Archives of American Mathematics Endowment

Dec 22, 2016 | Excellence Funds & Program Support

Founded at The University of Texas in 1975, the Archive of American Mathematics (AAM), part of the University’s Briscoe Center for American History, is the only archive of primary source material in the United States solely dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers of mathematicians and records of professional organizations focused on mathematics education. One of the Briscoe Center’s collection strengths, the AAM is a vital resource for teaching and research.  Since its founding, members of the Mathematics community across higher education have donated their papers and made financial contributions in support of the AAM. 

 A prolific and respected geometer, Dr. Thomas F. Banchoff retired in 2014 as an emeritus professor at Brown University.  Throughout his 50+ year career, Dr. Banchoff has relied on the AAM to support his teaching and research. Desire to ensure that perpetual funds are available for the AAM to continue to grow and be accessible for future generations of students and scholars, Dr. Banchoff made the initial gift to establish the AAM endowment.  Seeking to leverage his “seed” gift, Dr. Banchoff is spearheading a campaign to reach a $2 million endowment goal. Dr. Eileen Poiani, special assistant to the president and the first female professor at St. Peter’s University in New Jersey, and Dr. Albert Lewis, trustee and secretary of the Educational Advancement Foundation and former Curator of UT Austin’s mathematical archives that evolved into the AAM, joined Dr. Banchoff on the campaign committee. All three have contributed to the endowment and encouraged others to give as well.  Together, they have raised outright and deferred gifts totalling $870,000 towards their goal. Their dedication to the endowment campaign is a measure of the archive’s importance.

The endowment will support an AAM archivist position and provide resources to collect, preserve and make this important material, that documents mathematical history and thought, widely available.

Knowledgeable, passionate historians, archivists and dedicated staff make the Briscoe Center a historical research center unlike any other. UT is grateful to Dr. Banchoff, Dr. Poiani, Dr. Lewis and an anonymous donor for recognizing the Briscoe Center’s importance to students and scholars now and in the future.  

Revised April 2020

 

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