CUL Digital Collections Update: March 2018

In March 2018, SMU’s Central University Libraries uploaded 321 items into CUL Digital Collections.

Highlights include:

17 documents, ca. 1879-1906, into the Texas: Photographs, Manuscripts and Imprints digital collection as part of the TexTreasures FY2018 grant program, sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Promotional material in this addition covers a broad geographic area spanning from El Paso to the Gulf Coast near Houston. Three railroad companies — The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Company, The St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company and The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company — published short works that served as guidebooks for travelers and sightseers and provided general information about the climate, natural resources, and agriculture in Texas.

Also of note are two pamphlets focusing exclusively on immigration. Both are examples of literature produced by Texas immigration societies. One pamphlet from the Wilbarger Immigration Association, ca. 1890, promotes the settlement of Vernon in Wilbarger County. The small city’s aspirations can be gleaned from the pamphlet’s text, which begins by emphasizing the drawbacks of cattle drives and the faults of cowboys, and then moves to focus on the development of Vernon as a community devoted to agriculture and trade. Likewise, the Waco Immigration society’s pamphlet, The Immigrant’s Guide to Waco and McLennan County, Texas, ca. 1884, focuses on the development of Waco’s urban society and familiarizes potential immigrants with the city’s economy and local businesses. Other similar pamphlets describe the cities of Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Abilene, San Antonio, Houston, and the Panhandle region, and promote the settlement of the Llano Estacado region, including Midland, Marienfeld (now Stanton), Big Spring, and other areas west of Abilene.

28 Treasury warrants and 2 Treasury bond certificates, ca. 1840-1879, from the Rowe-Barr Collection of Texas Currency. The notes originate from Travis County and show the evolution of printed currency in Texas from the middle years of the Republic of Texas to 1879, almost a decade after Texas was readmitted to the United States following Reconstruction and the Civil War.

7 items have been added to the Alvin Colt Design Drawings, Photographs, and Other Materials for Neiman Marcus Fortnights collection. These items are design drawings and promotional materials for the 1971 “Fête des Fleurs” Fortnight, including a beautiful color illustration of the proposed design for the Estée Lauder toiletries department.

50 glass lantern slides, ca. 1900-1920, from Lantern Slides of Indians. Among this set of items is A Zuni Court, 1881, which was used in a report compiled by the Bureau of Ethnology and given to  the director of the Smithsonian (John Wesley) in 1886.  The image was taken by ethnologist Victor Mindeleff for use in his analysis of covered passages in relation to Tusayan and Cibola architecture. This report was later compiled with other ethnographic data and presented to the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1891-92 session.

1 photograph album, ca. 1860s, from the Album de la Collection du Duc de Massa, Colonel des Guides de l’Empereur Napoleon III, containing cartes de visite portraits of various nobility and dignitaries related to the Second French Intervention in Mexico, also known as the Maximilian Affair. Included among the portraits are images of Maximilian himself, several of his family members, as well as Mexican soldiers and politicians. The latter half of the album contains images taken by the Duke de Massa, a high-ranking official in the court of Napoleon III.

12 photographs, ca. 1880-1890, from the [Collection of Mexico City and other Mexican cities photographs] including  a photograph of an elaborate coach belonging to Emperor Maximilian I and a photograph of the interior of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City.

47 photomechanical and photographic prints, ca. 1870 to the early 20th century, from the Jack and Beverly Wilgus History of Photography Collection. Among these items are a series of photogravures taken in and around Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Images include Shakespeare’s childhood home, the ruins of the nearby Kenilworth Castle, and many scenes featuring local residents and buildings. Also among the photographs are a series of images taken in London and Edinburgh, as well as waterfalls in upstate New York, and portraits of women in Belgium and the Netherlands.

124 issues of The Daily Campus, SMU’s student newspaper, from 1984. Included among the stories in these issues are The Daily Campus‘s reporting on the university’s response to the increase in the legal drinking age, reviews on movies and The Simarillion, and a story about senior year gifts given to the campus.