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July 25, 2001

RUSSELL MARTIN JOINS SMU AS DIRECTOR OF DEGOLYER LIBRARY

DALLAS (SMU) -- Dr. Russell Martin III has been named the new director of the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University effective July 16, replacing Dr. David Farmer who retired in May.

Martin was curator of newspapers and periodicals at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcestor, Mass. He began his library career as an undergraduate student shelving books in Fondren Library.

"I guess I've come full circle," Martin said. "I owe a lot to SMU. It breathed new life into me. Classes here opened my eyes to the world of ideas and the life of the mind."

Originally from Mount Pleasant, Texas, Martin earned his bachelor's and master's of arts degrees in English at SMU in 1978 and 1986, respectively. In 1994 he earned a doctorate in English from the University of Virginia. The following year, he earned a master's of library science degree from the University of Illinois.

Martin taught English at the Episcopal School of Dallas for six years, during two of which he was an instructor in the SMU English department.

From 1987 to 1994, Martin taught English at the University of Virginia, where he worked on his doctorate and was named a du Pont Fellow in 1987-89. In 1988, he began working as a research assistant at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, responsible for purchasing and cataloging books and journals for the library. From 1992 to 1994 he also taught folklore as an adjunct instructor at James Madison University's department of anthropology. Martin moved to Massachusetts and joined the American Antiquarian Society in 1995.

He has been published in professional journals such as the Antiquarian Book Monthly and Folklore and Folklife in Virginia. He was awarded the Peterson Fellowship by the American Antiquarian Society in 1992 and the Rawlings Prize by the Albermarle County Historical Society in 1991.

"The DeGolyer Library is extremely fortunate to have attracted someone of Russell Martin's caliber at this exciting time," said Gillian McCombs, Central University Librarian. "We are poised on the threshold of some ground-breaking initiatives -- such as our recently announced partnership with the Women's Museum: An Institute for the Future -- which will benefit enormously from Russell's breadth of knowledge, energy and fresh perspective."

As director of the DeGolyer Library and Special Collections, Martin will acquire materials to build SMU's rare book, archival and manuscript collections that support advanced research in English, American literature and history. The DeGolyer Library is best known for trans-Mississippi Western Americana, railroad and transportation history and its Archives of Women of the Southwest.


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