DeGolyer Library: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints

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About the Collection

This digital collection provides a sample of the photographs, images, albums, and other materials held by SMU's DeGolyer Library. Included are a large number of documents and photographs from the Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. Papers. Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. (1886-1956), a major figure in the twentieth-century oil business, was known for his pioneering work in petroleum geology and geophysics. Throughout his career, DeGolyer founded several major corporations including the Amerada Petroleum Corporation, the Geophysical Research Corporation and DeGolyer and MacNaughton.

The Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. Papers available online provide a rich sample of the photographs, maps, albums, and more, relating to Mexican oil in the early 20th century. Many of the maps represent oil fields from the three most important areas of exploration in Mexico at that time: the Ebano-Panuco area in Veracruz, the "Golden Lane" in Veracruz, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Hundreds of items on petroleum development in Mexico are available in DeGolyer Library's Mexico: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints digital collection. A finding aid to the Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. Papers collection is also available.

Highlights include:

  • Collection of Photographs of People Reading or with Books: a collection of everyday people in the act of reading a book, newspaper, magazine or letter, spanning the 1840s to 1950s.
  • Horn Family Papers: a collection of the family papers of Thomas Lora Horn, his wife Blanche, and their two sons in St. Louis, Missouri. Their son Leslie, a second lieutenant in the 110th infantry, 28th division, lost his life on October 1, 1918 at the Battle of Argonne during World War I.
  • Kelley Oliphint Collection of Mosby Family Letters: contains 113 letters, documents, and recipes. The majority of the letters were written by or to Elizabeth Hull Mosby, primarily during the Civil War.
  • Rancho Encinal: a photograph album of the DeGolyers' lakefront estate, Rancho Encinal, which was later purchased by the City of Dallas and developed into the Dallas Arboretum.
  • Roxana and Roxoleum: contains 30 issues, 1918-1920, of the company magazine for the Roxoleum company.