Texas A&M University: A Pictorial History, 1876-1996

by Henry C. Dethloff

This expanded edition of Texas A&M A Pictorial History gives a panoramic view of Texas A&M, from its infancy as a college with forty-eight agricultural and mechanical (engineering) students to today's diverse campus of more than forty thousand students.

Captured in full-color photographs are the modern university, its buildings, its far-reaching programs, and its students. The book is also a gallery of Aggie greats—on the battlefields of five wars; on the athletic fields; in industry, agriculture, science, and civic leadership. Historical photos show visits by Presidents William H. Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George H. W. Bush; preparations for military actions of World Wars I and II; the 1939 national championship football team; and the campus filming of the 1943 World War II movie We've Never Been Licked.

From the first day of classes, the A&M College of Texas encountered successes and setbacks that would provide valuable lessons, established traditions that would shape the university and its students, and began its transformation from a frontier educational community to one of the nation's largest and most active teaching and research institutions.

Gov. Richard Coke's admonition of October 4, 1876, has governed the school's "Grave responsibilities rest upon you. The excellence of the college will be determined by your progress." As new frontiers beckoned, A&M accepted the challenges—excelling not only in agriculture and engineering but also the sciences, medicine, education, and research relating to space and the sea. A&M's military program received national recognition for providing military leaders during the Spanish-American War, the two world wars, and subsequent conflicts. With growth have come a more diverse student body, administrative reorganizations, and expanded educational programs.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Henry Clay Dethloff was a professor emeritus of history at Texas A&M University in College Station who has written more than two dozen books on topics ranging from the space program to agriculture, American business, and Texas A&M itself.