The Visual Resource Collection is located within the Technical Reference Center, the architectural reference library supported by the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. The collection functions principally as a teaching resource for faculty within the college, but also serves faculty outside of the college and grants limited access to students. The collection consists of almost 152,000 35 mm slides and over 36,000 digital images of primarily art and architecture.

The Visual Resource Collection houses several special collections including the Gunn Collection. Ralph Ellis Gunn was a prominent landscape architect who designed extensively in the River Oaks area of Houston in the 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s. The Gunn Collection includes sets of landscaping plans for residences in Houston, other areas of Texas, Indiana, Louisiana, Florida, and Mississippi. The collection consists of several books, sets of plans, and almost 900 slides, all digitally imaged, donated in the late 1970’s and is available for viewing within the library.

In 2000, the College of Architecture purchased the formerly commercial slide collection Architectural Color Slides, founded in 1947 by Franziska Porges Hosken. The Franziska Porges Hosken Architecture/Urban Development Collection of approximately 52,200 slides 35 mm slides and 14,600 photographs was at one time one of the largest collections of worldwide images photographed and documented by a single individual. Franziska Porges Hosken was an architect and urban planner, journalist, and photographer. She was the first woman to earn a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She opened a furniture design studio with her husband and later became a consultant, organizer and author. She was the Founder of Women’s International Network (WIN) and helped organize the Human Rights Health Action Network. The collection consists primarily of architectural and planning images, including views of prominent buildings, sites and regions across the globe. Worldwide historic architecture and significant contemporary architecture are well represented, as are architectural styles and urban development.

The Collection staff consists of a curator, an assistant curator, and graduate assistants, whom facilitate its growth and maintenance.

In 1992, a database was developed to produce slide labels and catalog cards using Double Helix, a relational database software package developed by Macintosh. It was migrated into a customized Filemaker Pro database in 1992. With the transition from slides to digital images, MDID was implemented in 2003 as the digital image management system. The main library has acquired ARTstor, so the faculty has access on campus. There was a marked decrease in slide use in the 2006-2007, and in 2007-2008, slide use had all but ceased. This prompted the recent purchase of a new computer with flat screen and new digital camera for copystand use.