As I prepared to make my way across Texas in the Fall of 2019, I took the time to communicate with a few university libraries to establish a possible visit. At the beginning of November, after a couple of personalized emails, I received an invitation from Kevin M O’Sullivan, Curator of Rare Books at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives at Texas A&M University for a tour of their collection. Unfortunately, our travel plans changed, and I couldn’t accept Kevin’s invitation. Maybe, next year.
A week later, in Denton, I was delighted to visit and present my artists’ books to Kimberly L. Johnson, Director of Special Collections for the Texas Woman’s University Blagg-Huey Library. The Woman's Collection, Artist's Books Collection, with nearly 300 works of art, focuses primarily on photographic book art, either by or about women. The library acquisitions timeframe is April, so, I’m looking forward to the choice of books that might join the Artist's Books Collection in 2020.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Blagg-Huey Library at the Texas Woman’s University.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The entrance of the Blagg-Huey Library.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Blagg-Huey Library at the Texas Woman’s University.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. WASP Memorial Statue – The WASP memorial statue was sculpted by Jewel Estes of Dallas and donated to the Texas Woman’s University Library on April 20, 1995, by the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WWII. The life-size bronze statue commemorating the experience of America’s women pilots of World War II is located on the second floor of the Blagg-Huey Library in the Woman’s Collection.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Blagg-Huey Library, Special Collections’ reception at the Texas Woman’s University.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The reading room where I met with Kimberly Johnson.
The Woman’s Collection at the Blagg-Huey Library is the most comprehensive source of research materials on Southern and Southwestern women in the United States and in 1979 was appointed by the Texas legislature as the state’s authentic collection on the history of women and the official archives of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II.
The Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey Library is a beautiful classical style building with marble floors, chandeliers and stained-glass windows. There are exhibits about the role women have played in history throughout the library. It’s a very warm and inspiring library.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Currently, the Woman's Collection features one of the vastest repositories of women in aviation in the world, housing the official collections of Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, the Whirly-Girls International Helicopter Pilots, Women Military Aviators, Association of Women Airline Mechanics, International Society of Women Airline Pilots, the Air Race Classic, as well as many of its individual members' collections.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The Peace Library at University of Texas in San Antonio.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. The grand entrance to the Peace Library at University of Texas in San Antonio.
As November came to an end, I met with Stephanie Noell, the Special Collections Librarian at University of Texas in San Antonio and introduced my artists’ books. Prior to my visit, through our emails, Stephanie outlined some of my publications that were of interest. Four books intrigued her: Finding Home, City Shields, Traverse, and Parade.
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Special Collections Reading Room at the University of Texas in San Antonio.
It was an absolute pleasure to connect with Stephanie who was very cordial. I was fascinated by the questions and the reason for her interest in certain artists’ books especially “Perception”. After a marvelous demonstration and conversation, I’m thrilled to announce that my artists’ books Finding Home, City Shields, Parade, and the last copy of Decades Apart, have joined more than 200 artists' books located in the Special Collections Library at UTSA.
© 2016 Louise Levergneux. Finding Home.
© 2010 Louise Levergneux. City Shields, Texas Vol US11: No 1
© 2014 Louise Levergneux. Parade.
© 2012 Louise Levergneux. Decades Apart
The congenial approach at UTSA was apparent in how I was received and how easy it is for researchers to access the library materials through appointments. On my way out of the Reading Room, as we finished our conversation on special collections, my curiosity was sparked by five huge books in an impressive cabinet. I discovered John James Audubon’s pictorial works, The birds of America: from original drawings, (Audubon, J., Lizars, W., & Havell, R. (1985). The birds of America: from original drawings. New York: Abbeville Press).
© 2019 Louise Levergneux. Standing beside John James Audubon’s The birds of America.
The month of November finished on a high after my artists’ books introduction. Let’s see what Arizona will bring, with its sun and warmth.
