The first meeting of The Friends of the SMU Libraries/ Colophon took place on September 3, 1970 in the offices on the third floor of the Science Information Center. Founding members included SMU professor Charles Ritcheson, Mrs. Elizabeth Prothro, Rabbi Levi Olan, SMU professor James Early, Charles G. Cullum, and Mrs. Eleanor Swank. The founders agreed that the purpose of the organization was "to provide opportunities through which associates may become acquainted with each other and with the resources of the university library system; to share enthusiasm for learning, books, prints, and related materials, and to establish Southern Methodist University’s libraries as centers of cultural activities enriching the whole community." The members selected the name "Colophon" for the group because it was a term which referred to the graphic device by which printers marked their books. In the first year of its existence, Colophon recruited 159 members, increasing to 200 members by the 1971-1972 academic year. Only months after its founding, Colophon invited the former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, to the campus to discuss and promote her recently released memoir. The magnitude of this event was emblematic of the drive of the membership of Colophon.
In 1972, Colophon chose to establish the "Colophon Moderns Collection," which attempted to collect the literature that best reflected the "contours of the spirit-soul-mind" of the United States from 1950-1975. Quickly the group acquired a large collection of poetry from the Beat Movement, as well as many definitive authors of that generation, from James Baldwin and Donald Barthelme to J.D. Salinger and John Updike. By 1991, the Colophon Moderns Collection numbered nearly 1,400 volumes. In 1995, the University celebrated Colophon and the 25th anniversary of the Colophon Moderns Collection by hosting an exhibition of the collection. (The exhibit catalog is found in this collection).
Throughout the years Colophon hosted many literary and artistic celebrities of national and international renown, including Larry McMurtry, John Graves, Tom Lea, José Cisneros, Kim Edwards, Ray Nasher, Ron Kirk and Deborah Crombie. By 2009 the group had donated more than $500,000 to the Southern Methodist University libraries. These donations were used to purchase materials that were beyond or outside of the libraries’ budgets. Since its inception in 1971, Friends of the Libraries/Colophon continues to be important to SMU libraries and the campus in general. Membership has grown and includes many prominent Dallas families and SMU supporters.
The Colophon Papers include a wide collection of material that covers the breadth of the group’s activities. The collection encompasses records from the group’s founding in 1970 to recent years and contains correspondence, business records, membership rolls, annual reports, published materials, and speeches.
The collection is organized into 5 series:
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
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.
Friends of the SMU Libraries/Colophon Records, Southern Methodist University Archives, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Transfer, Multiple Dates.
Aaron Sanchez, 2009.
Lara Corazalla, 2009.
This series contains many of the financial records and correspondence of the day-to-day operations of Colophon. Included are minutes from board meetings, membership rolls, annual reports, financial reports, and correspondence.
This series is an incomplete collection of items pertaining to events programmed by Colophon. It includes correspondence, personal notes, invitations and newspaper clippings. Also included in this series is information on the many trips Colophon took to various places—both national and international. Lastly, correspondence, receipts, and organizing information regarding the yearly Colophon auction is contained in this series.
This series documents the decisions that shaped the creation of the various Colophon collections, mainly the Colophon Moderns Collection. The included correspondence deals with suggestions on the criteria for works to be included in the Colohpon Moderns Collection.
This series documents individuals and groups who donated gifts to Colophon in honor of and to remember various individuals important to their lives, the SMU community, and the greater Dallas community.
This series contains many of the various items published by Colophon including broadsides, speeches, newsletters, Colophon exhibit catalogs, keepsakes, and general invitations.