The most famous alumnus of Texas State University is former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, although the institution was known as Southwest Texas State Teachers College when he graduated in 1930. Materials relating to President Johnson are housed in the University Archives and many have already been digitized. Two library guides about Johnson are available: one includes information and resources about LBJ as a student, and one is dedicated to the Higher Education Act of 1965 that he signed in Strahan Gymnasium (now the Music Building).
In the decades following his graduation, Johnson made quite a few trips back to campus to participate in events. In November 1971, the Alumni House hosted an exhibit created by Harry Middleton and Gary Yarrington, Director and Curator of the LBJ Library in Austin. The exhibit, titled “Lyndon Baines Johnson at San Marcos,” featured memorabilia relating to President Johnson, including the desk he sat at when he signed the Higher Education Act of 1965. Johnson himself attended the exhibit opening and delivered a speech on the occasion.
The audio recording of President Johnson’s speech was made on an open reel, a technology that has long been surpassed by other media formats. Fortunately, the original recording was saved and eventually became part of the University Archives. More than 40 years later, Digital and Web Services has brought this recording back to “life” and made it accessible for the first time in decades.
The Alkek Library recently constructed a new Audio and Visual media digitization area to help rescue the content of outdated media formats. This 1971 recording of LBJ at San Marcos Exhibit was the first reel-to-reel tape to be digitized and added to the Digital Collections. The ability to reformat historical recordings is a huge step in the process of reclaiming the history of the University; audio reels from other collections can now be scheduled for digitization and then made available to researchers.
LBJ Speaking at Southwest Texas State University, November 1971
(LBJ begins at 09:30)