When people think about working in a rare book library, they imagine librarians reading books all day. What they don’t imagine is the hard physical work that we do many days.
Lifting boxes of books. Shelving and reshelving books. Putting the pieces together for an exhibit. Moving the cases. Lifting the lids. Putting material in the cases. Putting the lids back on. Changing our minds and rearranging the cases. Climbing ladders and adjusting the framed pictures. Sweeping up the mess from our behind the scenes supplies.
But at the end of the day, when the exhibit is installed, we forget about the lifting and moving. We are happy when our readers enjoy the displays. And this particular exhibit we know you will not forget.
“OK, I’ll do it Myself” is the newest exhibit at the DeGolyer Library.
Book collector and bibliographer Caroline Schimmel has selected and organized 144 books, photographs, manuscripts and memorabilia by 101 women, dating from 1682 to 2015. Items include Maria Sibylla Merian’s hand-printed and colored copy of Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium(1705); Annie Oakley’s travel trunk, photos, gloves, and color-printed envelope she shot through the heart; Mary Godfrey’s illustrated account of the “horrid massacre” of her family in 1825; and Dale Evans’s scruffy rhinestoned pink boots.
You will be able to remember the exhibit long after your visit. Caroline Schimmel has put together a remarkable catalog of this collection. It is available for purchase.
After the grand opening, NBC5 in Dallas-Fort Worth interviewed both SMU history professor Christa DeLuzio and Caroline Schimmel.
“OK, I’ll do it Myself” will be in the Hillcrest Foundation Exhibit Hall between January 18, 2018 and March 29, 2018. The Exhibit Hall is located in the Fondren Library on the Southern Methodist University Campus and is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5.