Kate Warnick and Friends

Photograph of Kate Warnick standing beside her portrait with close associates (left to right) Rabbi Levi A. Olan, Bishop O. Eugene Slater, and Perkins School of Theology Dean Joseph Quillian, February 9, 1972.

Marion Katherine (“Kate”) Cullom (1896–1993) was born in Garland, Texas, the daughter of Dora Sewell Cullom and newspaperman John H. Cullom. As a young adult, Kate studied music at Southern Methodist University (SMU). She began working in the SMU library under the direction of Dorothy Amann in the fall of 1918. On May 20, 1920, she married John Warnick, an Army Air Corps veteran of World War I.

Kate Warnick served as Librarian of the SMU School of Theology (now Perkins School of Theology) from 1924 until 1950 and as Reference and Methodist Historical Librarian at Bridwell Library from 1951 to 1979. She served a single term as President of the Methodist Librarians Fellowship (1963–1964) and several years as Librarian-Historian of the South Central Jurisdictional Association of Methodist Historical Societies.

In 1972 Kate Warnick was honored with a Ministers Week luncheon tribute and the presentation of her portrait to Bridwell Library. Although this event was to have marked her official retirement, Kate Warnick worked at Bridwell Library another seven years.