differences in the aerial photo as compared to now show Copper Street as a two-lane road, the absence of several buildings on campus, and the Central Library building is only two stories tall. Today the Central Library is six stories.
"A Brief History of UTA" will run through Nov. 30 in the Special Collections Department at the UTA Central Library on the sixth floor.
"A Brief History of UTA" features several historic photos that are a part of the exhibit.
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