SMU History: Events & Organizations

Southern Methodist University celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the 1965-1966 school year, and its seventy-fifth anniversary in the Spring and Fall semesters of 1986. Celebratory programs and events were conducted campus-wide. The collection contains publicity materials, financial records, and correspondence of both anniversaries. In addition, the collection contains records from SMU’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebration held in 1940.

The Community Course was a non-profit lecture-concert-drama series co-sponsored by Southern Methodist University and Temple Emanu-El, the largest Reformed Jewish temple in Dallas. The organization presented cultural events on the SMU campus, usually in McFarlin Auditorium from 1939 to 1981. The collection includes administrative records, ephemera, and extensive correspondence related to the SMU Community Course and its director, Ronald C. Knickerbocker.

This collection contains material on SMU’s convocation ceremonies from 1916 through 2008. Most of the material relates to university commencement exercises, and the other activities held to recognize graduates. Convocation is defined as any official university gathering of faculty and students. Commencement is the actual ceremony of granting diplomas to those who have completed courses of study, and the term can also be used to refer to the day or weekend on which this happens. Most of the documents in this collection are commencement programs. Also included are some internal memoranda related to the planning and organization of commencement. The collection also holds recordings of commencement exercises on audiocassette, reel-to-reel, and VHS tapes, as well as on DVD.

Contains the papers of Dr. John Beaty, English professor at Southern Methodist University from 1919 to 1957. The papers pertain to controversy surrounding his 1954 publication of a pamphlet entitled "How to Capture a University," which asserted that un-Christian and even communist influences were infiltrating SMU. This collection includes copies of that pamphlet, in addition to depositions and exhibits taken by a school committee, newspaper clippings, and letters both condemning and supporting his charges.

This collection contains transcripts, news releases, and news clippings from the 1958 controversy over editor of the Daily Worker and communist John Gates’ invitation to speak at a student-sponsored event at Southern Methodist University. The Gates invitation and forum received much coverage in the local and state press, examples of which are in this collection. Transcripts from the event—opening comments and the question and answer period—are also included.

Friends of the SMU Libraries/Colophon is an organization formed in 1970 to "provide opportunities through which associates may become acquainted with each other and with the resources of the university library system; to share enthusiasm for learning, books, prints, and related materials, and to establish Southern Methodist University’s libraries as centers of cultural activities enriching the whole community." Since 1970, Colophon has provided the SMU libraries with various gifts and financial donations and its membership has enjoyed many social activities associated with being a member. This collection includes business records, records that document the building of Colophon collections, records of the group’s activities, and other records.

Town and Gown is an organization founded in 1927 by both Southern Methodist University representatives (gown) and prominent Dallas residents (town). The original goals of the organization were to promote fellowship, intellectual stimulation, and dialogue between Southern Methodist University and the greater Dallas community. Early membership included notable Dallasites such as Robert E. Lee Saner, Charles Selecman, and John Avery Lomax. The group’s papers include correspondence, budgetary information, membership rolls, event invitations, membership nominations, and directories.