Annotations C e n t r a l U n i v e r s i t y l i b r a r i e s a t s o U t h e r n M e t h o d i s t U n i v e r s i t y • v o l um e X i v, n um b e r 2 , F a l l 2 0 1 2 INSIDE Envisioning a future with books Remember the Ladies! By Rita Kirk Archives of Women of the Director, Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Southwest celebrates milestone Women’s2 history: Public Responsibility From recipes to equal rights Professor, Division of Communications Studies, rofessors and entrepreneurs, human rights activists and Meadows School of the Arts Pmothers, women’s clubs and drill teams: the honorees of the Occasionally, a new student will walk into my office, scan the Remember the Ladies! campaign cover the spectrum of human Dissecting 3The Big Short shelves of books, both old and new, and ask that awkward question: endeavor, yet share the accomplishment of having been an impor- ~ Have you read all these? The question is mirrored in class discus- tant influence on the lives they touched. DeGolyer Library recognized Student Advisory Council sions when, after a robust exchange, a student will ask, “How do more than 100 remarkable women and organizations during a you keep up with all this information?” special event September 23 celebrating the Archives of Women of the Southwest. ‘Dangerous’4 stories Answer: I read. ~ Truth be told, libraries as most of us have The campaign reached its $1 million endowment goal in May Susan Orlean come to know them are changing. Online to support an archivist. A commemorative plaque in the library, texts, blogs and information aggregator sites engraved with each honoree’s name, serves as a permanent are displacing the browsing activities that reminder of the achievement and the women who made it possible. In tune with5 Hamon drew many of us to the library when we had Established in 1993, ~ a little extra time. And maybe that’s it. Time the Archives of Women Renaissance prints has become the enemy of thinking beyond of the Southwest focus- ~ Rita Kirk DeGolyer rocks our narrow set of interests. It has stifled the es on the historical ex- exploration of ideas merely for the sheer pleasure of it. perience of women in During our SMU-in-London program each year, we talk about Texas, with a special Go behind6 the scenes cultural differences. One of them is the widespread activity of read- emphasis on Dallas and ing on the Tube (the London train system). From commuting exec- North Texas, as well as utives to children, books are still a part of the visual landscape. Arizona, Colorado, New Meet Sam7 Childers Today, as I walk across campus, spotting a single person reading a Mexico, Arkansas, Okla- ~ New Friends book for pleasure is rare. homa, Louisiana and I do not bemoan our changing culture. Rather, I celebrate the the Spanish Border- leadership of people like Gillian McCombs who envision the library lands. The collection Believe8 it or not? of the future. The vibrant salon or coffeehouse of other eras will contains records, let- soon become alive outside the silent stacks. Perhaps we will even Records of the Tejas Girl Scout Council ters, diaries, speeches, (1922-1987) are now part of the Archives learn again to seek out people with opposing worldviews so that of Women of the Southwest. Selections photographs, periodi- our thinking is challenged. Maybe we will even start carrying a book from the archives and other women’s col- cals, scrapbooks and lections are featured in a women’s history other print, audio and or two with us when we leave. exhibit at DeGolyer Library (see p. 2). In the DeGoyler, a beautiful exhibit drew my attention recently, video materials. “Remember the Ladies!” I couldn’t help notice the elegant, prac- The resources document the profound impact women had on ticed handwriting in letters. The quaint collection of cookbooks and their communities at a time when they were not fully franchised news coverage of the visionary leadership by those who pioneered and rarely worked outside the home. At the celebration, historian for women’s rights contextualized some of the same strug- Judy Jolley Mohraz talked about the “grit and grace” of the pioneer- gles that we face today on proper roles and personal goals. I desper- ing women who established public libraries, free kindergartens and ately wanted a cup of tea and a place to talk with someone about continued on page 2 what we were seeing. I can hardly wait for that space. You’ll find me curled in a comfy chair waiting for you. 1 Annotations Annotations Remember the Ladies! continued from page 1 Women’s history: Lessons learned from The Big Short From recipes to equal rights anelists unraveled the complexities of the financial crisis in a hen the national women’s rights movement was pushing Pdiscussion of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine W for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, by Michael Lewis. Sponsored by Friends of the SMU Libraries Sep- local supporters rallied around the cause as reported in Equal tember 13, the event continued a campus-wide, cross-discipline Times, a newspaper published by the Women’s Center of Dallas. A exploration of the 2012 Common Reading selection. 1975 copy of Equal Times is among the unexpected and enlighten- James Linck, Distinguished Chair in Finance in SMU’s Cox ing materials highlighted in “Remember the Ladies! Discovering School of Business, moderated the lively conversation. Speakers Women’s History at DeGolyer Library.” included Cullum Clark, President, Prothro Clark Company; SMU “We have to be Gillian M. McCombs, Dean and Director, Central University Libraries Treasurer Mike Condon; John Duca, Vice President and Senior careful about the (center), with panelists (from left) James Linck, who served as mod- Policy Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and adjunct pro- erator, Cullum Clark, Rita Kirk and John Duca. dreams we’re sold as fessor of Economics in Dedman College; and Rita Kirk, Director of you see the degree to which an American public. the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility and pro- housing prices became unteth- Among the longtime supporters joining Central University Libraries (CUL) in cel- Lots of people fessor in the Division of Communication Studies, Meadows School ebrating the Archives of Women of the Southwest were: (standing, left to right) ered from people’s incomes, col- of the Arts. Becky Schergens ’62; Russell L. Martin III ’78, ’86, Director, DeGolyer Library, should have known lapse was a dead certainty, but and Interim Assistant Dean, Scholarly Resources and Research Services, Central Condon set the scene by describing the “perfect storm”: pres- that the deal was too the timing was hard to call.” University Libraries; Jackie McElhaney ’62; Ruth P. Morgan, SMU Provost Emerita; sure on Wall Street to create new instruments tied to the booming Judy Jolley Mohraz; Mary Blake Meadows ’74; Nancy Martinez ’75; Lea Courington good to be true, but He called the book “an inter- ’74 and Sandy Kraus ’76, ’80; and (seated) Lottye Brodsky; Gillian M. McCombs, mortgage market; ratings agencies that “were duped” into putting esting story of our time” popu- Dean and Director, CUL; and Nan Snow ’75. they wanted to their stamp of approval on toxic bonds; and a system that encour- lated by Wall Street insiders believe. There’s aged mortgage lenders and borrowers to cheat the numbers. Panelist John Condon described focused on making profits and A distorted incentive system also fueled the meltdown, said other programs to benefit society. Mohraz, the CEO and Trustee of the Virginia JCPenney promoted the war effort in 1942 by offering stylish apparel plenty of culpability “the perfect storm” that led to “indifferent to the underlying for “Women Who Work!” These pages are part of the JCPenney Linck. “If you tell me that you’re going to pay me to originate a the financial crisis. G. Piper Charitable Trust in Phoenix, Arizona, is the former president of for everyone.” engine of the machine” and others Archives in DeGolyer Library. loan, and it doesn’t matter if the loan is defaulted on, then you’re Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, and a former SMU faculty member. who cast an analytical eye “to the plumbing” and figured out what She honored the late Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a Goucher alumna, in the going to have a lot of loan originations,” he said. “And if the people The exhibit draws from the Archives of Women of the South- was happening. All of them ended up “wildly wealthy,” he noted. Remember the Ladies! campaign. who buy the loans can then sell them and know they’ll be bailed west, as well as from the DeGolyer’s other women’s collections, to The losers were “the little people who, in many cases, lost The archives’ primary materials have already out, we have a system that’s bound to go crazy.” “illuminate women’s roles in society and the manner in which they everything,” said Kirk. “And that’s the tragedy of the book.” attracted the attention of scholars, students and other “We privatized gain and socialized risk,” Duca said. shaped the culture, arts, education, business, social issues, law and “We have to be careful about the dreams we’re sold as an Amer- researchers, according to Russell L. Martin III ’78, ’86, The housing and financial markets “feed off each other,” added politics in Texas, the Southwest and beyond,” says Pamalla Ander- ican public,” she added.