About the Collection
The Ronald L. Davis Oral History Collection comprises more than 500 transcripts of oral history interviews conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. The interviewees are from the performing arts with emphasis on motion pictures and popular music. The interviewees, both nationally-known and local, give detailed accounts of personal and professional experiences. For more information on the interviews, see the “Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts” booklet. The interviews were conducted primarily by Ronald L. Davis (1933-2022), Professor of History at SMU (1965-2001), under the formerly named “Southern Methodist University Oral History Program.” Davis was the originator of this collection. Upon his retirement from SMU after 35 years of teaching, the collection was named in his honor.
As described by Dr. Davis in 1988, “The Southern Methodist University Oral History Program was begun in 1972 [as] a part of the University's DeGolyer Institute for American Studies. The goal of the program was to gather primary source material for future writers and cultural historians on all branches of the performing arts - opera, ballet, the concert stage, theater, films, radio, television, burlesque, vaudeville, popular music, jazz, the circus, and miscellaneous amateur and local productions. The collection is particularly strong, however, in the areas of motion pictures and popular music and includes interviews with celebrated performers as well as a wide variety of behind-the-scenes personnel, several of whom are now deceased. Most interviews are biographical in nature, although some are focused exclusively on a single topic of historical importance.
“The Program aims at balancing national developments with examples from local history. Interviews with members of the Dallas Little Theater, therefore, serve to illustrate a nation-wide movement, while film exhibition across the country is exemplified by the Interstate Theater Circuit of Texas. The interviews have all been conducted by trained historians, who attempt to view artistic achievements against a broad social and cultural backdrop. Many of the persons interviewed, because of educational limitations or various extenuating circumstances, would never write down their experiences, and therefore valuable information on our nation's cultural heritage would be lost were it not for the SMU Oral History Program.”
The level of access to each interview is determined by the terms of the interviewee consent form and copyright law. This digital collection makes available two-page excerpts of the interviews; some restrictions allow only the metadata to be viewed. Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when citing the collection. For more information, contact DeGolyer Library.
Digital Collection Highlights
- Gregory Peck Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], six parts, 1974-1980
- Rosemary Clooney Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], January 25, 1975
- Yul Brynner Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], August 1, 1975
- Fred Astaire Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], July 31, 1976
- Edith Head Interview by Ann Burk [excerpt], July 29, 1975
- Lillian Gish Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], January 4, 1979
- Henry Mancini Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], July 18, 1979
- William Wyler Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], July 19, 1979
- Lucille Ball Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], August 21, 1980
- Rock Hudson Interview by Ronald L. Davis [excerpt], August 24, 1983
Ron Davis Oral History Interview
Pam Lange interviewed Ron Davis, Professor of History, on March 28, 2003, as part of the SMU Video Archive Series. In the interview, SMU History Professor and oral historian Ron Davis discussed his career at SMU, which began in 1965 and spanned three decades. He described how he transitioned from a traditional history background to become an oral historian specializing in the performing arts.