SMU Libraries Digital Collections Update: December 2023

In December 2023, SMU Libraries uploaded and/or updated 218 items in SMU Libraries Digital Collections. Highlights include:

26 photographs relating to the the construction of SMU’s Fondren Library in 1938-1939 were added to the Southern Methodist University Campus Memories collection. These include 24 photographs documenting the process, taken twice monthly from December 1938-November 1939, as well as two photographs of the interior of the finished building.

12 documents and imprints, 1854-1928, comprising 1,589 pages have been uploaded to the Texas: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints digital collection. The items include nine directories, a city charter for Texarkana, three annual directories from the League of Womens Voters of Dallas (1926-1928), the constitution of the Medical Association of Texas, and a catalog from the Texas Pecan Nursery in Tyler. This project was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and Texas State Library and Archives Commission (Grant Number LS-253655-OLS-23).

21 WFAA videos from October 1971 have been updated and enhanced with annotations that were researched and written by staff at the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection. The annotations provide detailed descriptions of each shot based on time-code, making the newsfilms easy to search and retrieve, as well as providing information on the people, places, and events that are depicted.

22 railroad maps, ca. 1830-1883, ranging from early maps showing proposed routes in the United States, to maps of transcontinental and even global travel as it became possible in the later years of the 19^th Century. Railroad companies include the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Northern Pacific railroad companies; the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Company; the New Orleans & Opelousas Railroad Company; the Sacramento Valley Railroad; the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company; the West Wisconsin Railway; the Colorado Central Railroad; the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Minnesota Railway; and the Central Iowa Railway. Many other railroads connecting to transnational and transcontinental railroads may be found on these high-resolution maps.

11 oral history transcript excerpts, 1981-1982, from the Ronald L. Davis Oral History Collection. The interviewees are from all branches of the performing arts, but the emphasis is on motion pictures and popular music. Many interviewees give detailed accounts of personal experience and reflections from their professional career. Highlights include excerpts from interviews with Margaret Tallichet Wyler, Irene Dunne, Pamela Mason, Edward Buzzell, and Peggy Moran.

4 interviews were added to the Southern Methodist University Oral History Interviews and Digital Humanities Student Projects digital collection. These interviews, with Willis Chun, Julie Tran, and two with Jo Lew (Spring 2023 and Summer 2023) are part of the Voices of SMU project.

45 advent programs, 1977-2022, from Perkins School of Theology Documents and Images at Bridwell Library. These programs were created by the Perkins School of Theology to accompany the yearly Christmas Worship Program and feature many well-known Perkins staff, faculty, and alumni, including Albert Outler, Lloyd Pfautsch, Schubert Ogden, and others.

16 incunabula, 1476-1499, from Fifteenth Century Printed Books at Bridwell Library. These volumes were printed primarily in Germany and Italy and include works by Livy, Paulus Orosuis, William Perrault, and others.

60 negatives, 1950-1953, by Richard Steinheimer, from the Richard Steinheimer Photograph Collection. Subjects include construction after the 1952 Kern County earthquake, a conductor for the AT&SF line, Richard Steinheimer sitting in a cab seat, and more.

1 drawing, 1907, from the Collection of Baldwin Locomotive Works Records. This erecting card drawing was made for the Seaboard Air Line Company Railway.