AUSTIN, TX (August 4, 2003) – Two exhibits highlighting architectural information resources and services available to students, faculty, staff and the general public on The University of Texas at Austin campus are now on view: "Architecture and Planning Library Collections and Services" in the Main Building ground floor corridor and "Timeless Treasures" in the entrance floor lobby of the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL). Both exhibits will be up through October 2003.

The PCL exhibit features materials from the Architecture and Planning Library's Special Collections and its Alexander Architectural Archive. Included are architectural drawings, photographs, models, scrapbooks and other unique artifacts from the archival collections, as well as pop-up books and rare titles such as the two oldest books in the collection: a 1568 edition of Philibert de l'Orme's Premier tome de l'architecture and a 1570 edition of Andrea Palladio's I Quattro libri dell' architettura. Both are originally from the library of architect Paul P. Cret, the architect of the Main Building.

The Main Building exhibit highlights the collections, services and facilities of the Architecture and Planning Library and the Alexander Architectural Archive located in Battle Hall, a 1911 building designed by architect Cass Gilbert and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Alexander Architectural Archive – the largest repository of architectural records in Texas with more than 90 collections containing over 300,000 drawings and 1,600 linear feet of papers, photographic material, models and ephemera – documents thousands of projects in Texas as well as many in New York, Chicago, California and Great Britain.

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The Architecture and Planning Library, a unit of the General Libraries, collects materials related to architectural design, theory, history and criticism; historic preservation; landscape architecture; interior design; and community and regional planning. Special strengths include modern central and eastern European architecture and late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British and French architectural publications. The library houses more than 82,000 volumes (including 17,000 in Special Collections) and over 25,000 microforms, subscribes to 210 periodicals, and provides access to numerous electronic resources.

For more information contact:
Janine Henri, Head Librarian
Architecture and Planning Library
(512) 495-4623
jhenri@mail.utexas.edu