Our History

In the early 1970s, Margaret and Eugene McDermott look at a model of future construction on campus, including the Eugene McDermott Library, with Bryce Jordan (right), the first president of UT Dallas.

Professor emeritus of botany Dr. C.L. Lundell (left) stands with Warren Gould amid the blackland prairie of northern Dallas County, where UT Dallas eventually sprouted. Lundell was a benefactor to both UT Dallas and UT Austin, and Gould served as a director of Development and University Relations at UT Dallas.

The Eugene McDermott Library was completed in 1975. The building currently is home to more than 1.4 million individual volumes, numerous articles and databases, eBooks, journals, eMovies and audiobooks. It also features an extensive Special Collections Department that houses rare books, the History of Aviation Collection, the Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library and the Louise B. Belsterling Botanical Library.