| News from the DeGolyer Library
October 2022 |
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| Open With Expanded Hours!
The Joy of Cooking: Two Centuries of Cookbooks at the DeGolyer Library |
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The Joy of Cooking: Two Centuries of Cookbooks at the DeGolyer Library highlights some of the vast collection of cookbooks preserved in our library. These cookbooks are a storehouse of recipes, as well as a sign of technological, sociological, cultural, and economic change over time. From handwritten recipe collections and household guides of the 19th century, to ‘reducing’ cookbooks of the 1920s and the rationing cookbooks of World War II, this exhibit charts changing attitudes and approaches to homecooked meals. The Joy of Cooking exhibit will also examine food communities in America, including Jewish cuisine, African American foodways, and church and community cookbooks. If we are what we eat, cookbooks can tell us much about our character in the past.
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October 6 – December 22
Hillcrest Exhibit Hall, Fondren Library West
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., M- F
10:00-6:00, Saturday and Sunday
(closed during home games and holidays)
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The Texas Historical Records Advisory Board awarded TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online) with this year’s Advocacy for Archives award. This award recognizes outstanding achievements and lasting impacts on the archival community and the historical record in Texas. TARO advocates for archives by coordinating with Texas repositories to create standardized, searchable online finding aids and offering a centralized portal for identifying and locating participating collections. TARO staff also train Texas archives personnel on how to use the software and employ the standards required to streamline access on the TARO platform, txarchives.org. THRAB members believe TARO has helped revolutionize access to the historical record in Texas and looks forward to the growth and continued success of the project.
Thanks to Ada Negraru, TARO’s Website and Technology Subcommittee chair, James Williamson, TARO’s Education and Outreach chair, Samantha Dodd, TARO’s Steering Committee chair, Cynthia Franco, TARO’s Authorized Terms subcommittee member, and all SMU library staff who work with and on TARO files.
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October brings cooler temperatures, the State Fair of Texas, and the perfect time to dust off your favorite chili recipe. In librarian Cynthia Franco’s latest blog post, she looks at some of the varied recipes that can be found in DeGolyer collections.
Click here to read Chili Cookoff.
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Photographer and Rice University professor Geoff Winningham visited the Texana Room this month to discuss his latest work, A Trail of Marvels: Mexico and the Day of the Dead. Winningham discussed his travels through Mexico, the creative inspiration the Day of the Dead provided him, ruminations on religion and mortality, and the relationships he built over repeated visits, notably the Gonzalez family, who became cherished friends of Winningham. Thanks to all who attended the talk.
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Rain or shine, the State Fair of Texas has been a Dallas staple every October since 1886. Several of DeGolyer’s collections document the history and attractions of this cherished Dallas tradition. This month, Ada Negraru’s Let’s go to the Fair! blog post highlights State Fair related materials that are part of the Belo Corp. records: photographs in The Dallas Morning News, WFAA Radio, and WFAA-TV series, as well as a cartoon by John F. Knott, pictured here.
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and also a time when we highlight the Susan G. Komen foundation records, part of the Archives of Women of the Southwest. Check out Samantha Dodd’s latest blog post on her pop-up exhibit, Ribbons, Races and Research: Forty Years of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which chronicles the world famous fundraising event.
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New Finding Aids and Collections
Tom Kayser collection on the Texas League
The Texas League is a Class AA baseball league. Tom Kayser, former league president, created this research collection about the league’s history. Materials include baseball cards, biography and history files, box scores, media guides, newsletters, photographs, posters, programs, rosters, statistics, scrapbooks, and audiovisual materials.
Recently Accessioned
A2022.0049c – Vermont Valley Rail Road annual reports
A2022.0050c – Blaine and Logan canvass book, campaign of 1884
A2022.0051c – Official records of the Newport Women’s Progressive Farmers’ Association
A2022.0052c – Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year : autograph typescript by Fred Lambert
A2022.0053c – David Dary papers
A2022.0054c – Grand-stand base ball
A2022.0055c – Collection on Ben K. Green
Mu2022.0002 – Indian & cowboy pushouts, over 100 pieces |
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Collection Highlight
Didn’t have a chance to pick up candy for trick-or-treaters? Homemade candy is frowned upon, but you can always whip up a batch of cream cocoanut candy for yourself, courtesy of 1917’s Liberty Cook Book, currently on display in our latest exhibit, The Joy of Cooking:
CREAM COCOANUT CANDY
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cream
1 cup grated cocoanut
1 tablespoon glucose.
After the candy has cooked until it forms a soft
ball in water, add the cocoanut and ½ teaspoon
vanilla; beat until it creams. Drop in little cakes
on oiled paper. |
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New Accession
Astros or Phillies? Take a spin with Grand-Stand Baseball, a gameboard created circa 1895 to advertise Pluto Water, a therapeutic drink containing sodium and magnesium sulfate that purportedly helped with constipation and stomach pain. Instructions on the back say that players should split into two teams, and play a nine inning game. No umpires or trash cans required. Purchased in honor of baseball collector and donor, C. Paul Rogers III.
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Recently Digitized
This month, the Norwick Center for Digital Solutions added 82 additional cookbooks to our newly created DeGolyer Library Cookbook Collection. The newly added books date from 1787 to 1956. The oldest title is The London Art of Cookery, and Housekeeper’s Complete Assistant, written by John Farley, and published in 1787. Cookery was written for servants, cooks, and housekeepers (in fact it was “made plain and easy” for their understanding.) Included are recipes for meat, sauces, vegetable dishes, desserts like puddings and tarts, wines and malt liquor, as well as directions for care of the sick, a guide to seasonal food, and warnings about culinary poisons, like mushrooms, laurel, and the dangers of copper and lead cookware.
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