CUL NEWSLETTER

The DeGolyer Library, 

the Friends of the SMU Libraries 

and the Clements Center for Southwest Studies

co-sponsor:

The Louisiana Purchase, 1803-2003

A Bicentennial Exhibition & Lecture Series

DeGolyer Library, S.M.U.

October 2003-February 2004

Oct. 16, The Tornado and the Treasure: Thomas Jefferson

and the Louisiana Purchase, James Ronda, University of Tulsa

Nov. 20, “In Territories So Extensive and Fertile”: Spanish and

English-Speaking Peoples in Louisiana Before the Purchase,

Light Cummins, Austin College

Jan. 29, How the French Quarter Became Spanish Before

Becoming American in 1803, James Early, S.M.U.

Feb. 17, Multicultural New Orleans, Jeremy Adams, S.M.U.

The exhibition, curated by Ben Huseman, features books, maps,

and prints from DeGolyer’s permanent collections,

telling the story of the clash of empires and cultures in the Trans-Mississippi region.

All lectures are at DeGolyer Library (McFarlin & Hilltop.)

Free and open to the public.

 Receptions begin at 6:00 pm., lectures at 7 pm.

 For additional information, call 214-768-3231.

• October 14, 3pm at ISEM
•  November 17, 10:30am in the Texana
•  December 15, 10:30am in the Dean's Suite

Please join LEAD for this once in a lifetime event!  We will gather at 9:50 am in the main foyer of the Meadows Museum.  The tour will begin at 10:00am.

Come one, come all to the World War II Propaganda Film Festival on Friday evening, November 7 and all day Saturday, November 8. Sponsored by the Friends of the SMU Libraries and NCMIT. For details, see below.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

This is a new section in which a new CUL staff member will be featured each month.  The purpose is to get to know each other a little better.  Please feel free to send me the profiles of your newest staff members (tvangoet@mail.smu.edu) so that we can introduce them to the rest of CUL.

Andy has a BBA from UNT. He spent many years in the insurance and investment profession prior to returning to the academic field in 2001. Andy also worked in Access Services at the UTA library prior to his present position  as a Library Specialist IV Periodicals Assistant at SMU. Presently Andy is working towards a Master's degree in History (Texas & southern US) at UTA. He began his thesis work this semester. Andy's future plans are to enroll in UNT's MLS program.

Andy enjoys vegetable gardening in his spare time and is also interested in genealogy having traced his family back seven generations. He loves to barbeque and enjoys volunteering for Habitat from time to time. Andy is an avid reader of history and enjoys a good poem from Keats or Frost. He is also an avid opera lover. Andy and his wife enjoy camping trips to east Texas. He also works with the youth at church and the Boy Scouts.

Andy's wife's name is Dana. She is currently serving a local church while pursuing ordination as a clergy woman in the United Methodist Church. They are in the process of adopting a baby from China and will be traveling to that country sometime in the next 12 months to get her. They also have a dog and a cat.

When asked to tell us one or two things about himself that not many people know, he replied: " I am distantly related to Patrick Swazye and Robert E. Lee. I love my Ford pick up truck."

International Studies: A World Learning Experience, October28, 2003-January 10, 2004.

Homecoming: It's in the Cards, October 27th, 2003 - November 14, 2003.

JFK: Forty Years--A Time to Remember, November 15, 2003- December 5, 2003.

Dawn Youngblood of the Edwin J. Foscue Map Library generally does not like it when people write on maps, but sometimes a personal note on a historic map gives us a feeling for those who have gone before; their personality and tribulations -- and sometimes, a feeling of just how important maps were to them. A wonderful example of this came up at the last meeting of the Texas Map Society last month. A historian reported he had discovered the following note hand written on the back of an 1832 map of Texas purchased in Indiana:

My name is Tom Johnson
this is my knife (picture of bowie knife)
Take my map
and I'll take your life!

Certainly Mr. Johnson must have fit in very well with Texans of his day.

The next meeting of the Texas Map Society is in Abilene the first week-end of April. E-mail Dawn if you would like further details.

And don't forget to drop in to see our map exhibit at the Hawn Gallery in Hamon Arts:

Hawn Gallery, Southern Methodist University

Exhibit open October 23 through December 30, 2003Many thanks to Ellen Buie Niewyk for painstakingly framing most of the pieces in the exhibit; to Sam Ratcliffe for pounding nails in the wall with 1/8-inch precision and fine-tuning our installation plan; to Ganesh Devappa for help with meausring this all out; to Hannah Watson for formatting and cutting out the labels; and to Nayera Sadek for watching over the Map Library while all of this was going on. It was truly a team effort, and the Hawn Gallery, under the care of Tim Silcox and Sam Ratcliffe, is truly a state of the art facility. We are grateful to have its use to promote the importance of maps both historically and geologically. The change in ideas and understanding that these maps represent truly does impact us all.

According to the 2003 Chase's Calendar of Events November is:

Aviation History Month

I am So Thankful Month

National Adoption Month

1st-7th National Fig Week

Peanut Butter Lovers' Month

Vegan Month

3rd Cliché Day

8th-14th Pursuit of Happiness Week

13th World Kindness Day

14th Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day

17th-23rd Children's Book Week

19th Have a Bad Day Day

20th Name Your PC Day

24th-30th Better Conversation Week

28th Sinkie Day

30th Stay Home Because You're Well Day

• November Astrological Signs:
  • Scorpio: October 23-November 21
  • Sagittarius: November 22-December 21
• November Birthstones: 
  • Topaz
  • Citrine
• November Flower
  • Chrysanthemum
• According to the Georgian calendar, November is the eleventh month of the year. In the early Roman calendar, it was the ninth month. The Roman Senate elected to name the eleventh month for Tiberus Caesar, and since Augustus time, it has had only 30 days. Originally, there were 30 days, then 29, then 31. 
• November comes between the fall and winter months. The leaves are almost completely gone from the trees, and the rest have lost most of their color. The Anglo-Saxons referred to November as the 'wind month' and the 'blood month' - probably because this is the month they killed their animals for food. 
• Lots of activities come to a halt in November. The crops have been harvested and either put in storage, or sent to processing plants or mills. Farmers already know if their year has been successful or not. 
• Football is the main sport of the month. The weather is usually beautiful for this kind of sport. 
• Daniel Boone, American frontiersman, born November 2, 1734.
• Marie Antoinette, French queen, born November 2, 1755. 
• James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States, born near Pineville, N.C., November 2, 1795. 
• Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, born near Blooming Grove, Ohio, November 2, 1865. 
• North Dakota became the 39th state, November 2, 1889. 
• South Dakota became the 40th state, November 2, 1889. 
• Stephen Austin, colonizer of Texas, born November 3, 1793. 
• Erie Canal formally opened at New York, November 4, 1825. 
• Iranian revolutionaries took over the U.S. Embassy in Teheran and seized a group of U.S. citizens as hostages, November 4, 1979. 
• First intercollegiate football game in United States, Rutgers v. Princeton, at Rutgers, November 6, 1869. 
• Gen. William Henry Harrison defeated Indians in Battle of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811. 
• Montana became the 41st state, November 8, 1889. 
• Edward VII of England born November 9, 1841. 
• Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated German throne, November 9, 1918. 
• Martin Luther, German religious leader, born November 10, 1483. 
• Washington became the 42nd state, November 11, 1889. 
• Armistice signed ending World War I, November 11, 1918. 
• Veterans Day first celebrated in United States, November 11, 1954.  
• Prince Charles, heir to British throne, born November 14, 1948. 
• Draft of Articles of Confederation approved by Congress, November 15, 1777. 
• First meeting of League of Nations Assembly, November 15, 1920. 
• Manuel Quezon inaugurated as first president of the Philippines, November 15, 1935. 
• Oklahoma became the 46th state, November 16, 1907. 
• Congress first met in Washington, D.C., November 17, 1800. 
• Suez Canal opened, November 17, 1869. 
• United States and Panama signed treaty providing for Panama Canal, November 18, 1903. 
• James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, born November 19, 1831. 
• Abraham Lincoln delivered Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863. 
• Indira Gandhi, first woman prime minister of India, born November 19, 1917. 
• United States forces landed on Tarawa, November 20, 1943. 
• North Carolina ratified the Constitution, November 21, 1789. 
• First transpacific air-mail flight began, November 22, 1935. 
• U.S. President John F. Kennedy assassinated, November 22, 1963. 
• Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, born in Hillsboro, N.H., November 23, 1804. 
• Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States, born near Barboursville, Va., November 24, 1784. 
• Pope John XXIII born November 25, 1881. 
• First national Thanksgiving Day in United States proclaimed by President George Washington, November 26, 1789. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Twas the night before Thanksgiving and in my sleep.
Strange dreams in my mind, began to creep.

Thanksgiving leftovers beckoned --- The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation......
The thought of a snack became infatuation.....

So to the kitchen I did race, Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground!

I crashed through the ceiling. Floating into the sky....
With a mouthful l of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees.

HAPPY EATING TO ALL!
PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE!

--Author unknown.