Margaret C. Berry, was born and raised in Dawson, Texas. She graduated high school as co-valedictorian in 1933. Though she received a full scholarship to Baylor University, Berry turned the offer down to attend the University of Texas. After earning a history degree from UT in 1937, she began teaching at elementary schools in El Campo, Freeport, and Galveston, Texas. During the summers, Berry eared a master’s from Columbia University in New York City.
In 1947, Berry began her administrative career at Navarro Junior College as a dean and history instructor. She became dean of women at East Texas State in 1950. After 10 years, Berry left to get her doctorate in higher education at Columbia University. She moved to Austin in 1961 to write her dissertation on the student life and customs at the University of Texas and became associate dean of women in 1962. Berry, known as UT’s unofficial historian, wrote five books about university’s history, traditions, leaders, and its buildings: UT Austin: Traditions and Nostalgia; The University of Texas: A Pictorial Account of its First Century; Brick by Golden Brick: A History of University of Texas Campus Buildings; UT History 101: Highlights in the History of the University of Texas; and Scottish Rite Dormitory: A History, 1920-2007. Berry retired in 1980, but from 1995 to 2002 she taught freshmen seminars on the history of the University of Texas.
Now 96 years old, Berry is being rewarded for her service to the university by having the atrium in the new student center on the Austin named in her honor.