The NTU History Gallery, established in June 2005, publicly displays the university’s rich history of development, sharing the memories of the NTU community and ensuring its spirit is passed on to successive generations of NTU students and faculty. The gallery holds and preserves over 1,000 tangible and intangible cultural assets from the university campus and resides in the century-old building that housed the former Main Library, with its classical reading room featuring a 6.8-meter-high vaulted ceiling and a 38.3-meter-long row of arched windows, which make the building itself a masterpiece. For NTU alumni, entering this space is like stepping into the past, back to their youth (Figure 1).
On November 15, 1945, Taihoku Imperial University was restructured to become NTU. Among the gallery’s treasures are the last certificate ever issued by Taihoku Imperial University, donated by the family of Professor Liu Ting-Yueh, and the first graduation certificate awarded by NTU, both artifacts of great significance to Taiwan’s higher education history (Figure 2).
In addition to instruments, equipment, and documents, the gallery has collected handwritten notebooks and club guestbooks from alumni, as well as old campus photographs. One notable photo from November 1949 captures President Fu Ssu-Nien delivering a speech to students during the university’s founding anniversary celebration. This speech inspired the school motto: “Integrity, Diligence, Fidelity, and Compassion” (Figure 3). When President Fu assumed his role at NTU in January 1949, he also penned a short calligraphy piece for Professor Huang Te-Shih of the Department of Chinese Literature, inscribing the words “Return my bones to Tian Heng’s Island.” The phrase reflected his unwavering anti-communist stance and commitment to truth and freedom. More details can be found in the animated film produced by the Gallery.
From 2012 to 2013, the History Gallery organized a year-long relay of handwritten diaries by current students, utilizing a unique format to record daily life on campus and the joys and sorrows of NTU students. Through these collections, the NTU History Gallery is clearly not only a showcase of the university’s history, development, achievements, and contributions but also serves as a time capsule of the campus memories of the NTU community across generations.
Figure 1. The NTU History Gallery exhibit hall, located in the reading room of the former Main Library, a designated historical site in Taipei. The reading room was completed in 1931.
Figure 2. The first graduation certificate issued by NTU in June 1946 (the seal on the back indicates this: NTU No. 1).
Figure 3. President Fu Ssu-Nien delivering a speech at NTU’s fourth anniversary ceremony.