PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
September 4, 2002
Reception to Mark Opening of Byrd Exhibit,
First Event in Hornbake Showcase
A reception marking the opening of an exhibit entitled “From Vision to Reality: The Life and career of Harry Clifton Byrd,” will be held Friday, September 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Hornbake Library Lobby and Exhibition Gallery at the University of Maryland, College Park. The reception is sponsored by Friends of the Libraries.
The entire campus as well as the general public are invited to attend the reception, the first event in the Hornbake Showcase of Events celebrating the Libraries’ Special Collections. The Showcase celebration will continue through May 2003 with various other programs scheduled. More information about the Showcase is available at www.lib.umd.edu/HBK/showcase.
Speakers at the Byrd reception will include UM President C. D. Mote, Jr.; Dean of Libraries Charles Lowry; Dean Howard Frank from the Robert H. Smith School of Business; Professor Emeritus George Callcott; and Frank Angier representing the Hornbake family.
“From Vision to Reality” chronicles the life and accomplishments of a remarkable leader who left an indelible mark on the University System of Maryland and its College Park campus, in particular. The exhibition follows Harry Clifton Byrd from his childhood in Crisfield on Maryland’s Eastern Shore through his student years at the Maryland Agricultural College and his return to the University of Maryland as a faculty member, football coach, and assistant director of athletics.
Focusing on Byrd’s achievements as president of the university from 1935 to 1954, it highlights his accomplishments as an administrator, a builder of physical facilities, a supporter of athletics, and a deft political negotiator and solicitor of funding. “From Vision to Reality” also examines Harry Clifton Byrd’s runs for political office, his ties to the university following his resignation from the presidency in 1954, and Byrd’s various business, civic, and service endeavors.
The exhibition concludes with documentation of Byrd’s efforts to turn his visions of the future of the University of Maryland into a reality and a summation of his impact on his beloved alma mater.
“From Vision to Reality: draws heavily upon the rich resources of the Sterling Byrd Collection, donated to the University of Maryland Libraries in 1998 by Mr. Byrd’s estate. Sterling Byrd, the youngest child of Harry Clifton Byrd, preserved a wealth of documentation about his father’s life and career. Sterling also inherited and maintained a major grouping of correspondence, publications, photographs, legal and financial records, memorabilia, and other materials about contemporary members of the Byrd family and their ancestors.
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