Texas A&M University's 150th anniversary now has a room of its own. "Here for Good: Celebrating 150 Years of Texas A&M University" opened Friday, Oct. 2, in the J. Wayne Stark Galleries inside the Memorial Student Center, and it is scheduled to stay up through May 16, 2027.
University Libraries led the project with the Sesquicentennial History Subcommittee. Most of the material comes from Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, with other pieces lent by offices and departments across campus.
What is on display
Among the objects the library highlights:
- One of the earliest Aggie Rings, made in 1889
- A blanket that belonged to Reveille I
- A NASA flight suit worn by astronaut Nancy J. Currie-Gregg, who flew four Space Shuttle missions between 1993 and 2002 and now directs the Texas A&M University Space Institute
- The 1946 Corregidor Flag, painted with a block "T" and the word "Aggies"
The flag is tied to the story of Muster, which the library counts among the university's most meaningful traditions. According to the library, Maj. Tom Dooley, Class of 1935, compiled a roll of 27 Aggies on the Philippine island of Corregidor on April 21, 1942, while it was under Japanese air attack.
Four years later, Aggie troops returned to the island, and the flag was made for the Muster they held there.
Built in eras
The gallery is arranged by period. It opens with an entrance piece that recalls the early campus water tower and an installation meant to evoke the open grassland around the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas when classes began in 1876.
Robin Hutchison, associate university librarian for Special Collections and Archives, told The Battalion the first section covers 1876 to 1916 and includes a mock Gathright building and videos in which actors read from letters early students mailed home.
