Fondren Library is undergoing a major renovation ahead of the opening of the Rees-Jones Library of the American West. This renovation involves relocating one-third of the library’s collection, giving staff a chance to review books that haven’t been handled in a long time. Janet Allmon in the cataloging department had one such experience.
The book in question is William Stanford and Company’s The Oxford Atlas of the British Colonies: Part 1, British Africa, published in 1905. What makes this copy interesting is a letter is pasted inside, written by William Stanford on Oxford Geographical Institute letterhead, dated July 28, 1905. The letter was addressed to Prof. William Morris Davis, c/o The Captain, H.M.S. Saxon, Southampton, and connects the book to the founding of the Geology Department at SMU.
It reads:
Dear Sir,
You may remember my attending the course of lectures on “Physical Geography” which you delivered at Cambridge a few years ago; and afterwards our meeting in Devonshire, when we walked through the Landslip together.
Hearing that you were sailing for South Africa on this Ship, I am venturing to send you for your acceptance some Specimens of my publications, in the hopes that at any rate you may find some of them interesting, and possibly the Atlas of British Africa and the Radial Scale really useful.
Wishing you a prosperous and successful voyage.
I am, Dear Sir, Your obedient Servant,
William Stanford
William Morris Davis was Ellis Shuler’s Ph.D. advisor at Harvard. Shuler founded the Geology Department at SMU and was one of the university’s original faculty members. Davis was one of the preeminent geologists of the time and gave Shuler a major part of his personal library. As Claude Albritton described it:
“The story goes, and I’m sure it’s true, that when [Ellis W.] Shuler, an outstanding physiographer, decided he would come to SMU from Harvard after completing his Ph.D., [Harvard Prof. William Morris] Davis said, ‘What are you going to do for books?’ And Shuler shook his head and said, ‘Well, I guess we’ll just have to do the best we can and see if we can acquire library funds.’ Whereupon Davis said to ‘show up at my house with a wheelbarrow next Sunday, and I’ll give you some books.’ So Shuler did, and put in one of the hardest days of labor that he had in his life, because Davis gave him 1,400 volumes and 10,000 offprints. And that was the nucleus of the geological library here at SMU. Dr. Shuler was himself a collector of books, and he added his own to the Davis collection and presented both of them as gifts to the University.”
Questions about SMU history? Email degolyer@smu.edu