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Recently, University of Houston Libraries hosted an opening reception for the new exhibit “Black Ink: The Black Arts Movement in Print.” Rare Books curator Julie Grob selected materials from UH Special Collections’ significant holdings of poetry and other writing published during the Black Arts Movement period of the 1960s and 70s. A few of the writers featured are Amiri Baraka, Toni Cade Bambara, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Ntozake Shange. The exhibit also includes examples from the Black-owned publishers Broadside Press of Detroit and the Third World Press of Chicago.

The community engagement event held at the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion included poetry readings from three graduate students in the UH Creative Writing Program. Abby Mengesha, Anthony Sutton, and El Williams III shared poetry from writers of the Black Arts Movement along with their own works.

Sutton wrote the following introduction to the exhibit:

This mid-twentieth century movement in literature, music, and art coincided with cultural shifts in the post-World War Two United States, including the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War. Through the Black Arts Movement, experimental literary sensibilities emerging at the time met the politics of the Black Panthers.

While some members of this grouping, such as Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, and Gwendolyn Brooks, achieved mainstream recognition, this movement largely made use of underground and alternative venues such as the Black Arts Repertory Theater and School in Harlem for works to be performed. Print materials from the Black Arts Movement show the DIY publishing possible with a machine called the mimeograph which allowed the production of large volumes of magazines and books quickly and affordably.

The Black Arts Movement was also a nation-wide movement with not only New York City being a hotspot but also significant publishing activity in the Midwest with Broadside Press in Detroit and Third World Press in Chicago. In 2025 Third World Press received the Toni Morrison Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle. The Black Arts Movement eventually reached Houston through Lorenzo Thomas who served as Writer-in-Residence at Texas Southern University and later as faculty at UH-Downtown.

Visitors are invited to experience the exhibit, located at MD Anderson Library floor 2, through May 2026.

University of Houston Libraries is pleased to welcome Kevin Kinney as the new processing archivist.

Please describe your role. How does your work align with the student success and research productivity focus of the University?

I will be working with Special Collections to arrange and describe archival materials across a wide array of subjects and formats, making them available for students, faculty, staff, and the broader public to access and research. The subjects those materials cover range from Houston hip-hop and rare books to women’s studies and LGBT history, among many other topics. Doing this will help students to engage with primary source materials, conduct research with collections spanning multiple disciplines, and learn how information has been recorded and disseminated across centuries.

Please share a bit about your background and professional interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach to archival processing?

As someone who has always enjoyed being in the presence of books and “old stuff,” working in libraries and archives was pretty much inevitable. The bulk of my work experience has been in academic and public libraries, starting with paging maps and atlases as a freshman at the University of Michigan, where I received both my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Science in Information. It was also at U-M where I first gained experience working with special collections. I further developed that experience working as an archivist at Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas, for over eight years. Rosenberg’s archival collections touched on almost all of my personal and professional interests, including maritime history, historically underrepresented communities, church history, rare books, and genealogy.

Since Rosenberg is a public library, working there gave me a sense of urgency in learning how best to make information accessible and easy for the public to understand, especially during a time when information access and literacy are needed now more than perhaps ever before. When I process a collection, regardless of its topic, I think about how I can arrange and describe it such that anyone, especially someone who has never heard of an archive, can understand and use it.

What are one or two things you’d like faculty, students, and scholars to know about the function/purpose/significance of archives?

Archives are a concrete example of physical/digital presence and enduring relevance, whether they document an individual’s activities during a particular window of time, an organization’s operations across decades, or even a country’s history of accomplishments and failings since its founding. Archives, more specifically access to and the use of archives, help to strengthen collective memory of the past, place present events in their full context, and predict future developments with high accuracy and confidence. Archives are of immense value to everyone on and off a university campus.

What didn’t tall Texan Tommy Tune accomplish in the performing and visual arts world?

The Tommy Tune Collection at UH Libraries

Students and scholars will be able to explore that question and much more with the acquisition of a wonderful new collection at University of Houston Libraries that preserves and celebrates the legacy of the prolific dancer/singer/director/choreographer.

Thomas James Tune was born in Wichita Falls and grew up in Houston where he attended Lamar High School. After graduating from University of Texas at Austin, the 6 foot 6 tap dancer began graduate studies in directing at University of Houston, but soon left Texas for New York City, where his career launched from day one. In 1965, Tune made his Broadway debut in the production of Baker Street, followed by A Joyful Noise (1966) and How Now, Dow Jones (1967). 

Tune is the recipient of 10 Tony Awards, including the 2015 Tony for Life Achievement in the Theatre. He is the only star in theatrical history to win in four categories, and the only person to win the same Tony Awards two years in a row. Tune also received The National Medal of Arts, the highest honor for artistic achievement given by the president of the United States. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993.

And those accolades only scratch the surface. Tune’s illustrious performing arts career comes alive in the massive collection, which currently boasts nearly 100 linear feet of materials, and will grow even more with a forthcoming second shipment from New York City. 

Tommy Tune and his sister, Gracey Tune, generously gifted the first set of items to University of Houston. Gracey Tune is the founder and artistic director of Arts Fifth Avenue in Fort Worth, where much of the collection was housed. 

“The Tune family is so thankful and thrilled to have the Tommy Tune Collection at University of Houston,” said Gracey Tune. “We appreciate each individual embracing this big project. It began when we contacted Hillary Hart at TUTS; she was excited and contacted Mary Manning…the rest is history. We are Houstonians – we love Houston and UH.”

The acquisition was facilitated by Mary Manning, university archivist, together with Christian Kelleher, head of UH Special Collections. Manning sees a host of opportunities for how the Tommy Tune Collection can advance academic and scholarly productivity. “The Tommy Tune Collection is a significant contribution to the study of theatre history, particularly musical theatre,” she said. “Tommy Tune is not only a talented singer, actor, and dancer, but also a celebrated director, producer, and choreographer; his archives will be enlightening to scholars and performers researching any of these fields. The collection will provide insight into Tune’s creative processes and provide cultural context for the plays he directed and performed in; it can serve as a source for reconstructing the plays and performances, inspiring and providing material for musical theatre students and professionals.”

Bit by meticulous bit, Katy Allred, assistant university archivist, will survey each item in the collection, which includes costumes, scripts, production and publicity photos, newspaper articles, posters, paintings, scrapbooks, correspondence, sheet music, playbills, drawings, souvenir books, production documents, and awards and honors.

Archival materials often arrive at UH Special Collections (located on MD Anderson Library floor 2) in containers such as plastic tubs or cardboard boxes. Items might have binders, such as rubber bands that can harden and stick, or fasteners that can rust. Part of the job of an archivist like Allred is to go through the entire collection, identify preservation concerns, and intervene. This process will bring to light the condition of each item, which will inform preservation in archival enclosures, such as how to store Tune’s dazzling sartorial pieces. “This collection is really interesting because it comes with a lot of textiles,” Allred noted. “We don’t usually get collections with a lot of costumes. The challenge of preserving hats, shoes, and coats will be a new thing to learn.”  

Allred will gain a sense of how to arrange the collection into series for the finding aid that will be published online. The finding aid is a tool researchers can use to browse collections, identify the boxes they’d like to explore, and contact UH Special Collections with their request. The collection will be of particular interest to UH students, faculty, and researchers seeking primary source materials on Tommy Tune’s life and career, including documentary filmmakers, biographers, dance historians, musical theatre performers, directors, producers, and choreographers.

Surveying a collection of this magnitude takes time. Allred is early yet in the process, but already, compelling themes and stories are emerging from the materials. “What I can tell so far is that Tommy Tune is a Renaissance man of the theatre,” she said. “He sang, danced, acted, produced, directed, and choreographed shows on Broadway, off-Broadway, touring shows, and countless other productions. He was constantly working on something; often on several projects at once! I am a huge fan of musical theatre, so this is such an exciting opportunity. I know how important and inspirational Tommy Tune has been for so many aspiring performers in my own life; people from the South who looked up to him as someone like them who made it. I can’t wait to make this collection available and accessible to everyone.”

UH Libraries thanks Tommy Tune, Peter Glebo, and Gracey Tune for their incredible generosity and collaboration on this impactful gift. The Tommy Tune Collection’s journey to UH was facilitated by a collective effort. UH Libraries recognizes and thanks the following individuals for their integral role in bringing this collection to the University: 

• Hillary Hart, executive director, Theatre Under The Stars (The TUTS Tommy Tune Awards event was held on Friday, June 6, honoring high school musical theatre in Houston.)
• Andrew Davis, PhD, dean, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts
• Megan Topham, PhD, associate dean of operations, Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts

“The Tommy Tune Collection is a transformative addition to both our University Archives and our Visual and Performing Arts collections,” said Lauren Gottlieb-Miller, associate dean for special libraries and preservation. “This gift ensures that students, researchers, and artists for generations to come will have a direct connection to one of the great creative forces of American theatre. We are honored to steward Tommy Tune’s legacy in the city and University that helped shape him.” 

This collection is being processed and is not yet available for viewing. For more information, contact Mary Manning.

By Allison Young, BA ’23/MA ’25

Hands, 2015 (2015) by Maria Chavez

Currently on display at Special Collections is a selection of artists’ books donated by UH faculty member Roberto Tejada. Tejada is a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of English and Art History. He is a published author and award-winning poet, and received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 2021. He also works as an art historian, cultural critic, editor, essayist, and translator. His research focuses on conceptual art and poetry—especially from Latin America and the U.S.-Mexico border—pertaining to language, identity, and the sociopolitical climate. 

Artists’ books are a unique and expressive medium that explores the form and content of books. There is no “right” way to make an artist’s book, and this freedom is reflected in the diverse materials, design, binding, organization, and subject matter of these objects. These books are independently published as limited editions or created as one-of-a-kind originals and are artworks in their own right. 

This exhibit features six books that showcase some of the variety found in this artistic practice. These books are a mix of independent projects, commissioned works, and/or collaborative pieces. Some are primarily text-based with essays relating to art, culture, and history, while others rely on art and photography to convey their messages. Each resource offers a unique approach to art, design, and literature. Three works are described here in greater detail: Erik Schmitt’s American Bauhaus (2022), Maria Chavez’s Hands, 2015 (2015), and Rubén Ortiz Torres’s MexiPunk (2021).

American Bauhaus (2022) by Erik Schmitt

American Bauhaus highlights the legacy of the Bauhaus art movement at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College. Originating in Germany, Bauhaus combined fine arts with craftsmanship and formed a radical new approach to design. American Bauhaus includes interviews, quotes, and photographs from the college’s reunion in 1992. Schmitt follows Bauhaus design principles with oversize text cutting across the page. 

Hands, 2015 is a self-published and hand-bound artist’s book by Peruvian-Texan artist Maria Chavez. Hands contains photographs of the palms of different artists from a first-person perspective. Each pair of hands receives a full-page spread in the book. They are also captioned with the artist’s occupation and “how they use their hands” in their work. Chavez’s own hands, which she used to hand-bind her book, are featured on the cover. 

MexiPunk (2021) by Rubén Ortiz Torres

MexiPunk focuses on the niche significance of printing in Mexico City’s punk subculture during the 1970s and 1980s. Torres explains how photographs featuring punk artists and performers were printed, photocopied, and/or glued onto new paper as promotional flyers. Torres then follows this artistic practice by reprinting these photographs on bright, fluorescent cardstock. Mariano Villalobo’s 2020 poem “Carnicopatas Intramusculares” (or “Intramuscular Fleshophrenics”) is featured at the beginning of this artist’s book, accompanied by an English translation by Tejada.

University of Houston Libraries honored outstanding employees at the 2025 Library Excellence Awards this week. Now in its 25^th year, the event, held at the MD Anderson Library Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion, recognizes the special work and talent of UH librarians and staff. The annual tradition is supported through the generosity of the John P. McGovern Foundation.

Interim dean Christina Gola opened the garden party-themed celebration with gratitude for the many individuals who helped produce the awards event, including all nominators, members of the awards committee, members of the employee engagement committee, and facilities staff. Libraries student employees who won scholarships for the upcoming academic year were also acknowledged.

The Dean’s Advocate Award went to Terri Batiste of UH Human Resources. This award recognizes a UH employee from outside UH Libraries who has worked closely with the Libraries during the past year.  Batiste collaborated with the Libraries Organizational Development team to provide invaluable assistance with specialized leave scenarios, including Family Medical Leave requests and authorizations. Her dedication ensures that requestors, the Organizational Development team, and supervisors understand the complex FML process and navigate it with ease. 

The Student Achievement awards were presented to Rebecca Fox and Chelsea Dzu, two Coogs whose superior performance demonstrates their commitment to carrying out the Libraries’ mission for UH. Fox is recognized for her exceptional job performance and skill set. Her keen judgment and problem-solving abilities have earned the trust of her supervisors, who have asked her to take on progressive responsibilities as a student lead.

Dzu is described as an exemplary employee in the William R. Jenkins Architecture, Design, and Art Library. She is a self-starter who is curious by nature and has a positive impact on others. She took the lead in creating a workgroup chat for student employees for updates and to ensure coverage at Jenkins Library.

This year’s McGovern Outstanding Student is May Le, who is described as dedicated, meticulous, and extremely dependable. She has been crucial to the success of the Jenkins Library, taking on key service and operational responsibilities after unexpected vacancies. Her expertise with systems such as WorldCat, Iliad, and the Avery Index has been a valuable resource.

Julia Dion is the McGovern Staff Rookie of the Year. Dion quickly became an integral part of the Special Collections team, making what can be a hectic department run smoothly. In addition to managing the reading room calendar, coordinating supply orders, and making the effort to give student workers quality learning opportunities, Dion leverages previous archives experience in training students on processing and serves as the point of contact for inquiries received via Archives Space and Texas Archival Resources Online.

The McGovern Librarian Rookie of the Year is Katy Allred. Previously, she was a processing archivist in Special Collections, and in her current role as assistant university archivist, Allred processes UH archival materials that have been prioritized for the upcoming Centennial. She is a trusted, supportive colleague who is known for her calm professionalism and great attention to detail, and is not intimidated by difficult projects.

Eric Larsen and Frederick Young received Staff Achievement awards. Larsen’s performance has been particularly meritorious over the past year in the Music Library. After the departure of the manager, he assumed oversight of the student leaders and managed successful continuity of services to the academic programs supported by the Music Library. Larsen brings a high level of excellence to his role, seeking opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute, and providing wisdom and enthusiasm to the incoming colleagues and managers during the onboarding process.

Young is recognized for his expertise, strong relationship-building skills, and thoughtful approach to his work. Over the past year he has leveraged these strengths to achieve positive outcomes for UH and other university libraries. As leader of the UH Alma Stakeholders committee, he coordinated efforts to develop a sustainable infrastructure for shared governance of the library services platform and worked with Ex Libris to implement Alma Primo VE enhancements to improve the user experience.

The McGovern Outstanding Staff awardee, Lakeshia Clark, has made high-impact contributions to Information and Access Services. After expertly managing the course reserves and faculty delivery services for several years, she accepted the role of service desk manager during a time of departmental transition, becoming familiar with policies and processes while assuming new responsibilities over student hiring, training, and supervision. In addition to her new role, she continued to manage the course reserves and faculty delivery services as she worked closely with colleagues to transition these services to other areas.

Wenli Gao and Mea Warren were honored for Librarian Achievement. Gao has continued to build a national reputation in scholarship and service while leading several key initiatives for the Libraries. She is effective at collaborating with colleagues with a work style that is efficient and inclusive. In 2024 she led a holistic evaluation of Libraries collections, the implementation of Article Galaxy Scholar, a new article-on-demand service, and the Circulating Print Collections Assessment (CPCA) project. Last year, Gao was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from CALA, the Chinese American Library Association, an organization for which she is currently serving on the Board of Directors.

Warren became interim head of Teaching and Learning in 2024. She was elected to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) University Libraries Section Executive Board and appointed to its nominating committee. She was also appointed to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Information Literacy Module Review Task Force. At UH, she is a faculty senator and member of the Graduate & Professional Studies Committee of the Faculty Senate. She chaired the Libraries’ Promotion Committee during a busy year and served on the inaugural Librarian Annual Performance Review Peer Review Committee.

Madelyn Washington is the McGovern Outstanding Librarian, with impressive 2024 accomplishments. She demonstrated dependability, priority-setting, and leadership in managing operations of the Music Library while taking on a new leadership role as the head of Information and Access Services. She was also promoted to the rank of associate librarian, having achieved excellence in scholarship and service to the profession.

This year’s Outstanding Group is the Resource Management Unit, Tim McGittigan and Jennifer Unruh. A nominator stated this unit “worked magic this year” as new employees in resource management, where they created a triage system for handling a significant backlog of unprocessed gift books, unbound serials, and uncatalogued unique items. Their efforts nearly eliminated the entire backlog in just a year, resulting in making materials discoverable and available for students and scholars.

The Trailblazer Award for Leading Organizational Change went to collaborators Maurine Nichols and Devianee Vasanjee, who led the development of new licensing and procurement workflows within a tight timeframe. While one surfaced opportunities for drastic improvement of workflows to align with UH administrative priorities, the other demonstrated diligence and creativity in understanding and interpreting university policies and finding solutions reflecting the unique needs of acquiring library materials. Both developed new relationships on campus, leveraged the strengths of their talented teams to accomplish this work, and built a positive reputation for Libraries compliance and collaboration.

Members of the Library Excellence Awards Committee are Jamie Duke, Julie Grob (chair), Jennifer Holland, Susan Hoover, Natalia Kapacinskas, Eric Larsen, Yesenia Umana, and Santi Thompson, (ex officio).

Two new exhibits featuring selections from the Carey Shuart Women’s Research Collection open in September at University of Houston Libraries. 

Houston Comets Memorabilia Collection

Nevertheless, She Persisted! Women as Historic Influencers will be viewable on MD Anderson Library Floor 2, while Leagues of Their Own: Representing 60 Years of Women’s Athletics Achievement will be on display on Floor 1. 

Claire Keck, graduate assistant curator for the Carey Shuart Women’s Research Collection, selected materials for Nevertheless, She Persisted! depicting influential women in the Houston region who effected changes in society, politics, and artistic expression. 

The process of curating an exhibit involves exploration of what Special Collections preserves through the use of finding aids, and choice of visually appealing items. Selections include a variety of primary source materials, including correspondence, artwork, scrapbooks, photos, certificates, banners, and video footage that illustrate an overarching theme. Keck’s tasks also involve generating social media, designing posters, and helping curate a digital exhibit. 

In choosing materials, Keck’s goal was to engage Gen Z, focusing on historical activism of women’s suffrage and the pro-choice movement, women’s clubs and organizations, women’s art, women of color, and LGBTQ+ women throughout the 20th century.  

Keck encourages other students who are interested in working with archival material to visit exhibits wherever possible. “Whether that means visiting museums when you can (by the way, Houston museums have a student discount on Thursdays), studying digital exhibits, or looking at the several exhibit cases in the MD Anderson Library, you will continue to learn from all of them and gain a greater understanding of history and the use of archival materials,” Keck said. “Be sure you like to work with old things and that you like to read.” 

Stephen F. Austin High School Scottish Brigade

Leagues of Their Own features archives from two collections within the Shuart Women’s Research Collection. Vince Lee, archivist for the Shuart Women’s Research Collection, curated items representing the Stephen F. Austin High School Scottish Brigade, which, founded in 1937, promoted scholarship, discipline, respect, leadership, social skills, and fitness at a time when girls’ sports teams were rare or nonexistent. James Burke, PhD student in US History, selected items from the Houston Comets Memorabilia Collection. The Comets, founded in 1997, set the standard for excellence in the early years of the WNBA and paved the way for future generations of players. 

“These exhibits are components of a year-long engagement generously supported by Carey C. Shuart to promote our research collections which preserve the histories of women’s clubs and organizations in the Houston area,” said Lauren Gottlieb-Miller, associate dean for Special Libraries and Preservation. “In spring 2025, we look forward to hosting a culminating event featuring a multi-generational panel and celebratory program to bring alive the stories related to the materials presented in the exhibits.”

Collaboration among Libraries departments is essential for successful exhibit production. These and all UH Libraries exhibits illustrate the collective effort and expertise of teams in Special Collections, Preservation and Reformatting, Resource Management and Metadata, Technology Services, and Administration. UH Libraries thanks Carey C. Shuart for her wonderful support of the Shuart Women’s Research Collection and related exhibits and programming.

Visitors are welcome to view the exhibits during regular building hours between September 6, 2024 and May 31, 2025. Visit Entering MD Anderson Library for details on quick and secure building access. 

University of Houston Libraries welcomes Julia Dion as the new library supervisor in Special Collections.

Please describe your role. How does your work align with the student success and research productivity focus of the University?

My role is very student-focused. I not only manage students’ work on our welcome desk and oversee their part in patron assistance, but I also work one-on-one with each of them to assign archival projects that play to their unique interests and strengths. I enjoy creating bonds with our students, learning about their passions, and serving as a mentor for the archival profession. The work we do encourages students to engage with historic materials in a way that leaves long-lasting impressions. As a supervisor, I aim to connect our student employees with primary source materials that excite their curiosity and affirm their sense of identity. When students engage with archival collections in this way, they are empowered to understand the significance of our shared history.

Please share a bit about your background and professional interests. How do these inspire and shape your approach in archives?

I graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a degree in English language, literature, and an accompanying minor in linguistic studies. My passion for book history and authorship as an art form led me to rare books librarianship, which inspires my continued interest in archives and special collections. I went on to attend the University of North Texas as a graduate student, where I earned my master’s degree in library science with an emphasis in archival studies and imaging technology and a certificate in archival management.

As a student of literature and the evolution of written history, my undergraduate career inspired my drive for preservation. My work as a graduate student further enabled me to put this passion into practice with skills such as collections management, book composition and construction, and disaster prevention and recovery. Through my studies, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for first-edition materials and other early writings, as well as the need to protect them from adverse conditions. My aim as an archival professional is to encourage collection accessibility, continuous learning, and shared empathy across identities and ideological communities.

What are one or two things you’d like scholars and students to know about engaging with primary source materials?

When we participate in the use of primary source materials, a remarkable exchange occurs; studies have shown that hands-on involvement with archival materials promotes empathetic engagement and heightens emotional response. By handling objects created decades, centuries, or even millennia ago, our own experiences mingle with those from the past and create a sense of continuous humanity. Due to their tactile and deeply intimate nature, primary sources elicit a response that is as emotional as it is intellectual.

University of Houston Libraries welcomes new and returning Coogs for the start of a spirited fall 2024 semester. This academic year, effective Monday, August 19, MD Anderson Library will offer new Service Desk hours. The new schedule is:

Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m.

The new hours pertain only to the Service Desk on MD Anderson Library floor 1. Building hours will remain the same as in previous semesters.

During times when MD Anderson Library is open and the Service Desk is closed, Coogs have the following self-service options:

• Self-checkout machines on MD Anderson Library floor 1, located across from the Service Desk, enable users to check out books. The self-checkout machines require an active Cougar Card to borrow books.
• Group study rooms in the Red and Brown wings on floors 3, 4, and 5 are open on a first-come-first-served basis. No reservation or room keys are required to use these rooms during hours when the Service Desk is closed.
• Individual study carrels in the Blue wing on floors 3, 5, and 6 and in the Brown wing on floors 2 – 5 are open on a first-come-first-served basis. No reservation or carrel keys are required to use these carrels during hours when the Service Desk is closed.
• Printing, scanning, and copying options are available for those with active Cougar Cards.

Hours of operation for special libraries and service points are as follows:

Special Collections
Monday – Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Digital Research Commons
Monday: 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday: 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Architecture, Design, and Art Library
*Re-opening on Monday, August 26* Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Health Sciences Library
Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.

Medical Library
Monday – Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (staffed); the space is open 24 hours for medical students

Music Library
Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Questions? Contact us.

Houston Shakespeare Festival 1980 flier

In tandem with the opening of Houston Shakespeare Festival’s 50th season, UH Libraries is pleased to announce the availability of the Houston Shakespeare Festival Collection.

The digital collection is the culmination of a months-long collaboration between Special Collections University Archives and Preservation & Reformatting to collect, preserve, and provide access to Houston Shakespeare Festival (HSF) and School of Theatre and Dance (SoTD) archives. The digital collection includes programs and other materials from HSF, with original materials preserved in UH Libraries Special Collections in the Sidney Berger Papers. Berger, former director of the UH School of Theatre, founded HSF in the summer of 1975.

The project was inspired by professor of acting Jack Young, who requested HSF resources that were preserved in Special Collections. The resources were digitized in Preservation & Reformatting, and University Archives prepared them to be shared online. Soon after, Young donated a remarkable scrapbook and other SoTD materials documenting HSF and the Children’s Theatre, along with audiovisual materials and photos saved in SoTD. Young’s interest in these materials spurred University Archives to make finding aids available online: UH School of Theatre and Dance Records and Houston Shakespeare Festival (a series in the Sidney Berger Papers).

The UH community, scholars and researchers, and the public can now easily find these materials in Special Collections, and many of the items have been digitized and are accessible online, thanks to the work of Preservation & Reformatting.

“We’re excited about the launch of the digital collection,” said Mary Manning, university archivist, “and we eagerly anticipate our continued collaboration in documenting and celebrating SoTD’s history.”

By James Burke, Intern at UH Special Collections and PhD student majoring in US History and minoring in Public History. His work involves museum archives, artifact cataloging, and exhibit curation.

Game ball signed by Head Coach Van Chancellor (top) and Cynthia Cooper #14 MVP ’98 (center)

The Houston Comets were among the first eight teams of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 1997. In their first season the Comets saw unprecedented success, playing against and beating the New York Liberty in the Championship. The Houston Comets went on to win the 1998 WNBA Championship against the Phoenix Mercury, again in 1999 against the New York Liberty, and in 2000 against the same. Throughout each of the first four seasons, the Houston Comets dominated the court. The “Big Three” Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson topped all statistical charts for the WNBA and were instrumental in leading the Comets to four consecutive WNBA Championship wins. While the Houston Comets were a breakout dynasty in the WNBA, after the 2008 season the team was disbanded due to ownership issues.

For the creation of this exhibit, I have had to make up for my own shortcomings in knowledge on the Houston Comets. Prior to beginning the Houston Comets exhibit, Vince Lee, Archivist for the Carey Shuart Women’s Research Collection, and I planned on working on a separate exhibit from Special Collections. However, upon getting the commission for the Comets exhibit, the two of us began working on the task immediately. While I knew people who were fans of the Houston Comets when they were active, I was ignorant to their history at the onset of the project. Working with Vince and by his advice, the first two weeks were largely spent on researching the story of the team. Furthermore, he suggested I familiarize myself with the Houston Comets Memorabilia Collection. While I have experience doing curatorial work, never had it been on something I had minimal working knowledge on, but it was, and remains, an exciting opportunity to learn.

I chose the items for the Houston Comets exhibit largely centered on the first four seasons of the team, in addition to the “Big Three”. I wanted the exhibit cases to demonstrate the history of the team and their success, but also the fans and their dedication. Across the exhibit I selected five items signed by members of the Houston Comets. In addition to signed memorabilia, I wanted to feature several Houston Comets publications throughout the exhibit, both to show the teams history as told by the WNBA, and by journalists from the Houston Chronicle. The Comets dominated the first four seasons of the WNBA, and written material reflects that. Beyond such items, I wanted to include various merchandise to show that fans of the Houston Comets remained so outside the arena.

Despite the Houston Comets only lasting for twelve seasons from 1997 to 2008, the team established a dynasty in the WNBA and made a lasting impact on both Houston and the league at-large. Fans of the Comets remained loyal during and after their time on the court, and the collection of memorabilia establishes that. While the team is no longer active, their legacy continues to permeate the WNBA and their fans to this day.

Explore history at UH Special Collections! We are located in M.D. Anderson Library, 2nd Floor, at the top of the stairs next to the elevators. Our reading room is open Monday-Friday, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM, excluding holidays. Appointments are strongly recommended so that requested materials can be ready for you upon your arrival. Drop-in visits are welcomed if there is available space in the reading room.