UT Provost Harry Huntt Ransom founded the Ransom Center in 1957, then called the Humanities Research Center, with a vision of the “Bibliotheque Nationale of the only state that started out as an independent nation.” Building on rare books collected by the university since 1897, the collection focuses on the study of literature and culture and contains over 36 million leaves of manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs (including the first ever photograph), and 100,000 works of art. In addition to literary manuscripts, such as collections of Samuel Beckett, David Foster Wallace, Gabriel García Márquez , Langston Hughes, and James Joyce, the HRC has strengths in the performing arts (Norman Bel Geddes Collection), photography (Helmut Gernsheim), and film (David O. Selznick).
