Abell Library's Blog

A Legacy of Learning

by Emily Eldridge

In 1919, Sherman residents Frank and Annie Wager donated their son’s book collection to Austin College. In 2022, I pulled one of those books off the shelf – still in the stacks over 100 years later – and discovered a bookplate inside the front cover detailing the donation. Curious, I went looking for information about the life of 1915 Austin College graduate Herbert Franklin Wager.

Flipping through the yearbooks from 1911-1915, his name and photo popped up numerous times – including a baby picture during his senior year! While at Austin College, Wager joined the Athenaeum Literary Society and the Young Men’s Christian Association, wrote and drew art for The Chromascope, and played on the football team. The class of 1915’s chosen motto was “Never let your studies interfere with your education,” and the Chromascope from these years documents both scholastic achievements and extracurricular fun. I made a guess based on the fact that Wager went on to Austin Theological Seminary after Austin College, and combed the Religious Studies section of Abell Library to ultimately find six more of his donated books. The search continues for whether more of his books remain in the collection.

I also turned to the newspaper archives on the Portal to Texas History to learn more. Wager was ordained in 1918, and several sermons he gave at the First Southern Presbyterian Church in Austin were published in the Austin American. Despite qualifying for exemption due to his clergy status, he enlisted, along with most of the 1915 Austin College class. He was serving as a sergeant in the hospital corps when he died at Camp Cody, New Mexico, just over a month after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 formally ended WWI. He was buried at West Hill Cemetery in Sherman after a ceremony conducted by Austin College President Thomas S. Clyce. Herbert Wager was one of twelve Austin College losses during World War I, and one of three lost to the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Wager’s legacy remained with the college in several ways despite his short life. Oak trees planted in memory of alumni who died in WWI still stand on campus to this day. Zelma Wager, his youngest sister, was among the first women to attend Austin College in the years following WWI. And of course, his parents kept his memory alive in the form of his books:

“The library of the Rev. Herbert F. Wager, one of the ten former Austin College men honored at last evening’s memorial service, has been given by his family to Austin College, it was announced by Dr. Clyce last evening. The library consists of about 300 volumes, and is a valuable addition to the college library.” (Sherman Daily Democrat, June 2, 1919).

Further Reading & Relevant Links

100 Years of Co-Education

Archives of the Sherman Daily Democrat

Austin College Chromascope, 1899-1950

Abell Library Virtual Exhibit: Of Service and Sacrifice