Texas Tech Museum's centennial exhibits honors, remembers Tech's first century

As Texas Tech ushers in its next century, the Museum of Texas Tech opened four thematic exhibits to commemorate the university's past 100 years, highlighting key events and figures from the ages.

The museum exhibits will be available for a full year for Red Raiders to come and enjoy the history of athletics, spirit, notable alumni, architecture and academics on campus.

Academic Exhibit

Displayed in gallery one of the museum are 15 "structures" that tell the history of the colleges on campus along with photos and key dates.

Andy Gedeon, exhibits manager for the museum, said that each college was tasked with writing its own narrative of the school's history. He said the exhibits also include regional campuses such as Costa Rica, the the university's E-learning program.

Surrounding the 15 structures is a timeline of key dates throughout the history of Tech.

In the middle of the room is a case where tools used to construct the administration building are on display, as well as other historical artifacts.

Architecture Exhibit

Lining the walls of gallery five are large photos from various architectural details found around campus with an explanation of the Spanish Renaissance Style the builders emulated.

In display cases are miniature versions of public art pieces that can be found at Tech and at the other institutions around the Texas Tech System, Gedeon said.

Also on display are various campus maps through the decades as well as the plot development plan from William Watkin.

"This is not the final plan of Texas Tech, but this is a plot plan that is original," he said. "It's beautiful actually — how they conceived campus at that moment in time."

One might see the similarities between this design and the current campus map such as the admin building and what is now known as the engineering key. However, if you look closely, the stadium is depicted where the Student Union Building and Library now stand.

"Coming in December we are having an architecture firm make an architectural model of the admin building as it was first built."

For context, the main part of the administration building facing the memorial circle was one of the first buildings on campus to be built. The east and west wings were added at a later date.

Athletics Exhibits

Moving through gallery six, museum guests will see notable names from Tech athletics' history, with various sports jerseys and trophies on display.

Moving into the Diamond M Gallery, is a continuation of Atheltic's history focusing on key moments and events like the Gator Bowl where the Masked Rider made its debut, the TTU v. UT game in 2008 and the introduction of Title IX.

In the middle of the gallery are trophies from various sporting competitions won over the years including one from the Border Conference — the first athletics conference Texas Tech was a part of.

Museum visitors can see the evolution of the Masked Rider costumes, Raider Red, the Goin' Ban, cheer and a lesser-known temporary mascot — Rosie Red — in the back of the gallery.

Alumni Exhibit

Also in the gallery is the Texas Tech Alumni Association Area.

In this area, a timeline of the association is displayed on a wall along with other alumni memorabilia. There is even a bookcase with La Ventana yearbooks that people are able to review in the museum.

In gallery seven are photos and narratives of 25 notable alumni from Texas Tech history. According to signage in the gallery, these 25 alumni are from the university's centennial history book.

Gedeon said that over the course of the year, the photos and narratives of the people will be rotated with the other 75 alumni featured in the university's book.

Gedeon said the museum will have other rotating exhibits that will complement the four centennial exhibits over the course of the year.

"We want (the community) to come out and see the centennial exhibit. Because it's important for the university and the community," he said.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech Museum's centennial exhibits honors Tech's first century