West Texas A&M to Offer Public Viewings of Rare Texts

Provided

Rare texts that form the backbone of America’s commitment to human rights will be on display beginning Sept. 30 at West Texas A&M University and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum.

WT’s Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities and the Department of History will host the Remnant Trust’s exhibition “The Theme Is Freedom” through Oct. 29.

The Remnant Trust is a public educational foundation that shares an actively growing collection of manuscripts, first edition and early works dealing with the topics of individual liberty and human dignity with some pieces dating as early as 2500 B.C. The Remnant Trust makes this collection available to colleges, universities and other organizations for use by students, faculty, scholars and the general public. It is sponsored at WT through the generous support of Barbara and Jim Whitton.

“The Theme Is Freedom” will feature rare editions of classic texts on individual freedom and responsibility to society.

“From John Milton and Algernon Sidney in the 17th century to Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the 19th, we encounter women and men who challenged the political, social and cultural status quo by advocating human liberty against any form of oppression and prejudice,” said Dr. Bruce Brasington, organizer and WT’s Twanna Caddell Powell Professor of History. “Their challenge is no less relevant to our own day.”

The volumes will be housed in PPHM’s Research Center and WT’s Cornette Library, where the public can view them on request. Faculty also may assign students to use the texts for class.

“When it comes time in my American History class to discuss those fighting to abolish slavery, we will just go upstairs in the museum and look at Frederick Douglass’ ‘Autobiography’,” Brasington said. “No lecture will ever match the experience of holding those a precious document of freedom in your hands.”

The Department of History will host two public events in conjunction with the texts’ availability on campus.

“Iron Jawed Angels,” a 2004 film starring Hilary Swank that recounts the suffragettes’ struggle to gain the right to vote, will screen at 6 p.m. Oct. 14 in Old Main 220. Dr. Jean Stuntz, Regents’ Professor of History, will introduce the film and moderate discussion.

A roundtable presentation by Department of History faculty and graduate students will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 28 in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center.

“We expect that points of agreement and disagreement among our panelists should lead to lively discussion among the participants and the audience,” Brasington said.

Texts on display will include “Discourses Concerning Government” by Algernon Sidney, “History of Women Suffrage” Vols. 4, 5 and 6 by Susan B. Anthony, “Reflections on the Revolution in France” by Edmund Burke, “Address to the Legislature of New York, Adopted by the State Women’s Rights Convention 1854” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass” and “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass, “The Lawes Resolutions of Women’s Rights: or, The Lawes Provision for Women” edited by Thomas Edgar, “Essays on Human Rights and their Political Guaranties” by Elisha P. Hurlburt, “Aeropagitica” by John Milton, “The Letters and Works” by Lady Wortley Montagu, “The Works of Hannah More” by Hannah More, “Discourse on Woman” by Lucretia Mott, “On the Equality of the Sexas” Parts 1 and 2 by Judith Sargent Murray, “The Great Case of Liberty on Conscience” by William Penn, “Appeal of One Half of the Human Race” by William Thompson, “History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution” by Mercy Warren, “A Vindication of  the Rights of Women” and “The Rights of Men” by Mary Wollstonecraft, and “The Trial of John Peter Zenger” by various authors.

The duty of citizenship, including individual responsibility to the region, the state and the country, is a key tenet of the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World, which is being fueled by the historic $125 million One West comprehensive campaign.

-West Texas A&M University