About the Collection
The Ronald L. Davis Oral History Collection comprises more than 500 transcripts of oral history interviews conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. The interviewees are from the performing arts with emphasis on motion pictures and popular music. The interviewees, both nationally-known and local, give detailed accounts of personal and professional experiences. For more information on the interviews, see the “Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts” booklet. The interviews were conducted primarily by Ronald L. Davis (1933-2022), Professor of History at ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ(1965-2001), under the formerly named “Southern Methodist University Oral History Program.” Davis was the originator of this collection. Upon his retirement from ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵafter 35 years of teaching, the collection was named in his honor.
As described by Dr. Davis in 1988, “The Southern Methodist University Oral History Program was begun in 1972 [as] a part of the University's DeGolyer Institute for American Studies. The goal of the program was to gather primary source material for future writers and cultural historians on all branches of the performing arts - opera, ballet, the concert stage, theater, films, radio, television, burlesque, vaudeville, popular music, jazz, the circus, and miscellaneous amateur and local productions. The collection is particularly strong, however, in the areas of motion pictures and popular music and includes interviews with celebrated performers as well as a wide variety of behind-the-scenes personnel, several of whom are now deceased. Most interviews are biographical in nature, although some are focused exclusively on a single topic of historical importance.
“The Program aims at balancing national developments with examples from local history. Interviews with members of the Dallas Little Theater, therefore, serve to illustrate a nation-wide movement, while film exhibition across the country is exemplified by the Interstate Theater Circuit of Texas. The interviews have all been conducted by trained historians, who attempt to view artistic achievements against a broad social and cultural backdrop. Many of the persons interviewed, because of educational limitations or various extenuating circumstances, would never write down their experiences, and therefore valuable information on our nation's cultural heritage would be lost were it not for the SMU Oral History Program.”
The level of access to each interview is determined by the terms of the interviewee consent form and copyright law. This digital collection makes available two-page excerpts of the interviews; some restrictions allow only the metadata to be viewed. Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when citing the collection. For more information, contact DeGolyer Library.
Digital Collection Highlights
- , six parts, 1974-1980
- , January 25, 1975
- , August 1, 1975
- , July 31, 1976
- , July 29, 1975
- , January 4, 1979
- , July 18, 1979
- , July 19, 1979
- , August 21, 1980
- , August 24, 1983
Ron Davis Oral History Interview
Pam Lange interviewed , on March 28, 2003, as part of the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵVideo Archive Series. In the interview, ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵHistory Professor and oral historian Ron Davis discussed his career at SMU, which began in 1965 and spanned three decades. He described how he transitioned from a traditional history background to become an oral historian specializing in the performing arts.