Texas Woman’s University received a $500,000 gift for its Women Airforce Service Pilots archives.
The gift comes from the estate of Dorothy “Dot” Ebersbach, who died at the age of 96 in November at her home in Florida.
Ebersbach served in Texas and Arizona during her time as a WASP — the first women to pilot aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
“We appreciate these gifts so much because they do make it possible to share these stories, preserve these stories for the next generation,” said Kimberly Johnson, coordinator of special collections at the TWU library.
The TWU Blagg-Huey Library was designated the repository of the WASP national archives in 1992.
The collection contains various items from women who were part of the organization between 1942 and 1944.
It has more than 1 million pieces of paper, about 25,000 photographs and about 700 oral histories, as well as more than 700 personal collections within the overall collection.
Johnson said the gift allows the TWU library to promote the collection, continue to offer programs and further outreach efforts.
This gift comes a few months after the university received a $100,000 gift from an anonymous donor for digitization and preservation of the collection.
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