CUL Digital Collections Update: May 2018

In May 2018, SMU’s Central University Libraries uploaded 554 items into CUL Digital Collections.

Highlights include:

27 documents, ca. 1885-1936, 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.

Many chambers of commerce and trade organizations published the promotional literature featured in this upload into the collection. Cities and towns represented include Albany, Austin, Belton, Brownwood, Colorado City, Dalhart, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Jacksboro, Kemp, Kenedy, Marlin, Perryton, Plainview, Ranger, San Antonio, Santa Anna, Sweetwater, and Waco. Descriptions of commercial enterprises, municipal works, nearby natural resources, and leisure activities fill these works. Local advertisements are featured prominently. Pamphlets promoting Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Waco, and other larger cities contain reproductions of photographs of large buildings and other local points of interest. Promotional literature from smaller cities focuses on agriculture, land for sale, and the development of common buildings such as schools, post offices, churches, and banks.

4 erecting card drawings, 1887-1920, from the Collection of Baldwin Locomotive Works Records, including a drawing for the Mexican National Railway, the Nevada California & Oregon Railroad, and two companies.

101 color slides were added to the Isabel T. Kelly Ethnographic Archive.  These images, taken by Kelly and her friend and colleague, Bertha B. Harris, depict members of the Totonac people of Tajin, Veracruz, in traditional costume celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi. Many images feature the “voladores,” acrobats who “fly” high in the air over the crowd as they perform during these celebrations.

251 issues of The Daily Campus, SMU’s student newspaper, from 1988 and 1989. These issues include stories about fraternity house fires, police protests, and debates about the official language of the United States.

9 issues, 1952-1954, of the SMU News Digest, a periodic newsletter targeted toward parents of SMU students. Newsletter articles include stories about new acreage added to the SMU campus, Umphrey Lee’s retirement as president, and plans for new buildings being commissioned, including plans for Selecman Hall.

20 images, ca. 1860s-1880s, from the Jack and Beverly Wilgus History of Photography Collection. Taken in England, Ireland, and Wales, these photographs depict landmarks, cities, parks, and several homes, including Watersmeet House, now a national trust property in Devon, England. Also of note are images of quays, wharfs, and ports, including an image of a bustling Eden Quay in Dublin, Ireland.

7 items have been added to the The Record, Dallas Archaeological Society digital collection. Among the items are several early volumes of The Record from the 1940s, featuring hand-drawn illustrations of artifacts and burial sites found in Dallas and North Texas, and some more modern issues from the last 15 years, with photographs of discoveries and information in greater detail.

34 obsolete or canceled notes, treasury warrants, and county, municipal, and private scrip circa 1862-1872 to the Rowe-Barr Collection of Texas Currency. The notes originate from the counties of Colorado, Gregg, Trinity, Tyler, Waller, Walker, Van Zandt, Upshur, and Uvalde, representing local currency from the cities of Canton, Gilmer, Gladewater, Huntsville, Uvalde, and Woodville. Among these cities are several small or vanished towns that were significant trading and industrial centers during the Civil War and late 1800s: Alleyton, the point of departure for wagons hauling cotton to Mexico; Jordan’s Saline, the predecessor of Grand Saline that was, likewise, founded on the salt trade, and Sumpter, a ghost town in Trinity County. The notes include the signatures of county clerks, chief justices, treasurers, and business owners. An especially unique note originates from a sutler’s store that operated near Camp Hebert during the Civil War.