Online Exhibits

Curated exhibits highlight the historical and cultural impact of our collections.

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After Order, After Disorder colorful figures and fauna

After Order, After Disorder

Hamon Arts Library

A selection of Dylan Glynn’s paintings, works on paper, digital prints, and animated shorts. 

Against the Best Possible Sources white on white forms with decoration

Against the Best Possible Sources

Hamon Arts Library

Guided by a preoccupation with the subjectivity of facts, Elizabeth Moran uses photography, text, sound, and other forms of recorded documentation to examine the reliability of information and how evidence is often far from evident.

Agents of Change artificial process applied to wood

Agents of Change

Hamon Arts Library

Agents of Change, works by  Arthur Koch, questions about the relationships of the words "natural" and "artificial" and led me to realize that while wood is a natural material, the process I applied to wood was a process that could be considered artificial.

The Albert Cook Outler Papers Albert Outler is centered in this photograph of an observers’ audience with Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council.

The Albert Cook Outler Papers

Bridwell Library

Through this exhibition, Bridwell Library is bringing Albert Outler’s intellectual legacy to the attention of a new generation of scholars and church leaders.

"All Goes Onward And Outward": Walt Whitman at 200 image of queen on a throne with saturated color

"All Goes Onward And Outward": Walt Whitman at 200

DeGolyer Library

Renowned collection Robert Harris marks the bicentennial of Walt Whitman's birth with this exhibit of selected treasures from his collection.

Amy Clampitt: Her Peripatetic Life and Work Black and white photo of Amy Clampitt sitting on the ground

Amy Clampitt: Her Peripatetic Life and Work

DeGolyer Library

A celebration of the life and work of poet Amy Clampitt, through her correspondence, poetry, and photographs.

Andy Hanson: Picturing Dallas, 1960-2008 black and white image of Jodie Foster

Andy Hanson: Picturing Dallas, 1960-2008

DeGolyer Library

This exhibit celebrates Andy Hanson's long career at the Dallas Times Herald, covering society, politics, the performing arts, and the major news events of the day.

Aquatic Channels: Waterways, Water Resources, Fluvial Imagination Artwork in the Hawn Gallery including photographs, a sculpture, and an image of water projected on a screen

Aquatic Channels: Waterways, Water Resources, Fluvial Imagination

Hamon Arts Library

This exhibition turns rivers into lines of connection. Moving and flowing in many directions, these lines form a complex network of images, ideas, sounds, and objects, evoking a symbolic hydrography in the exhibition space. Bodies of water become the conduits of the meanings.

Archive of Shadows: Andrew Douglas Underwood graphite on paper, black and white drawing of Moses

Archive of Shadows: Andrew Douglas Underwood

Hamon Arts Library

Dallas-based artist Andrew Douglas Underwood research-based artistic practice explores historic vignettes, examines the notion of perfection, and questions the possibility of objectivity.  

The Archives at Bridwell Library A compilation of items from the Archives exhibit including a hand fan, photographs, and papers.

The Archives at Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library

This exhibition explores the diversity of archival records held by and hosted by Bridwell Library.

Are You Close Enough? photos of students looking at material

Are You Close Enough?

Bywaters Special Collections

In 2013 The Year of the Library Committee put together a meta-exhibition examining the creation of the Post Chiaroscuro: Prints in Color after the Renaissance featuring objects from Bywaters Special Collections.

ARK: An Experimental Film A film projector and image on the screen

ARK: An Experimental Film

Hamon Arts Library

ARK is a cinematic installation featuring a film by Michael A. Morris made from archival 35mm film prints held in the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection.

The Art Collection at Bridwell Library Painting of Mary and baby Jesus on a donkey led by Joseph by Fred Nagler.

The Art Collection at Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library

Artwork on display throughout Bridwell Library including artifacts, framed drawings, prints, and paintings, sculptures, fine furnishings and decorative arts, and objects for religious use.

Art of the Caricature figure dressed in dress clothes

Art of the Caricature

Hamon Arts Library

Thomas Gibson Bowles desire was to establish Vanity Fair as a periodical defining the social and cultural life of London in Victorian England.

Best of the DeGolyer: Items Featured in 'Fossils to Film' image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Best of the DeGolyer: Items Featured in 'Fossils to Film'

DeGolyer Library

This exhibit features DeGolyer Library items included in the Meadows Museum's 2021 exhibit, Fossils to Film: The Best of SMU's Collections.

Black Lives, Black Letters: Primary Sources in African American History and Literature image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Black Lives, Black Letters: Primary Sources in African American History and Literature

DeGolyer Library

Highlights from DeGolyer Library's collections documenting aspects of the Black experience in America, from the colonial period to the present. 

Books and Prints by Albrecht Dürer black and white print of St. Jerome and a lion

Books and Prints by Albrecht Dürer

Bridwell Library

1498 Apocalypse, the Large Passion, and the Small Passion, and works from the last decade of Durer's life. His works reflect his interests in artistic theory and the Protestant Reformation.

Books in the Jewish Tradition Jewish religious book open to the Evening Service. The left page is in English and the right page is in Hebrew.

Books in the Jewish Tradition

Bridwell Library

An expression of Jewish religious traditions through printed books central to their faith, but had to overcome opposition from many quarters.

Bridwell Library Special Collections: Items Featured in "Fossils to Film" 12 inch tall alabaster figures from ancient Egypt

Bridwell Library Special Collections: Items Featured in "Fossils to Film"

Bridwell Library

An exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Meadows Museum with works from SMU Libraries, departments, and the art collection.

Bygone Summers: Images of Chautauqua A map of Lake Chautauqua.

Bygone Summers: Images of Chautauqua

Bridwell Library

This exhibition presents photographs of Chautauqua Lake, the Chautauqua Institution, and Institution leaders taken during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Camilla Cowan: Paintings and Prints textured black circle artwork

Camilla Cowan: Paintings and Prints

Hamon Arts Library

This show featured Camilla Cowan's prints and paintings, many inspired by molas and other folk art.

Catechisms Woodcut of the Baptism of Jesus and a banner with the Latin inscription “Hic est filius meus dilectus in quo mihi complacui” from Matthew 3:1.

Catechisms

Bridwell Library

Manuals of Christian doctrine, catechisms are often organized in the form of questions with accompanying answers to be learned and memorized.

Christine Sanford: Devotion to Blue different colors of blue in a landscape

Christine Sanford: Devotion to Blue

Hamon Arts Library

Sanford's interest in painting is in the experimentation of endless nuances of color combination possibilities, "color is feeling, color has emotional resonance."

Chromarray red and blue fabric against a yellow wall

Chromarray

Hamon Arts Library

Artwork featured from Constance Lowe’s series Garden City (Air to Ground), FabCom and Chromarray that examines the intersection between natural and human-constructed environments.

Clear, Deep, Dark black and white artwork in a gallery setting

Clear, Deep, Dark

Hamon Arts Library

Clear, Deep, Dark features new works by Julie Morel that examines the intersections between text and visual imagery. 

Collective Practice photo of two books

Collective Practice

Hamon Arts Library

Collective Practice: Community Building Through Zines presents works by Puro Chingón Collective, with members James Huizar, Claudia Zapata and Claudia Aparicio-Gamundi.

The Dance of Death Colorful Dance of Death procession of skeletons with religious and royal men.

The Dance of Death

Bridwell Library

This exhibition features images of the Dance of Death popularized in print by Hans Holbein the Younger and his inspirations and future influence.

David Dreyer: Southwestern Landscapes Artwork featuring mountains and a stream

David Dreyer: Southwestern Landscapes

Hamon Arts Library

Paintings and works on paper by David Dreyer, technical advisor and adjunct professor in SMU’s Division of Studio Art.

DeForrest Judd–Sketches of Texas Regions: Big Bend, Caddo Lake, Gulf Coast landscape with blue color and trees

DeForrest Judd–Sketches of Texas Regions: Big Bend, Caddo Lake, Gulf Coast

Bywaters Special Collections

Judd’s work reflects his study of nature: mountains, lakes, rocks, flowers, cactus, animals, and scenes of everyday life.

Devotional Printing in France Pocket-sized Passion reflection book with woodcut of Jesus on the cross on the left page and the text for Station XVI on the right page.

Devotional Printing in France

Bridwell Library

French personal devotionals from 17th–19th centuries that showcase themes throughout religious texts over time and across languages and borders.

Dios y Su Pueblo: 250 Years of Mexican Religious Imprints religious figure surrounded by decoration

Dios y Su Pueblo: 250 Years of Mexican Religious Imprints

Bridwell Library

Examples in inventory of the nearly 400 Mexican religious imprints owned by Bridwell Library.

Dis-Reality of the Southwest photograph on a sunny day of ruins

Dis-Reality of the Southwest

Hamon Arts Library

Six photographic collages by Jeffrey Junkin, MFA candidate in photography. 

Documents from the First Decade of Southern Methodist University Red star badge from Southern Methodist University's 1911 "Grand Jubilee Rally".

Documents from the First Decade of Southern Methodist University

Bridwell Library

Documents produced between 1911 and 1920 which offer insights into the development of the university and the School of Theology.

Drawn from Nature: Scott Winterrowd sketched trees and mountains in nature colors

Drawn from Nature: Scott Winterrowd

Hamon Arts Library

Exhibited in 2012, Dallas artist and museum educator Scott Winterrowd had sketched a wide variety of the landscapes in the American West, including California, New Mexico, Colorado, and the Big Bend region of Texas, working primarily in watercolor.

Early Methodists and Their Books John Wesley's Christian Library

Early Methodists and Their Books

Bridwell Library

Books from the first century of the Methodism (c. 1739–1839). Included are volumes owned by the Wesley brothers, ministers’ manuscripts, and inscribed texts.

Early Texas Methodism, 1815–1860 Pen sketch and autograph of Littleton Fowler.

Early Texas Methodism, 1815–1860

Bridwell Library

This exhibition presents items that document the Methodist movement during its formative years in Texas.

Eight Centuries of the Bible in Translation Open Armenian Gospels featuring bird-shaped initials.

Eight Centuries of the Bible in Translation

Bridwell Library

Bibles from the 13th to the 20th centuries that represent Bible translation into 55 different languages from five continents.

Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection richly illustrated manuscript with red and blue decoration

Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection

Bridwell Library

Bibles from the collection of Elizabeth Perkins Prothro, who donated nearly five hundred volumes in more than fifty languages to Bridwell Library in 1996.

Engaged With Books image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Engaged With Books

DeGolyer Library

A celebration of reading and the written word by showcasing photographs of people holding books and other reading material.

Engraved Throughout Open book with a prayer in French with ornamental borders and floral decorations engraved by Pierre Moreau.

Engraved Throughout

Bridwell Library

Religious works printed entirely with copperplates. Created in the 17th and 18th centuries, they were used for instruction, documentation, worship, and devotion.

Evans Pond, by Deborah Garwood photographs of nature

Evans Pond, by Deborah Garwood

Hamon Arts Library

Deborah Garwood is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York. Her work explores the interdependence of nature and culture.

Experiences Embodied and Remembered Adam Pendleton Anthology, 5th ed.

Experiences Embodied and Remembered

Bridwell Library

Features works by Ifeanyi Anene, Tauba Auerbach, Rick Myers, Adam Pendleton, Maria Veronica San Martin, Haein Song, Shirley Ann Whitaker, and Sam Winston.

An Eye for Elegance Carrie Marcus

An Eye for Elegance

DeGolyer Library

Learn about the life and legacy of Carrie Marcus Neiman, cofounder of Neiman Marcus, and other notable women who shaped the legendary fashion and retail destination.

Faith and Devotion in Mexico A printed membership manuscript. The left page has text and the right page has a print of a man kneeling with an angel nearby.

Faith and Devotion in Mexico

Bridwell Library

Catholic devotional beliefs and practices in Mexico in the 18th and 19th centuries as documented in images, novenas, sacred poetry, and historical accounts.

Fifty Women Illuminated manuscript with gold title text "The Song of Songs which is Solomon's" on the left page. The right page begins the text of Song of Songs with decorated initials. Illustrations surround the text.

Fifty Women

Bridwell Library

More than fifty books from the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the twentieth century that were written, illustrated, produced, owned, or inspired by women.

The First African American Graduates of Perkins School of Theology Photograph of Williams, Lyles, Hawkins, Elliott, and Riley, the first five African American graduates from SMU.

The First African American Graduates of Perkins School of Theology

Bridwell Library

The accomplishments of Williams, Lyles, Hawkins, Elliott, and Riley who were the first African Americans to graduate from Perkins School of Theology and SMU in 1955. 

The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration German Bible with colorful woodcuts on the top of the pages. The left image shows Moses leading the Israelites and the right image depicts manna from Heaven.

The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration

Bridwell Library

Bibles that display the historical context, artistic development, and cultural impact of the use of illustration in printed editions of the scriptures. 

Four Centuries of Religious Books for Children Open miniature Bible with introduction "To the Reader And as thy kindness thou extend'st to me, At any time I'll do as much for thee. Thine J. Taylor." and paraphrased "Genesis. Jehovah here of nothing, all things makes, And man before all things his God forsakes. Yet".

Four Centuries of Religious Books for Children

Bridwell Library

This exhibition explores religious books specifically written for children that were printed in Europe and America between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century.

Francis Asbury (1745–1816) Engraving of Francis Asbury.

Francis Asbury (1745–1816)

Bridwell Library

This exhibition honors the memory of Bishop Francis Asbury by presenting fifteen documents and publications that detail Asbury’s ministry.

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection man in a colorful outfit standing by a tree

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection

Jones Film Collection, Hamon Arts Library

The G. William Jones Film and Video Collection at SMU Libraries supports the communities of the Meadows School of the Arts, the University, and global moving image preservation and research. 

The First Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 1997 dark leather binding with texture

The First Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 1997

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for Daniel Berkeley Updike’s The Book of Common Prayer. 

The Second Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2000 Leather, blue binding of Ulysses

The Second Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2000

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The Third Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2003 Decorative binding with inlaid design of a rope surrounded by a border with "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" repeating.

The Third Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2003

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Fourth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2006 decorative binding in green and blue

The Fourth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2006

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for Jorge Luis Borges’ Ficciones.

The Fifth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2009 Decorative binding with water animals displayed over strata and a man in a canoe on a river. Spine has gold text "Good-bye to a River Graves".

The Fifth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2009

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for John Graves’ Goodbye to a River.

The Sixth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2012 A book bound in black with white triangles in the shape of a crown. "De imitatione Christi" is engraved on the spine.

The Sixth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2012

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for The Imitation of Christ.

The Seventh Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2015 Cover of a brown book with cats curled up sleeping on the front and back. Gold writing on the spine "Restoration of Leather Binding Bernard Middleton".

The Seventh Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2015

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for Bernard C. Middleton’s The Restoration of Leather Bindings

The Eighth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2018 Decorative binding made of various wooden panels. The center of the covers has mother of pearl pinned to it surrounded by a gold pentagon. Spine has title "Apocrypha".

The Eighth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2018

Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library's bookbinding competition for Doves Press Apocrypha, volume IV

The Ninth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2021 Monique Lallier colorful book binding

The Ninth Helen Warren DeGolyer Competition, 2021

Bridwell Library

Bookbinders were invited to submit designs to bind Bridwell Library’s copy of Five Poems by Toni Morrison with silhouettes by Kara Walker.

Heresy and Error: The Ecclesiastical Censorship of Books, 1400–1800 Open Wycliffite New Testament with annotations and marginal markings.

Heresy and Error: The Ecclesiastical Censorship of Books, 1400–1800

Bridwell Library

Books and broadsides prohibited by the Catholic Church, indexes of prohibited books or expurgations, and works written in defense of ecclesiastical censorship.

Hidden in Plain Sight excerpt from a medieval music manuscript

Hidden in Plain Sight

UNDERWOOD LAW LIBRARY

Highlights books from the Underwood Law Library’s McKnight Antiquarian Book Collection that feature medieval and other manuscript fragments recycled as bookbinding covers, spine support, or endpapers.

Hidden Treasures black and white photograph of theater

Hidden Treasures

Bywaters Special Collections

Hidden Treasures of the Mary McCord/Edyth Renshaw Collection on the Performing Arts drew from the extensive collection of significant holdings in the history of theatre, film, music and dance.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Bibles book opening to rare 15th century red and blue illustrated text

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Bibles

Bridwell Library

Highlights from the core collection of the Bible at Bridwell Library. Included are Bibles from the Prothro and Harrison collections.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Nineteenth-Century Prayer Books Verses 1-9 of Psalm 104. Above the text of the Psalms, King David is shown covering his head and then transitions to landscapes as described in the text.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Nineteenth-Century Prayer Books

Bridwell Library

19th century prayer books with handsome or innovative presentations. Included are books with decorative typography, binding, and illustration. 

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Public Worship and Private Devotion An open liturgical book, Missal, with text in Latin and musical notations. The pages have decoration including borders and initials.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Public Worship and Private Devotion

Bridwell Library

Books for public worship and private devotion that spans eight centuries. The spiritual functions were enhanced by decorations.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: The Reformation An open Spanish Bible, on the left page is a woodcut of St. Paul at his desk. The right page begins the text from Romans.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: The Reformation

Bridwell Library

Early Reformation works of Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Jean Calvin, other sixteenth-century reformers, and Counter-Reformation authors.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Theology and Church History Open book with the Latin text of Saint Augustine's Summa theologicae with colorful handwritten initials.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Theology and Church History

Bridwell Library

Works by St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Documents about Christian instruction, canon law, hagiography, and church administration.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Wesleyana and Methodistica Letter from John Wesley and Thomas Coke to John Stretton. The left half of the page shows address information and remnants of a seal.

Highlights from Bridwell Library Special Collections: Wesleyana and Methodistica

Bridwell Library

Books, manuscripts, and archives that have direct historical connections to the founders of Methodism. 

Highlights from the Ruth and Lyle Sellers Medical Collection An open medical textbook by Juan de Valverde. There is a table in Latin and a skeleton standing up and examining a skull.

Highlights from the Ruth and Lyle Sellers Medical Collection

Bridwell Library

Works from fields of early medicine and science, natural history, religious ceremony and private devotion, and nineteenth-century English and American literature.

"A Highway to the Pacific": Building the Transcontinental Railroad image of queen on a throne with saturated color

"A Highway to the Pacific": Building the Transcontinental Railroad

DeGolyer Library

The story of the transcontinental railroad: a great technological achievement, subject of intense political debate, and critical to the long-term development of the American west.

"I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere": Collecting the Multilingual Cannon Several cover images of Sherlock Holmes in different languages

"I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere": Collecting the Multilingual Cannon

DeGolyer Library

The enduring appeal of fiction's greatest detective is explored through selections from DeGolyer Library's Donald J. Hobbs Collection, which contains more than 8,000 volumes and translations of the Sherlock Holmes canon in 108 languages.

Illusion of Being: Photographic Works arms and eyes reflecting in a mirror

Illusion of Being: Photographic Works

Hamon Arts Library

The Illusion of Being is a three-person exhibition of photographic works by DFW based artists Lynné Bowman Cravens, Ross Faircloth, and Ashley Whitt. Each artist utilizes lens-based media to investigate notions of reality as perceived by the self.

Illustrated Suites, Sequences, and Sets A French meditation book open to the seventh station with a woodcut of Veronica wiping Jesus' face with an imprint of his face on the cloth.

Illustrated Suites, Sequences, and Sets

Bridwell Library

Printed illustrations which were intentionally created as coherent series of images: suites of engravings, illustrated sequences, and sets of prints.

The Imitation of Christ Through Six Centuries A Latin copy of the Imitatio Christi with handwritten initials where the initial Q has been illuminated with gold leaf and vegetal decoration.

The Imitation of Christ Through Six Centuries

Bridwell Library

Copies of the Imitatio Christi from c. 1472 to 1905. Vernacular translations into English, German, French, Italian, Arabic, and Croatian, and fine modern editions.

Incidents on a Page: Dallas-Venice Dreamscapes:1976-2020 three framed colorful prints and table

Incidents on a Page: Dallas-Venice Dreamscapes:1976-2020

Hamon Arts Library

Artist Michael Corris explores art’s role in the process of a city’s identity formation, in particular his relationship to Dallas, Texas and Venice, Italy.

Information Object: Late 20th and Early 21st Century Artists' Books A collection of books including concertina-style

Information Object: Late 20th and Early 21st Century Artists' Books

Hamon Arts Library

Artists have used the book as medium for exposing their images and concepts, which in turn challenge the form of the book as an information package and loops back to extend the idea of a book qua book.

In honorem: Dr. Richard P. Heitzenrater Dr. Richard P. Heitzenrater in Bridwell Library examining manuscript volumes of John Wesley’s diaries.

In honorem: Dr. Richard P. Heitzenrater

Bridwell Library

Works written by Dr. Heitzenrater paired with items from Bridwell Library Special Collections, that highlight the long-term relationship between researcher and library.

Inscribed Illuminations and Inspirations: Manuscripts at Bridwell Library An open Latin song book, with musical notation, decorated borders, and an illuminated image of King David introducing the first psalm.

Inscribed Illuminations and Inspirations: Manuscripts at Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library

Manuscripts representing the Christian, Judaic, and Islamic traditions, between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries in multiple continents.

In Search of Belonging photo of a woman with colorful earrings and dark hair

In Search of Belonging

Hamon Arts Library

Building on the research of the PRIDE@SMU capstone project, In Search of Belonging explores stories of LGBTQ+ student organizing -- struggles for equality and recognition -- through oral history and archival documents.

Invention and Discovery: Printed Books from Fifteenth-Century Europe An open book of a German vernacular translation of Epistles and Gospels designated for church days with a woodcut of Jesus.

Invention and Discovery: Printed Books from Fifteenth-Century Europe

Bridwell Library

Books and broadsides printed between c. 1455 and 1500 and their discovery of the power and potential of Gutenberg's invention.

Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and a Pivotal Era, 1947-1957 image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and a Pivotal Era, 1947-1957

DeGolyer Library

This exhibit explores a "golden age" in baseball, when the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants dominated, led by some of the most memorable players and managers of all time.

Jean Calvin (1509—1564): A Quincentenary Exhibition Portrait of Calvin with micrographic text of the first book of Ecclesiastes.

Jean Calvin (1509—1564): A Quincentenary Exhibition

Bridwell Library

The sixteenth-century theologian and reformer Jean Calvin exerted immense influence on the character and practice of Western Christianity.

The Joy of Cooking Exhibit poster

The Joy of Cooking

DeGolyer Library

Explore our collection of historic cookbooks, which served as a storehouse of recipes, as well as a sign of technological, sociological, cultural, and economic changes.

The Kate Warnick Awards Photograph of Kate Warnick standing by her portrait with Rabbi Olan, Bishop Slater, and Dean Quillian.

The Kate Warnick Awards

Bridwell Library

This annual competition encourages the publication of local church histories from the eight Annual Conferences within Texas United Methodist Historical Society.

The King James Bible of 1611 Snippet of King James Bible from 1611 displaying Psalm 23 with decorated initials at the beginning of the psalms.

The King James Bible of 1611

Bridwell Library

This exhibition is evidence of the zeal with which the English King James Bible from 1611 translation was produced, printed, marketed, read, and cherished.

Lead Stealing the Danse Macabre A figure with wings and flowers in front of a field

Lead Stealing the Danse Macabre

Bridwell Library

Changing roles and identities in the modern dance of death.

Leonard Stokes Various objects in a gray field

Leonard Stokes

Hamon Arts Library

An invitation to viewers to eavesdrop on the conversations between and among the archival digital prints and their paper collage ancestors.

Lili Kantor: There was a Forest dinner table setting with banner

Lili Kantor: There was a Forest

Hamon Arts Library

The photographs in this series document the parallel stories of the lives and rituals of the disappearing population of Jews still living in small enclaves in Eastern Europe.

Lorraine Tady: Paintings & Drawings red and blue abstract painting

Lorraine Tady: Paintings & Drawings

Hamon Arts Library

The painting process is described as diagramming, mapping, plan/elevation, cross-section, translation/re-translation inquiry (or subverting the clarity these systematic intentions may imply). 

Love Notes image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Love Notes

DeGolyer Library

In honor of Valentine's Day, DeGolyer Library put together a sampling of romantic stories, cards, and love letters from the past.

Mandalas: Dean Joseph Quillian A polychrome printed mandala designed by Joseph D. Quillian, Jr. around 1970.

Mandalas: Dean Joseph Quillian

Bridwell Library

Examples of Dean Joseph D. Quillian’s mandala drawings dating from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Manuscripts in the Islamic Tradition An open Islamic prayer book, introduced by a gilded decorative panel with an arch-shaped ornament above. Part of the pointed envelope flap binding is visible.

Manuscripts in the Islamic Tradition

Bridwell Library

Manuscripts from the 16th-19th centuries including copies of the Quran and later collections of prayers that long have been central to the religious lives of Muslims.

Mark Williams: Drawings notebooks with drawings in black and neutrals

Mark Williams: Drawings

Hamon Arts Library

Williams’ small drawings and studio sketchbooks illuminate his working process of construction and variation of color, shape and line in a simple and intimate manner. 

Martin Luther in the Age of Print An illustrated German Bible open to Genesis with a hand colored exhibited woodcut of God creating Eve from Adam’s rib encircled by other scenes from Genesis.

Martin Luther in the Age of Print

Bridwell Library

An introduction to Martin Luther and his printed works. Included are polemics and treatises, sermons and commentaries, Bible translations, and catechisms.

Mexico: Stanley Marcus Collection Mexican altar scene

Mexico: Stanley Marcus Collection

Hamon Arts Library

In celebration of the Mexican centennial in 2010, an exhibition of historic books and portfolios from Mexico, part of the Stanley Marcus Collection at SMU’s DeGolyer Library.

Michael O'Keefe drawing and a statue neutral colors

Michael O'Keefe

Hamon Arts Library

On view in 2005 were 29 individual works by sculptor Michael O’Keefe. These works included 22 small-scale drawings and seven sculptures.  

Missionary Presses An open Hawaiian Bible which is three bound volumes so it is extraordinarily thick.

Missionary Presses

Bridwell Library

Bibles and other religious texts in indigenous languages published by missionary presses in the nineteenth century.

Monuments of Early Greek Printing An open Greek book. The left page of text narrows as it goes down the page. The right page has a floral top border and decorated initial.

Monuments of Early Greek Printing

Bridwell Library

Literature, educational texts, and early New Testaments in Greek that highlight the influence of the Greek language on modern literature and culture. 

Nancy Brown Mixed Media on Paper shape and line in purple and brown tones

Nancy Brown Mixed Media on Paper

Hamon Arts Library

Highly decorative arrangements of shapes embedded with unexpected motifs that are in reference to an enigmatic story continuously changing as it unfolds.

Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined blue and yellow painting with figures

Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined

Hamon Arts Library

A glimpse into the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family Collection beholds an artistic world of hope, Black joy, reality, and aspiration.

Octaviano Rangel blue, black, gray & white shapes

Octaviano Rangel

Hamon Arts Library

This exhibition of recent work by Dallas and Monterrey-based artist, Octaviano Rangel is inspired by Franz Kakfa’s Metamorphosis.

Octavio Medellin: Maya Toltec Temples and Carvings, 1938 relief sculpture with artist

Octavio Medellin: Maya Toltec Temples and Carvings, 1938

Bywaters Special Collections

"A person's art or an artist's work should come from within themselves and of themselves–not be a copy of even their own heritage." Octavio Medellin

On-N-On: Ciara Elle Bryant in Conversation with Octavia E. Butler Colorful art hanging on a white wall

On-N-On: Ciara Elle Bryant in Conversation with Octavia E. Butler

Hamon Arts Library

This exhibition showcases Hamon Arts Library holdings related to Octavia Butler’s writing alongside a mixed media installation by Dallas artist Ciara Elle Bryant pertaining to identity, bibliography, and virtuality.

Peter Schoeffer: Printer of Mainz An open Greek book printed by Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer with decorated and handwritten initials.

Peter Schoeffer: Printer of Mainz

Bridwell Library

Schoeffer’s works from his collaborations with Gutenberg and Fust to his later works including theological works and the Great Law Books.

Photographs from DeGolyer Library black and white photograph of two women & bananas

Photographs from DeGolyer Library

Hamon Arts Library

Held in conjunction with the annual meeting of The Society for Photographic Education in Dallas, this exhibition featured highlights from the collection of more than 500,000 photographs at SMU’s DeGolyer Library.

Piecing It Together colorful lines and shapes

Piecing It Together

Hamon Arts Library

A selection of abstract paintings and drawings by Danielle Kimzey, Mary Laube, and Christopher Reno. These artists explore the private world of the ‘home’ and seek to demystify this insular, domestic space.

The Pietists An open religious book showing a portrait of Reverend William Ames alongside the title page for "The Marrow of Sacred Divinity".

The Pietists

Bridwell Library

Works written between the late 17th–early 19th centuries by precursors to and leaders of the Pietist movement in The Netherlands, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S.

Pipes on Paper rendition of an organ in brown

Pipes on Paper

Hamon Arts Library

This exhibition presents a selection of books on this grand and artful instrument, the organ, from the James L. Wallmann Collection.

R3clamation: Routes and Roots piles of clothing of all colors

R3clamation: Routes and Roots

Hamon Arts Library

Basil Kincaid’s R3clamation: Routes and Roots is the third iteration of the artist’s Reclamation Project and is, among other things, an intimate examination of his hometown of St. Louis.

Religious Emblem Books An open Latin book with an engraving of a mirror reflecting light from the sun on the left page.

Religious Emblem Books

Bridwell Library

Meditations, catechisms, calendars, and histories made with the emblem book’s interplay of image, narrative, and couplet to convey Christian doctrine and moral lessons.

Remembering Alfredo Náñez y Clotilde Falcón de Náñez Photograph of Clotilde and Alfredo Nanez at grave marker for Reverend Alejo Hernandez.

Remembering Alfredo Náñez y Clotilde Falcón de Náñez

Bridwell Library

This exhibition honors the memory of Alfredo Náñez and Clotilde Falcón de Náñez in Methodist history.

Renaissance Technology in Print vintage black and white scene of a sculptor's studio

Renaissance Technology in Print

Hamon Arts Library

Through a seminar in Renaissance Technology for the Art History graduate students in the Rhetorics of Art, Space and Culture (RASC/a) program, the exhibition is a collaboration of ideas and knowledge through the advancement of print and book production 

“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”: James G. Blaine, Grover Cleveland, and the Election of 1884 image of queen on a throne with saturated color

“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”: James G. Blaine, Grover Cleveland, and the Election of 1884

DeGolyer Library

This exhibit explores the 1884 Presidential election, one of the "dirtiest" campaigns in American history. Now largely forgotten, the campaign issues and scandals will sound familiar to contemporary politics.

Science and Religion Open illuminated Hebrew medical book with decorative panels on both pages.

Science and Religion

Bridwell Library

Books that show the relationships between science and religion ranging from cooperation to conflict to reconciliation.

Send Me a Postcard: Women on the Road Across 19th-20th Century America stamped and addressed postcard with writing dated August 23rd 1908

Send Me a Postcard: Women on the Road Across 19th-20th Century America

DeGolyer Library

This exhibits highlights women’s voices and their stories across America’s roadways, as they sought education, adventure, and freedom in the 19th and 20th century.

Shaped by Water black and white photograph of two people

Shaped by Water

Hamon Arts Library

Large format black & white landscape photographs range from grand views in the American West to quiet, intimate scenes along streams in the Texas Hill Country.

The Shape of Content in Christian Books, Broadsides, and Prints Nine books arranged in size order showing the standard book sizes of the fifteenth century.

The Shape of Content in Christian Books, Broadsides, and Prints

Bridwell Library

Christian texts that brought new meaning and enhanced understanding to their readers through varieties of shapes, sizes, and configurations. 

Six Centuries of Master Bookbinding at Bridwell Library beaded flowered embroidered binding

Six Centuries of Master Bookbinding at Bridwell Library

Bridwell Library

These bindings exemplify the important stylistic developments of European and North American bookbinding from the late Middle Ages to the present day. 

"Sounding" by Allyson Packer a video of water captured in a still image

"Sounding" by Allyson Packer

Hamon Arts Library

Sounding is a site-specific, interactive installation with looping video, text-based instructions, and subtle interventions into the architecture and resources of Hamon Arts Library.

The State Fair of Texas image of queen on a throne with saturated color

The State Fair of Texas

DeGolyer Library

To celebrate the 130th anniversary of The State Fair of Texas, this exhibit highlights Dallas photographer Lynn Lennon an her images of the fair over 10 years.

Summer Musical Celebration: Honoring the Organ Historical Society Convention and the Hymn Society Conference An open liturgical book with text in Latin and musical notations. The pages have decoration including borders and initials.

Summer Musical Celebration: Honoring the Organ Historical Society Convention and the Hymn Society Conference

Bridwell Library

Manuscripts and rare books produced between the twelfth and the eighteenth centuries that celebrated two musical organizations meeting in Dallas in 2019.

Susan Barnett: Thought Patterns blue, black. and white shapes on red orange background

Susan Barnett: Thought Patterns

Hamon Arts Library

Susan Barnett works originated with paintings based upon a specialized type of Latin Square popularized by the Sudoku puzzle. 

Symbiosis of Script, Font, and Form Open book with text of a poem in a zig-zag pattern and a black and white linear abstract illustration.

Symbiosis of Script, Font, and Form

Bridwell Library

Books in which artists or circles of collaborators have integrated corporeal elements of the book form into the literature in sensitive and sometimes astounding ways.

The Thomas J. Harrison Bible Collection A partially opened Torah scroll with text in Hebrew.

The Thomas J. Harrison Bible Collection

Bridwell Library

Bibles that include a 17th century Chinese Torah scroll, medieval manuscripts, incunabula, translations around the world, and modern fine press editions.

Three African American Bishops of the United Methodist Church Bishop W T Handy preaching at a pulpit in a church.

Three African American Bishops of the United Methodist Church

Bridwell Library

Personal papers of three African American United Methodist bishops: Ernest T. Dixon, Jr., William Talbot Handy, Jr., and Rhymes H. Moncure, Jr.

Tino Ward: Phosphenes Hawn Gallery with paper pulp paintings displayed on the walls

Tino Ward: Phosphenes

Hamon Arts Library

Tino Ward’s suite of paper pulp paintings depicts symbols from anthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger’s catalog of proto-linguistic signs found in ancient cave paintings, known as “phosphenes.”

Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976-1986 promotional poster for Torn Apart exhibition

Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976-1986

Hamon Arts Library

This exhibit brings together two notable collections of posters, flyers, clothing, and ephemera from this highly influential era of pivotal cultural shift in Britain and the United States.

A Tribute to Ian Tyson (1933–2021) Wooden sculpture made of overlapping crosses on grey paper. On the left, green paper with text "not farce but madness from the start the roots of tragedy embedded in the barely human ready to bring us down jerome rothenberg".

A Tribute to Ian Tyson (1933–2021)

Bridwell Library

Works from British artist Ian Tyson’s (1933—2021) decades-long career.

Underwood Law Library: Celebrating 50 Years, 1971-2021 architect's rendering of the Underwood Law Library building

Underwood Law Library: Celebrating 50 Years, 1971-2021

UNDERWOOD LAW LIBRARY

Historical photographs, architectural designs, and other documents related to the planning, funding, and construction of Underwood Law Library.

The Uniting Conference of 1968 and the Birth of the United Methodist Church Photograph of the North Texas Annual Conferences delegates to the Uniting Conference, 1968.

The Uniting Conference of 1968 and the Birth of the United Methodist Church

Bridwell Library

Publications and images document the Methodist integration, the Methodist-Evangelical United Brethren merger, and the Uniting Conference.

Vance Wingate - Variation and Theme cream circle on brown background

Vance Wingate - Variation and Theme

Hamon Arts Library

Wingate says, "the structures in my work are derived from typography and letter construction, printed texts, decorative type ornaments, logos and symbols."

Virtual and Real Lantern slide of a pastor posing with a Model T Ford.

Virtual and Real

Bridwell Library

Fifty-six items representing twelve digital collections related to the history of the United Methodist Church or Perkins School of Theology. 

Welcome Additions manuscript writing and printed text in one book

Welcome Additions

Bridwell Library

Rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, prints, and letters that were acquired by Bridwell Library Special Collections between 2008 and 2014.

What We Keep: The Objects of Immigrants to America What We Keep Exhibit in the Hawn Gallery

What We Keep: The Objects of Immigrants to America

Hamon Arts Library

The exhibition is an installation of fifteen drawings by artist, Jane Chu. The exhibition centers upon her mother’s journey out of China during the Chinese Revolution of 1949.

William B. Lawrence, Dean of Perkins School of Theology, 2002–2016 A photograph of William B. Lawrence.

William B. Lawrence, Dean of Perkins School of Theology, 2002–2016

Bridwell Library

This display highlights William B. Lawrence’s leadership of Perkins School of Theology and his contributions to theological education and church life.

Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes image of queen on a throne with saturated color

Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes

DeGolyer Library

This exhibit marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment through documents and collections emphasizing the roles women played in the suffrage movement.