Special Collections Policies

Donation Policies

Donations to SMU Libraries help preserve cultural heritage, support original research, and make unique materials accessible to students, scholars, and the public. We welcome donations of materials that support our research, teaching, and collecting missions. All potential gifts are reviewed to ensure they align with collection development policies and strategic priorities. To support our mission with a monetary donation, please visit our Giving Opportunities page.

Donation Process

Prospective donors should contact the director of the appropriate library, describing the materials and providing information about content, condition, quantity, and ownership. For details about the scope of our collections and where your materials may fit, please review the collection development policies below.

Library staff will review the information and will determine whether the materials are appropriate for our collections. Considerations may include:

  • Relevance to SMU Libraries' collecting areas and the University’s curriculum
  • Physical condition
  • Space and preservation capacity
  • Duplication of materials already held

If accepted, a written gift agreement (such as a Deed or Proffer of Gift) is required to transfer ownership to SMU Libraries. All donations are recorded in the SMU Office of Gifts. Donations are not accepted without completed documentation. Materials are generally not accepted on deposit, loan, or for storage without transfer of ownership. If applicable, copyright transfer or licensing will be addressed in the Deed of Gift.

Items Generally Not Accepted

  • Materials in poor condition
  • Photocopies or digital copies of originals (unless specifically requested)
  • Open or unrestricted collections without prior review
  • Materials outside the scope of SMU Libraries’ collecting priorities

Appraisals and Tax Considerations

Donors may be eligible for an income tax charitable deduction. SMU Libraries does not provide monetary appraisals. Donors are responsible for obtaining any required qualified appraisal and for completing IRS documentation, such as Form 8283, if applicable.

Collection Development Policies

Bridwell Library Special Collections

Collecting Scope

Bridwell Library Special Collections' current scope focuses on modern and contemporary artists’ books and fine printing. Collecting priorities include expanding representation of women, people of color, and global printing traditions. Emphasis is placed on printed works produced outside of Europe, particularly materials reflecting Indigenous authorship, publication, and production. Select historically significant publications may also be acquired to strengthen existing holdings.

Collecting Strengths

  • Scriptural and devotional works of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
  • Methodism and Wesleyana
  • Reformation and Counter-Reformation
  • Illuminated manuscripts
  • Incunabula
  • History of the book as art and artifact
  • Fine Press
  • Contemporary artists’ books
  • Archaeology
  • The Enlightenment
  • Philosophy
  • Literature

Formats and Media

Materials include artists’ books, fine press publications, manuscripts, ephemera, art, and related materials that support the collecting scope.

Collection Development and Review

Materials are acquired through recognized auction houses, rare book and manuscript dealers, and directly from printers, artists, and book artists who sell their own work. Materials that do not align with the collecting scope may be excluded or removed in accordance with SMU Libraries policies.

Bywaters Special Collections

Collecting Scope

Jerry Bywaters Special Collections collects archival materials and works of art on paper that support research on the cultural history of the American Southwest. The primary collecting period spans the late nineteenth century through the present, with related materials in American art, theatre, film, dance, and music. The current scope focuses on the cultural history of Dallas.

Collecting Strengths

  • Cultural history of the American Southwest
  • Dallas artists
  • Texas regional artists
  • Texas mural studies
  • Performing arts
  • Visual arts
  • Music

Collection Development and Review

Collection development is guided by the curatorial staff of Jerry Bywaters Special Collections in consultation with the director of Hamon Arts Library. Materials that fall outside the collecting scope or lack sufficient archival value may be deaccessioned in accordance with the terms of acquisition, SMU Libraries policies, and applicable laws. Duplicate materials may also be removed.

Related Book Collections

Within space limitations, the collection includes books that support archival holdings. Subject librarians recommend transfers, and acceptance and circulation status are determined at that time.

DeGolyer Library

Collecting Scope

DeGolyer Library collects primary source materials that support research across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Collecting emphasizes rare and unique materials that align with established strengths.

Collecting Strengths

  • African American history
  • American and British literature (all periods)
  • Americana and Western Americana
  • Bibliography; history of libraries; history of the book
  • Business history
  • Children’s books
  • Comic books, dime novels, story papers, and pulp publications
  • Cookbooks
  • Ephemera
  • Geology and natural history
  • Hispanic American history
  • History of science and technology
  • Maps and atlases
  • Mexico
  • Native American history
  • Photography
  • Railroad history
  • Sheet music
  • Sports history
  • Southern Methodist University
  • Texana
  • Trade catalogs
  • Transportation, travel, and tourism
  • U.S. presidential history
  • Voyages and exploration
  • Women’s history

Formats and Media

DeGolyer Library collects printed materials primarily published before 1900, along with selected twentieth-century publications that support established collecting strengths. The collection also includes manuscript materials, including correspondence, diaries, family papers, and organizational records. Maps and atlases are collected through the nineteenth century, along with selected twentieth-century road maps, as well as visual materials such as prints, photographs, and ephemera.

Collection Development and Review

Materials are selected to strengthen existing collecting areas. Items that fall outside the collecting scope or do not meet research value criteria may be deaccessioned in accordance with SMU Libraries policies and applicable laws.

G. William Jones Film & Video Collection

Collecting Scope

The G. William Jones Film & Video Collection collects items related to moving image history that support teaching, learning, and research at SMU, prioritizing holdings of artistic, cultural, historic, and/or socio-political significance.

Collecting Strengths

  • Motion pictures
  • Television programs
  • SMU student films
  • News footage
  • Dallas filmmakers
  • African American cinema
  • Silent films
  • Film memorabilia
  • Animation
  • Commercial, industrial, and educational films

Formats and Media

The collection collects film, magnetic media and born-digital materials in formats appropriate for long-term preservation and access. We also collect paper materials, photographs, archival records, and moving image memorabilia that support the media collections or that are significant or relevant to the presentation of moving image history.

Collection Development and Review

Materials are selected based on relevance to the University’s curriculum, available space, preservation resources, and the physical condition of the materials. Ownership of materials must be transferred to the collection at the time of acquisition. Deposits, temporary storage, and materials retained on behalf of external clients are not accepted.

Underwood Law Library

Collecting Scope

The Law Library collects, preserves, and provides access to materials that document the history, scholarship, and legal impact of the Dedman School of Law, as well as rare and historically significant legal works.

The Dedman School of Law archives preserve records and other materials that document the school’s history, administration, faculty scholarship, student life, and institutional activities. The Rare Book Collection focuses on antiquarian and historical legal materials, including early European and Western Hemisphere publications, rare and early Texas legal works, and other unique or fragile items of scholarly and historical value.

Collecting Strengths

  • Dallas Independent School District desegregation litigation archives
  • Antiquarian and historical legal materials, including United States, British, and Continental treatises, and British, French, and Italian decisions
  • Continental customary law and lawyers’ published opinions (consilia)

Collection Development and Review

Underwood Law Library is not actively acquiring special collections but may make highly selective purchases of older or rare legal materials when justified by scholarly or historical significance. For more information, see the Underwood Law Library Collection Development Policy.