McFarlin Library Giving

The McFarlin Fellows, established in 1992, is the oldest currently active giving society affiliated with McFarlin Library. The members have each generously chosen to support the growth of the library’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives with an annual commitment of $3,000. In doing so, they highlight and encourage intellectual development in the Tulsa community. These donations are used to acquire rare books and manuscripts and also support an annual lecture series that features significant scholars and authors of the day.

The rare book and manuscript collections at The University of Tulsa have always enjoyed strong support from the Tulsa Community. Much of this support has been from people who are interested in literature and history. In the 1940s, the Tulsa Bibliophiles, a group of book collectors, developed an extensive collection of Walt Whitman materials that later, along with many of the members’ personal libraries, was given to McFarlin Library, establishing the university’s rare book holdings for American and English literature.

Over the next 50 years, there were a number of short-lived library groups that continued to support the special collections and rare book holdings at The University of Tulsa through gifts of materials and financial donations. 
In 1992, then-Provost George Gilpin and his wife Professor Hermione de Almeida, along with Curator of Special Collections Sidney F. Huttner, began to gather friends and acquaintances who were interested not only in supporting the needs of the Special Collections Department, but also in enriching the intellectual community of Tulsa. After a few test dinners and speakers in the Gilpins’ home, the McFarlin Fellows was firmly established, and the first official dinner with a speaker was held in October 1993.

Over the years there have been many fascinating and notable speakers and events, including Nobel Laureate Sir V. S. Naipaul; Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Mary Robinson (then President of Ireland); NPR commentator, writer, and librarian Nancy Pearl; the unveiling of the Sir Rupert Hart Davis Library; Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney; and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (“The Civil War,” “Baseball,” “Jazz”).

The Adrian Alexander Librarian in Residence program was founded in 2023 thanks to a generous gift from Peggy Helmerich, in Dean Alexander’s name, upon his retirement. This fund establishes a new category of employee for McFarlin Library. The analog is the post-doc in academic departments in that this position is designed to attract credentialed librarians at the beginning of their professional careers. The expectation is that candidates would have completed their MLS degree recently, or be within one semester of completion from an accredited library graduate program.

The benefit to McFarlin Library is identifying and engaging credentialed staff for one year to work closely with permanent staff librarians on designated projects that could include any of the library’s priority functions.

Residents are part-time term employees (one calendar year), supervised by a designated director within McFarlin. Each resident will receive a specific job description and work on special projects of high priority within the library.

• Merkel Memorial Library Fund
• Harold S. Philbrick Trust
• G.H. Galloway – Earth Sciences Fund
• Lucious N Littauer Judaica Fund
• LaVere S. Anderson Collection
• Barry Clark Day Library Fund
• Rita & George Singer
• Bank of Oklahoma
• One for Two Challenges
• Pat and Arnold Brown
• Frances W. O’Hornett Special Collections
• Bobbye & Dewitt Potter
• Pat & Arnold Brown