Striking it rich: How Texas’s oil boom shaped DeGolyer Library Texas’s first successful oil well was drilled by the Melrose Petroleum Oil Company in Nacogdoches County in 1866, but the monumental 1901 discovery of Spindletop in Jefferson County kickstarted the Texas oil industry. The success of Spindletop led to boomtowns all over Texas where wildcatters,…Continue Reading Wildcatters and Landmen in Texas
Lasting impressions: On the art in the Rees-Jones Collection As construction progresses for the 2027 opening of the Rees-Jones Library of the American West, so too does the processing of incoming manuscripts, archival materials and other special collection items, facilitated by Rees-Jones archivist Christina Wood. Shaped and generously given by Jan and Trevor D. Rees-Jones…Continue Reading Picturing the American West through the Rees-Jones Collection
Bridwell Library makes headlines In the wake of the announcement of a $2.5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, which itself follows a major planning grant from the same foundation, Bridwell Library continues to make news for the dedication and expertise of its team. Elisa McCune, special collections and integrative projects librarian, has made news…Continue Reading A divine encounter with a mysterious text
How’s your German? And are you able to read 19th-century handwriting? If you answered yes, we’ve got a journal for you. In 1886, T. Liebscher delivered a lecture to a branch of the Craftsmen’s Association, recounting his life working in the gold mines of Colorado during the 1860s. An experienced miner and native of Germany,…Continue Reading A Miner’s Manuscript
This news appears in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of The Bridwell Quarterly. The Spring 2025 edition of The Bridwell Quill, the library director’s thought piece, is available now. Transformative developments underway at Bridwell Library Exciting changes are in the future for Bridwell Library. With the announcement of a $2.5 million Religion and Culture grant from…Continue Reading Building on momentum at Bridwell Library
Considering the centuries ahead A key component of the new Rees-Jones Library of the American West will be a conservation lab, where historical materials will be repaired and protected. To learn more about the painstaking process of safeguarding such treasures, members of the Friends of SMU Libraries Board met with conservator Jesse Hunt for a…Continue Reading A lab in the library: Using science and art to save rare materials
When asked about Rees-Jones Collection items that have recently caught her eye, archivist Christina Wood zeroed in on these fascinating records of the human experience in the early history of our state and our nation. Searching for gold Though W.B. Dilborn’s journey across the Plains to California was not a remarkably easy one, it was…Continue Reading Centuries-old materials impart enduring insights
Celebrating the written word SMU’s celebration of the written word organized by students and SMU Program Council began in 1975. Former SMU English professor Jack Myers recalls the early years in his essay, “Personal recollections of the SMU Literary Festival: 1975-1995,” which was published in From High on the Hilltop: Marshall Terry’s History of SMU….Continue Reading SMU Literary Festival celebrates 50 years
Congratulations to Christina Wood and Meg Wang! The archivist and cataloger for the Rees-Jones Library of the American West have been named. The individual who will fulfill the archivist role for the new library on the Hilltop is DeGolyer’s own Christina Wood, and Meg Wang will serve as the cataloger of the Rees-Jones Collection. Christina…Continue Reading Welcoming Our Newest Archivist and Cataloger
In our continuing series on outstanding artists during Black History Month, we are featuring the incomparable Leontyne Price. More than a world-renowned opera singer, Price, who turned 98 on February 10 this year, is to many the pinnacle of soprano singing. She was the first African-American soprano to perform to great acclaim on the international…Continue Reading The Excellence of Leontyne Price