News from the DeGolyer Library February 2023

News from the DeGolyer Library

February 2023

Opening in March

Lives of the Poets: Literary Biography from Geoffrey Chaucer to Amy Clampitt

The DeGolyer Library’s new exhibit covers several centuries of English and American poetry, with an emphasis on literary biography based upon the poets. Over 100 volumes are on display, featuring both the well-known (Shakespeare, Wordsworth) and the more obscure (Janet Little, Ann Yearsley). DeGolyer Library has a wide-ranging literary collection and we hope the current exhibit will encourage English majors and graduate students to pursue research projects with our materials. We also designed the exhibit to coincide with the release of Willard Spiegelman’s new book, Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt.

Spiegelman, Professor of English emeritus at SMU, will return to Dallas and the Library on March 23 to give a talk on his subject. Clampitt herself is well represented in the show, and much of her work embodies the retrospective approach we’ve followed. For example, her Predecessors, Et cetera: Essays (1991) is paired with Thomas Fuller’s History of the Worthies of England (1662), the first book to include a biographical notice of Shakespeare. For lovers of poetry, and lovers of biography, “Lives of the Poets” offers many worthy examples.

New Collections

Recently Accessioned

A2023.0001X – William Hoblitzell Barton World War I scrapbook, 1917-1939

A2023.0002c – Sam Houston’s last will and testament: photocopy

A2023.0003c – James L. Reid letters, 1887-1809

A2023.0004c – El Serapare Ebonette Social Club minutes, 1953-1955

A2023.0005c – Collection of Texas yellow fever oaths, 1897

A2023.0006c – Collection of Sooner State League statistics, 1947

A2023.0007c – Theodore Mosher letter to O.P. Bissell: autograph manuscript

A2023.0008c – Martha A. Moore letter to Matilda Frame, 1870

A2023.0009c – Michael Cooney correspondence, Cooney, New Mexico, 1863

A2023.0010c – Minutes of the Silver Springs Milling Co., 1889-1890

A2023.0011c – A chapter from the chronicles of Boonsboro, 1874

A2023.0012c – T.J. Morgan letter to Malcolm MacVicar, 1892

A2023.0013c – Three pictures by Clarence R. Wharton, 1947

A2023.0014c – Collection of Charles L. Von Berg materials, c. 1910 – 1918

New Finding Aids

Caroline Rose Hunt papers

Caroline Rose Hunt was an American heiress and hotelier, businesswoman, writer, noted philanthropist, and at one point, the wealthiest woman in the world. She founded Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, built the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, and is credited with developing the Uptown neighborhood in Dallas. Her papers include letters, manuscripts, photographs, scrapbooks, clippings, speeches, diaries, awards, and business-related papers from the Rosewood Corporation.

Kay Walker Cole papers

Kay Walker Cole was a women’s activist who was heavily involved in feminist issues and the women’s rights movement, with an emphasis on women’s finances. Cole participated in a number of organizations including: The Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union, Women’s Issue Network, Our Friend’s Place, NARAL, TARAL, NOW, and Dallas Women’s Foundation. Her papers comprise a collection of clippings, magazines, photographs, correspondence, and promotional material, materials detailing the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston as well as material on issues of abortion and the ERA.

Collection Highlight

Romance remains the best selling genre in fiction, with a 2018 study reporting that in that year 25% of all books sold, and one out of every two-mass market paperbacks sold were romance novels. Trends in the genre change frequently, but in the 1980s and 1990s, western romances, featuring rancher and cowboy archetypes, dominated the market. To explore the DeGolyer Library’s collection of these romance paperbacks, click here.

New Accession

Yellow Fever swept through Texas in multiple waves during the 19th century. Spread by mosquitos, it earned its name from the jaundice caused by liver failure patients experienced. Yellow Fever hit the state in waves in 1839, 1844, and brutal waves in 1867 and 1878. In 1897, Yellow Fever had overtaken New Orleans, and cases were being reported in Galveston and Houston. In an attempt to stop the spread, quarantines were put in places in these cities, and travelers were asked to sign oaths which read “I solemnly swear that I have not been in an infected district, or any community with Yellow Fever for the past twenty days”. Our new collection features eleven of these oaths, signed by residents of Houston and surrounding cities.

Recently Digitized

Last month, we shared the new Ronald L. Davis Oral History Collection in the SMU Libraries Digital Collections. This month, 103 oral history transcript excerpts recorded in the 1970s were uploaded to the collection. The collection includes actors, directors, and producers, but Prof. Davis was interested in all sides of the entertainment field. Which is why he also collected interviews with exotic dancers, burlesque performers, and night club professionals. Nine of these interviews now are available online, including an interview with Terre Tale, a dancer at a topless club who gained notoriety for publicity stunts including disrupting a nationally televised football game.