The Professor Joseph W. McKnight Historical Collection on the Library's 4th floor includes several thousand volumes of American, British and continental law books that date from 148 A.D. to the present.
The Library also proudly houses the Joseph Gold Collection, which includes the professional papers and library of international monetary scholar, Sir Joseph Gold. Mr. Gold served as a member of the International Monetary Fund from 1946 to 1960, as General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department from 1960 to 1979, and as Senior Consultant to the Fund thereafter. Sir Joseph Gold, born on July 12, 1912, was educated at Harvard and London Universities.
Mr. Gold regularly visited SMU to participate in conferences and to deliver lectures for the Law School's courses and seminars. In 1986 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the School of Law. That same year he delivered the University graduation address on the topic, "Rationality in Economic and Monetary Relations: the Role of the Academy and International Institutions." In 1997 Sir Joseph Gold participated in the Law School's 50th Anniversary Celebration of its International Program. This was to be his final visit to SMU. Mr. Gold passed away on February 22, 1997 at the age of 87. Sir Joseph's papers are housed in the in the "Gold Room," a specially designated space on the fourth floor of Underwood Law Library. We are honored that Sir Joseph Gold has chosen SMU to be the recipient of his distinguished collection, which represents a lifetime of scholarship.
Southern Methodist University’s Underwood Law Library houses Judge Barefoot Sanders’s court chambers papers concerning the Dallas Independent School District desegregation case. The Law Library has also received the Tasby litigation files of Mr. Ed Cloutman, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, and those of Mr. Robert Hyer Thomas, the Dallas Independent School District’s lead counsel. In addition to pleadings, motions, and briefs filed with the court, this collection of materials includes Judge Sanders’s private notes and those of Mr. Cloutman and Mr. Thomas concerning the case, contemporaneous newspaper articles, and a wealth of analytical data compiled by the school district in response to Judge Sanders’s guidelines.
