CUL Digital Collections Update: February 2017

In February 2017, SMU’s Central University Libraries uploaded 426 items into CUL Digital Collections.

Highlights include:

68 items from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection as part of the TexTreasures FY2017 grant program, sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Photographs include portraits of men and women, as well as a business card and a flyer ca. 1890-1910. Real photographic postcards show places in the Dallas area from the first half of the 20th century. Several postcards focus on parades in Dallas: a Masonic parade with mounted police; the Knights Templar marching band as well as other marching bands; Fourth of July parades; and a parade of cars. Another subset are homes of residents in Highland Park and one home near White Rock Lake.

5 Photochrom prints, ca. 1890-1906, from the Detroit Publishing Company depicting scenic landscapes in the Adirondack mountains in New York state, Colorado’s South Cheyenne Canyon and the Mount of the Holy Cross, and the St. John’s and Tomoka Rivers in Florida.

16 postcards from the Elmer and Diane Powell Collection on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution featuring images of General Lucio Blanco and his troops. Included are cavalry formations, General Blanco posing with other army officers and staff, and several portraits of the general. Of particular note is El celebre cabecilla Blanco y camaradas, which depicts Blanco seated with a number of his compatriots, their guns and ammunition lined up behind them.

259 images from the Octavio Medellin Art Work and Papers. Pieces by Medellin that are new to the digital collection are the large Utah Honey Onyx piece titled “Mother and Child;” various copperwork pieces, including “Peacock,” “Shooting Star,” “Ancient Inscription,” and “Saguaro;” and the large metal sculpture titled “The Promised Land,” shown being installed at Temple Emanu-El for the piece’s dedication on the 75th Birthday of Rabbi Levi A. Olan. Various members of the Dallas Arts Community are also present in the images, including Dr. Steven Nash (formerly of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center) and Louise Eiseman. In addition, a large number of the photographs show Medellin working at his Bandera studio on multiple pieces: his repousse copper sculpture, “The Adolescent;” his piece “Mother and Child;” and his marble sculpture, “Mazatl Tecutli.” Also included are the promotional photographs of his finalized Sculptureware product line, including individual photographs of each piece, and a few group photographs showing the entire product line as a whole.

21 videos from WFAA Newsfilm, 1960-1978. The videos contain news clips and a- and b-roll footage from the Dallas ABC Television station covering October 1971. People were identified and a written summary was added to the October 29-30, 1971 video. Highlights from this video include a discussion of the SMU Mustangs’ season, the firing of the director of the Dallas Legal Services Project, the murder and funeral of a Fort Worth police officer, and interviews of children about their Halloween activities.

13 photographs and a transparency, 1981 to 1983, from the Texas Instruments Records collection. The images focus on the development of TISES solar energy cells and related systems, showing Jack Kilby and Jay Lathrop, technicians in the laboratory, technical diagrams, and close-up photographs of solar cells.

12 snapshots from the Collection of Photographs by Andy Hanson. Included are 4 photographs of Gloria Steinem speaking at a bookstore, ca. 1990s, and 8 photographs of the 1996 Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl Victory Party hosted by Lilly Dodson. Ms. Dodson, a fashion entrepreneur and huge Cowboys’ fan, and Margaret Hunt Hill, an oil heiress and philanthropist, are featured in the photographs, along with Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys’ owner, and Barry Switzer, the Dallas Cowboys’ coach at the time.

10 engineering drawings from the Collection of Baldwin Locomotive Works records. Seven erecting drawings detail technical aspects of the locomotives, including dimensions and location of the parts and mechanics which make up these machines, which were created for various railroad companies. Three detail drawings depict locomotive parts, including a boiler, an engine frame, and back end detail. These detail drawings were created for use by railroad companies and individuals, and depict the technical aspects, including measurements and configuration, of these locomotive elements.

21 builders’ cards from the Baldwin Locomotive Works builder’s cards, featuring engines from coal and lumber hauling lines, and passenger lines throughout the United States. Among the railways and routes are the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad; the DeQueen and Eastern Railway; the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company; the Dominion Atlantic Railway; the Donora Southern Railroad; the Goldsboro Lumber Company; the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad; the Duluth, Missabe, and Northern Railway; and the Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Railway. Each image includes a  mechanical description of the locomotive, engine and route numbers, and identifies the companies for which they were built.