New Books at APL: Bricks and Texas Churches

For those interested in materials, we received two survey books on the history of building with bricks.

  • Hall, William, editor. Brick. Essay by Dan Cruickshank. London: Phaidon, 2015.
  • Campbell, James W. Brick: A World History. Photographs by Will Pryce. London: Thames and Hudson, 2016.

William Hall takes a thematic approach to the topic focusing on concepts like form, light, mass, and scale, while James W. Campbell presents the history of brick, beginning with the ancient world and concluding with What Future for Brick? While both works are extensively illustrated, Hall’s work presents almost as a photo essay.

Texas_steeplesChristensen, Carl J., Jr., artist. Lone Star Steeples: Historic Places of Worship in Texas. Text by Pixie Christensen and Foreword by David Ruesink. College Station, Tx: Texas A&M University Press, 2016.

In the preface, Pixie Christensen begins:

As the six flags that flew over Texas help define its history, the hundreds of Texas churches recognized by historic markers help define the culture, heritage, religion, and architectural identities of the people of Texas. Lone Star Steeples takes the reader on a tour of historic churches across the state. Architectural features, individual stories, cultural markers, and significant events make each church unique and also contribute to the big picture of this big state….

But more than a view of history through church buildings, Lone Star Steeples invites the reader to experience the beauty and integrity of each church building through the eyes  of the artist/architect who envisioned and illustrated the book.
(Preface, ix)

The Christensens documented more than 60 Texas churches. The book is arranged geographically, dividing Texas into 7 districts: West Texas & Panhandle; North Central Texas; East Texas; South Central Texas; Hill Country; Gulf Coast; and South Texas. Each entry includes at least one watercolor, the location, the date, and architect if known. A brief history is also included.

Special Collections Capstone

This semester is my last at the iSchool, which means I am working on my Capstone project. I am sure it comes as no surprise that I have elected to develop a project at the Architecture and Planning Library!

For my project, I will undertake an assessment of APL’s Special Collections so that we might better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the collection. Moreover, I hope that the process undertaken here can serve as model for other collections on campus.

In working with Special Collections, my goal has always been to raise the visibility of the collection, even if it was book by book through the Friday Finds post. I always enjoy sharing the materials that I find within. The project will hopefully raise the visibility of the collection on a much larger scale. Throughout the semester I will post about the project to keep you updated and in the end I will point you to the resources I create about Special Collections!