At 10a.m. on a sunny Saturday morning, September 15, 1883, nearly three hundred gathered in the unfinished west wing of the old Main Building for the modest opening ceremonies of the University of Texas. The speakers of the day - Regent Ashbel Smith, Governor John Ireland, and faculty chair James Mallet - elaborated on the "noble ambition" of the state and did their best to define a "university of the first class." But none could have imagined how the fledgling university, with an enrollment of 221students taught by eight professors, would have developed over the next century.

The University's anniversary is also an appropriate time to announce the ongoing growth in the UT History Central web site. A long-term project of the Texas Exes UT Heritage Society, the site is intended to be a comprehensive online resource for the history and traditions of the University of Texas. Among the site's new features:

Mobile Device Campus Tour

A new virtual campus tour for mobile devices is a joint effort between the Texas Exes and the Orange Jackets, an honorary women's organization. Each academic year, the new members of the Orange Jackets choose and complete a special project that will benefit the University. This past spring, they designed, wrote, and recorded a tour of the campus intended to be viewed online or through a mobile device. With 24 tour stops that can be selected in any order, see the online version here, or go to the mobile version of www.TexasExes.org for text and audio.

Images and Ephemera

The photo bank for UT History Central continues to grow, and now includes images of UT ephemera, miscellaneous items that don't readily fall into the categories of photographs or letters. Among the items is a collection of "dodgers." In the early 1900s, before The Texan newspaper was a daily, announcements on campus were printed on 6" x 9" handbills, known as "dodgers" then tossed en masse out from the top of the four-story rotunda in the old Main Building. The handbills were printed on inexpensive paper and not meant to last, so that any dodgers that have survived may very well be the last remaining copy of a specific announcement. To see some of these dodgers, go here.

Audio Collections

UT History Central has added to its audio files. You'll find: a nationally broadcast concert from the Texas Union in 1936; a 1917 commencement speech read by Dr. William Battle (for whom Battle Hall and the Battle Oaks are named); The Cactus in Sound, an audio yearbook in 1953-54 hosted by the late Cactus Pryor, and several recordings from the 1960s on the history of Texas Longhorn football. Check out the full list here.

Ten Things Every Longhorn Should Know

Developed over the summer, this is a "side entrance" to UT History Central, intended to introduce prospective and new students to UT traditions. Learn the history behind the choice of orange and white, how a dog named Pig served as the University's first mascot, or the story behind the Texas Hex Rally. This special landscape site is here.