Introduction

January 18 - March 28, 2018

https://www.smu.edu/-/media/Site/Libraries/degolyer/exhibits/Schimmel/1000P feature image catalog cover.jpg

Exhibit Catalog Cover

DeGolyer Library presents a digital companion exhibit to a traveling exhibition curated by book collector and bibliographer Caroline Schimmel featuring materials from her own collection. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Library Service at Columbia University, Schimmel, over the last 45 years, has gathered over 23,000 narratives and representations of women in the American wilderness, including the North and South Poles. The fiction portion of her collection, except for the items included in the exhibit, was donated to Penn in 2014. She continues to seek and document known and unknown intrepid women, both in fact and fiction and reminds us that "anonymous" is most likely a woman. The 145 books, photographs, manuscripts, and memorabilia in the exhibit, by 101 women and one man and dating from 1682 to 2015, reflect the sweep of women's experiences in the American wilderness. The materials range from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (1705), Maria Sibylla Merian's hand-printed and hand-colored copy of her monumental study of flora and fauna of Surinam; sharpshooter and entertainer Annie Oakley's travel trunk and gloves, as well as an envelope she shot through the small printed heart from 20 feet away; Mary Godfrey's illustrated account of the "horrid massacre" of her family in 1825; Dale Evans's scruffy rhinestoned pink boots; and much more. 

Introduction