History on Display

New historical markers share Quad facts and figures

If you’d like to know historical tidbits about Baylor’s oldest buildings—such as the various departments that have been housed in Old Main and how much money was donated to build Carroll Science Hall—then you are in luck. Such facts are no longer tucked away in the stacks of Baylor’s libraries, but are proudly displayed on four new Texas historical markers in the Quadrangle.

Dedicated at Homecoming, the markers for Carroll Science, Old Main (pictured), Georgia Burleson Hall, and the Quadrangle area join two previous markers—for Carroll Library and the Texas Collection—to complete the university’s plans for markers in the heart of the campus.

The four new markers were made possible by a collaboration of Baylor administrators, faculty, students, staff, and alumni. History professor and director of the Texas Collection Dr. Tom Charlton ’59 was the driving force behind acquiring the historical markers. But to get the research accomplished for the state’s extensive application process, he turned to students in the graduate seminar on public history taught by Dr. Michael Parrish ’74, MA ’76, professor of American history. Parrish’s ten students divided up the topics and plunged into the university’s archives.

“Of course, the obvious place to start was in the Texas Collection,” Parrish said. “The students got a good education in using both primary and secondary sources and in running down every little detail they possibly could. All I did was direct them to the sources. The staff of the Texas Collection is so wonderful that they provided any help needed.”

Public history, Parrish said, is about educating the public and meeting the public on its own terms with history. This project was a perfect exercise for the class, he said.

One of the students, Mark Firmin ’06, MA ’09, said that even though he is a fourth-generation Baylor graduate, he learned a lot about his university. He especially enjoyed the personal stories, although those don’t often get included on a historical marker. The marker for Georgia Burleson Hall was an exception.

“We focused on the life and personality of Georgia Burleson,” Firmin said. “She was like the RA of the dorm, and if you got in trouble, you dealt with her—and that wasn’t something you wanted to do. People often don’t think about the namesake of a building. Now they are named for people who give money, but back then they were named after someone who was important to the university.”

Once a narrative was written for each marker, the texts had to be vetted by the McLennan County Historical Society. The president of the historical society is Dr. Michelle Toon, an advanced technical support specialist for Baylor’s Information Technology Services. “Anything coming from McLennan County to the state has to have our seal of approval,” Toon said. “We look for completeness of narrative and typographical errors, and we make sure all of the signatures are in place and the format is correct for the state.”

Toon, who kept the paperwork moving back and forth to Austin, said that the four Baylor markers were the only ones dedicated in McLennan County in 2009.

Historical markers are not funded by the State of Texas, but by the entity installing the marker. When it came to financing Baylor’s markers, an alumnus stepped up. D. M. Edwards ’76, chair of Edwards Investments of Tyler and a longtime supporter of Baylor’s libraries, provided full funding for all four markers