Texas A&M University: A Pictorial History, 1876-1996, Second Edition (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University)

This expanded edition of Texas A&M University: 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 growth: "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.