CUL Digital Collections Update: August 2016

In August 2016, SMU’s Central University Libraries uploaded 305 items into CUL Digital Collections.

Highlights include:

137 items from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection as part of the TexTreasures FY2016 grant program, sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

One group includes a set of 30 matchbook covers advertising a variety of Dallas businesses, including the Hotel Adolphus, the Cotton Bowl Roller Rink, the Melrose Hotel, the Texas Club of Dallas, the Greenville Avenue Country Club, the Dallas Club, the Republic National Bank of Dallas, and Dick Price Motor Company, Desoto-Plymouth.
Also uploaded into the Cook Collection was a 98-page album of photographs and clippings about the Flyin’ Frolic air show that took place November 12-13, 1918, at Love Field, the day after the Armistice.

6 real photographic postcards from World War 1, including a series of a French nun praying for the Allied troops.

11 photographs of people and places in Morelos state, Mexico, from
American Border Troops and the Mexican Revolution, attributed to Cruz Sanchez, ca. 1910-1931, including group portraits and street scenes.

46 photographs and two postcards from Railroads of Mexico, including images of Fairlie locomotives, trains, railroad tracks, and railroad stations in Mexico, ca. 1860s-1910s. Highlights include a photograph of a “Grafton’s Tours of Mexico and California” train and a number of railroad bridge photographs by Percy Cox.

5 demo recordings from the Texas Instruments Records collection that were used in the creation of the Speak & Spell, developed by Texas Instruments in the 1970s as part of the speech synthesis program. Inventors Gene Frantz, Richard Wiggins, Paul Breedlove, and Larry Brantingham started with a read-only memory chip and designed an electronic learning toy that taught spelling to children. Introduced as a consumer product in 1978, Speak & Spell started TI’s line of educational devices. These recordings of voice inflections and sound effects demonstrate the capabilities of speech synthesis technology.

Shown left: [Andrew the Android.Test of Friendly Voices], ca. 1977-1978, by Texas Instruments, DeGolyer Library, SMU.

18 stereographs of Syria, ca. 1870s-1910, from the Banks McLauren, Jr. Stereograph Collection. The stereoviews include images of temples, citadels, the reception room of a pasha, ancient quarries, a caravan camp, the inner court of a Damascus home, a panorama and ruins of Baalbek, “The Street Called Straight,” and the Damascus-Harem of Asaied Pasha.

15 documents from the Hervey A. Priddy Collection of American Presidential and Political Memorabilia. The majority of items are presidential inaugural programs, 1889-2005. The programs include a wide range of materials, including hand-written notes, advertisements, and historic articles. One article details the advances of women during FDR’s first term in office; another explains the reasons for the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which changed the inaugural date from March 4th to January 20th.

7 pieces of enameled artwork by DeForrest Judd, ca. 1950s. The pieces comprise a series of landscape and still life paintings done by DeForrest Judd in enamel paint on copper plates. Images include two fish on a plate with a fishing net in the background, mountain landscapes, and cotton and other plants.

37 drawings of the Lake Superior and Ispheming Railroad from the Jan Kirsten Papers and Collection of Locomotive Drawings.

10 builders’ cards from the Baldwin Locomotive Works Builders’ Cards.