Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. was born on October 9, 1886, in Greensburg, Kansas, the eldest of three children born to John and Narcissa DeGolyer. He began his career in geology as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1905 and spent the following summer as a field assistant for the United States Geological Survey. In 1909 he was hired as a field geologist for the Mexican Eagle Oil Company and remained with the company until 1919. His work in Mexico led to the discovery of the famous Potrero del Llano No. 4 and the productive Naranjos Pool.
In June of 1910, DeGolyer married his college sweetheart, Nell Virginia Goodrich and they set up their first home in Tampico, Mexico. At the insistence of his wife and his employer, Sir Weetman Pearson, DeGolyer returned to school and received his A. B. in geology from the University of Oklahoma in 1911.
Throughout his career, DeGolyer was instrumental in the organization and development of several major corporations. In 1919, he organized an American company for the Cowdray interests, the Amerada Petroleum Corporation and remained with it until 1932 as general manager, president and chairman of the board. In order to pursue his interest in the development of the reflection seismograph, he organized the Geophysical Research Corporation in 1925 and remained with it until 1932. In 1936, DeGolyer and a partner organized DeGolyer and MacNaughton, a company known world-wide for its consulting services in the fields of petroleum geology and engineering. In addition to his own business ventures, he served on the board of directors for numerous companies, including Dresser Industries, Louisiana Land and Exploration Company, Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, Southern Pacific Railroad, Republic Natural Gas, First National Bank of Dallas and Saturday Review.
Because of his expertise in the petroleum industry, DeGolyer was called upon to serve the government in various capacities. He was a member of the National Research Council, 1926-28; a technical advisor to the National Recovery Administration, 1933; a staff member of the Petroleum Administration for War, 1941-43; a technical advisor for the Petroleum Reserve Corporation Mission to the Middle East, 1943-44; a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Atomic Energy Commission Committee on Raw Materials. The complete list is lengthy and includes membership on numerous committees at the state and regional levels.
In appreciation for his services and in recognition of his accomplishments, DeGolyer received numerous awards throughout his career. The list includes the Texas Mid-Continent Association Distinguished Service Award, 1939; the Anthony F. Lucas Medal, American Institute of Mining & Metallurgical Engineers, 1940; the John Fritz Medal of the Four Founder Societies, 1942; the University of Oklahoma Distinguished Service Citation, 1948; the Sidney Powers Memorial Medal from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1950; membership in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, 1952. He received honorary degrees from the Colorado School of Mines, 1925; Southern Methodist University, 1945; Trinity University, 1947; Princeton University, 1949; National University of Mexico, 1951; Washington University, 1952.
DeGolyer was a prolific writer and a much sought-after speaker, In 1929, he was the Aldred Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served Princeton University twice, once as the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Lecturer, 1939, and again as the Lewis Clark Vanuxem Lecturer, 1941. He held the rank of Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of Texas in 1940 and taught a class in petroleum engineering.
Early in his career DeGolyer developed an interest in book collecting and built extensive collections in the areas of English literature, the history of the Southwest, and the history of the University of Texas at Austin, Oklahoma University and Southern Methodist University.
DeGolyer's bibliography contains well over two hundred entries and includes geological papers, book reviews, introductions to books and several unpublished manuscripts, including one on the history of the California oil industry.
The DeGolyers had four children, Nell Virginia, Dorothy Margaret, Cecilia Jeanne and Everett Lee, Jr.
E. L. DeGolyer, Sr. died on December 14, 1956, after a lengthy illness.
For additional material on the life of E. L. DeGolyer, Sr., see:
Following his brother's death in 1956, Homer DeGolyer began an inventory of a portion of Mr. DeGolyer's papers. The inventory states that "no attempt has been made to sort or classify these papers and they remain approximately in the order in which they were left." Homer and his assistants did, however, assign each file folder a number and stamped the contents of each with the corresponding number. They then prepared a detailed card index to the papers. The index is available for use in conjunction with this guide.
The present collection includes 160 cubic feet inventoried by Homer DeGolyer and an additional 76 cubic feet processed by the DeGolyer Library Staff. The physical arrangement of the first 160 cubic feet was not disturbed during the final processing. In order to represent the material in a more organized manner portions of the collection have been rearranged on paper only, during the preparation of this guide.
This collection is arranged topically. Due to size, this inventory has been divided into two separate units which can be accessed by clicking on the highlighted text.
Permission to publish original manuscripts in the Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. papers must be obtained from the DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
For additional material pertaining to Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr., see the collections of Nell Goodrich DeGolyer, E. L. DeGolyer, Jr., and the DeGolyer Foundation.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Everette Lee DeGolyer, Sr. papers, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University
The business and personal papers of E. L. DeGolyer, Sr. were donated to the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University in 1974.
The DeGolyer Library gratefully acknowledges a grant from the Friends of the SMU Libraries / Colophon that facilitated the completion of the original guide.
Linda W. Laury
Sherilyn Bird and Lara Corazalla, 2005 and 2006
Biographical material on DeGolyer: correspondence, 1939-54, requesting biographical information
Personal correspondence and correspondence from organizations is arranged by name. Correspondence with book dealers, galleries, publishers and institutions regarding DeGolyer's interests in collecting books are included, as well as invoices, catalogs and publication notices.
Correspondence with faculty and official of schools are arranged by name of the institution. Topics include speaking engagements, scholarships, publications, curricula, book donations, etc.
Correspondence, reports and maps pertaining to investment and exploration offers presented to DeGolyer are arranged geographically or by geographical topic.
Note: The contents of this folder indicate no connection with DeGolyer, other than the fact that it was found among his papers.