News from the DeGolyer Library
July 2022
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“Send Me a Postcard! Women on the Road across 19th-20th Century America” highlights women’s voices and their stories across America’s roadways. Though travel has generally been associated with men, and the male prerogative of exploration, investment, and research, women have always been on the move. Women traveled for a variety of reasons including education and knowledge, a sense of adventure, and a newfound freedom to move outside of their traditional sphere. This exhibition examines the experiences of women travelers. From a group of college students on a summer road trip, to an anthropologist documenting the American Southwest, from trips to National Parks, to diners and dives, these manuscripts and narratives are full of memories and adventures and represent a variety of perspectives.
Included in the exhibit are trailblazers such as Blanche Stuart Scott, the first person to inaugurate a transcontinental motor trip for the purpose of interesting women in the value of motor car driving; Alice Huyler Ramsey, who in 1909 was the first woman to drive an automobile across the United States from coast to coast; and Harriet White Fisher Andrew, the first woman to circle the globe in a Locomobile. Also highlighted are everyday ladies on family vacations and girls' trips. Elizabeth Dalrymple, who motored with her friends from Pennsylvania to Colorado in 1940, said of travel: “never worry about getting lost out here in the great open spaces, as every road eventually leads to somewhere, no matter how lonely or how long.” Documents such as these provide invaluable insight into women’s experiences traveling and what life was like for women on the road. While no two experiences are alike, these narratives weave together women’s shared experiences with life on the road, demonstrating in fact that “women can handle an automobile just as well as men.”
“Send Me a Postcard” features materials from the DeGolyer Library’s holdings of rare books, pamphlets, ephemera, and manuscripts, including the Archives of Women of the Southwest.
April 28 - August 31
Hillcrest Exhibit Hall, Fondren Library West
8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., M- F
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The DeGolyer Library is thrilled to welcome a new staff member. Project archivist Krishna Shenoy will be working on processing the Ebby Halliday papers thanks to a generous gift of the Ebby Halliday foundation, to preserve and make accessible the work of the first lady of real estate. Krishna Shenoy is a librarian and archivist experienced in museums, libraries, archives and private collections. She also serves as Editor of The Southwestern Archivist, the quarterly publication of the Society of Southwest Archivists, and serves as Secretary on the Library Board for the City of Grapevine, TX. She graduated from the University of North Texas in 2013 with a Master of Library Science degree.
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The Women’s Collections Section (WCS) of the Society of American Archivists published a guest post written by Samantha Dodd, curator of the Archives of Women of the Southwest. As part of a series on women activists, Dodd highlights the life and legacy of Virginia Whitehill, a women’s reproductive rights advocate during the peak of Roe v. Wade in Dallas. Click here to read the post.
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In her latest blog post, Librarian Cynthia Franco celebrated the 120th anniversary of cowboy classic The Virginian: a horseman on the plains, published by Owen Wister in 1902. Set in Wyoming in the 1880s, The Virginian narrates the story of a cowboy working a cattle ranch in the 1880s, and is considered by many to be the first western novel. Her blog post, which you can read by clicking here, includes details about the book, as well as information about the DeGolyer Library's copy, which includes a letter from Wister.
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New Collections
Recently Accessioned
A2022.0024c - Notes on the early history of Wesley College : typescript copy compiled and written by W. Harrison Baker
A2022.0025c - The story of the American bison and what happened to it including Tom Miller's narrative of Fort Griffin buffalo hunters working in the area of the double mountain fork of the Brazos River as related to Ben Carlton Mead in 1931 : photocopy
A2022.0026c - Favorite recipes : mimeograph copy [Mount Pleasant, Texas], 1960
A2022.0027c - Collection of George Wharton James lecture advertisements [California], 1913
A2022.0029c - The red devil battery sign : a work for "The Presentational Theatre" : mimeograph copy of typescript, 1976
A2022.0030c - Collection of United States presidential trade cards
A2022.0031c - Motion picture book no.1 : scrapbook by Frankie Jordan
A2022.0032 - Collection of Veteran Feminists of America Dallas and women's issues materials
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Collection Highlight
Do you need a recipe for calves foot jelly? Then we have the cookbook for you. This manuscript recipe book was created and passed down by the Carr family of Philadelphia. The collection contains recipes for the aforementioned calves foot jelly, as well as French fritters, Boston Pound Cake, mushroom catsup, whortleberry pudding, and more. The book is annotated by users, with one home cook noting the recipe collection presented "cookery as it should be." Click here to learn more about the recipe book.
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Recent Accessions
Earlier this month we unboxed a scrapbook from a female chemistry student at the University of Texas, capturing her life and collegiate experiences via 151 photos, dating from 1925-1931. The creator is pictured here, with the caption "Organic lab. El Paso Junior College. Venna took this picture." The page also features a photograph of "W.W. Lake--he taught me all the chemistry I knew before coming to Texas U."
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DeGolyer Library | Southern Methodist University | 214-768-3637 | [email protected] | https://www.smu.edu/Libraries/DeGolyer
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