New Bridwell Library Exhibition Showcases Ruth and Lyle Sellers Medical Collection
The collection will be on display through July 1, 2016, in the Elizabeth Perkins Protho Gallery.
Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564).
De humani corporis fabrica libri septem.
Basel: Joannes Oporinus, 1555.
The collection of 600 printed books and manuscripts have been transferred to SMU from Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. The materials were assembled by Dr. Lyle M. Sellers (1894-1964), Chief of the Otolaryngology Department at the Baylor medical center from 1946 to 1963.
The volumes were originally donated in 1963. One hundred of the earliest and most precious items were placed on long term deposit in 2001 at Bridwell Library, and since then many of the works have been utilized in numerous exhibitions and presentations. The transfer agreement provides for Bridwell Library to be the sole owner and caretaker of the collection, and the library will continue to conserve and promote the use of the collection.
One of the finest private libraries created in Dallas, the Ruth and Lyle Sellers Medical Collection includes works in the fields of early medicine and science, natural history, religious ceremony and private devotion, and nineteenth-century English and American literature. In highlighting selections from each of these collecting areas, Bridwell Library honors Dr. Sellers and his vision for a collection of rare books and manuscripts to be utilized with the belief that “proper educational progress rests upon belief in God and knowledge of the arts and sciences.”
For more information about the exhibit, visit