Texas Book Arts Collection Finds a Home at Texas A&M University Libraries

The William and Barbara Holman Book Arts Collection has found a home at the Texas A&M Libraries, thanks to a lead gift from Bruce and Patsy Nichols, along with support from the Friends of the Sterling C. Evans Library.  Documenting one of the most important families of book designers and printers in Texas and in the West, the Holman Collection offers students and researchers a glimpse behind the scenes of contemporary book production and design processes.

The collection contains the archives from the production of over 50 fine press books, including such seminal works as This Bitterly Beautiful Land by Al Lowman; Platt and Slater's Travelers' Guide Across the Plains Upon the Overland Route to California;  The French Legation in Texas by Nancy Barker; Edward Everett Hale's How to Conquer Texas;  J. Evetts Haley's The Diary of Michael Erskine, and A. C. Greene's This is the World of the Highway.   Throughout the Holman collection one finds correspondence, contracts, receipts, announcements, page proofs and many other examples of the creative and physical processes that brought these books and others into being.  The collection also contains the work of numerous illustrators including Barbara Holman.

“In the Holman Collection students and researchers can discover art in action and glean unique insights into how that art is made. This comprehensive collection offers tremendous research potential into the printing arts from the work of consummate professionals who have been at the very hub of Texas book design,” explained David Chapman, Director of Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. 

The Holman Collection will be housed in the Cushing Library along with a substantial collection on the printing arts in Texas and the Southwest, anchored by the Al Lowman Printing Arts Collection and Research Archive.  The Nichols’ gift is in honor of Al and Darlyne Lowman for their groundbreaking contribution in establishing the printing arts collection at Texas A&M.  The Friends of Evans Library frequently support the acquisition of rare and special collections as part of their mission. 

The Holman Collection will be the focus of an upcoming exhibit.