THE LITERARY HERITAGE OF TEXAS COMIC LEGEND
E AT S & R E A D S
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Cross Plains’ Conan The Barbarian
Glen Rose’s Story Book Café and Mobeetie’s The Cowboy Oasis Café
The Oldest Library in Texas Alpine Cowboy Poetry
FALL EDITION
VOLUME 5 2020
Hank The Cowdog!
Connecting Grapevine to Dallas/Fort Worth and beyond through TEXRail.
Get out of town in town. Grapevine’s newest transit-oriented landmark features Harvest Hall with seven globally-inspired kitchens, lively entertainment venues, an observation tower worthy of Texas sunsets and the luxurious Hotel Vin. Get ready—something grand is coming this fall. Stay Tuned at GrapevineMain.com
Welcome to the 2020 Fall Edition of Authentic Texas!
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e’re delighted to be back in print! And we’re as committed as ever to providing a quarterly printed magazine. It goes without saying that this year is undoubtedly unique, and that we are all living through a particularly challenging time. Our 2020 Spring edition was hot off the presses and hitting our distribution channels when, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, travel restrictions and shelter in place orders were issued. This led to the Spring issue having an extended presence in visitor centers, historic sites and other delivery points. A variety of coronavirus-related factors prevented us from printing our 2020 Summer issue. Instead, the material for that issue was made available on our new digital platform. Visitors to the site are welcome to read up to three articles for free and then need a digital subscription to continue viewing material. So, readers now have a choice of a print and/or digital subscription. (For subscription details, see AuthenticTexas. com/Subscribe). In addition to the quarterly digital (web-based) version of Authentic Texas magazine, we are also now offering a free monthly e-newsletter. Delivered to your inbox on the second Wednesday of each month, the newsletter offers additional tidbits related to articles in our current magazine issue plus exclusive new authentic Texas heritage features. Sign up for the free newsletter on the website. With the changes outlined above, you now have a variety of ways to receive articles, updates, videos and additional information on the authentic people, places and things of Texas! We hope our readers are inspired to travel and visit the places and communities highlighted by Authentic Texas, whether that trip is next weekend or a couple of months down the road. As our state reopens, restaurants and cafés, lodging establishments, museums, attractions, parks and historic sites are working to provide a healthy, safe and enjoyable environment.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage everyone to heed the advice of the CDC as well as state and local travel notices and health recommendations. Be sure to check with your destination to confirm hours of operation, and any local or site-specific visitation guidelines. The Literary Heritage of Texas is the overarching theme of this issue. Most of the first writings about Texas were narratives and fact-based accounts of the land, the people and the plants and animals; Spanish and French accounts spurred exploration. Letters and diaries give insight to the Texas Revolution era, perspectives from a variety of immigrants, and reasons for governmental decisions. Later, the fight for independence, the adventures of cowboys and trail drives and then the high stakes for wildcatters and oil barons all provided plenty of material for fiction and non-fiction works. Texas’s literary heritage is so rich that writings by Texans or about the Lone Star State could be examined more deeply by various time periods and genres. We hope you enjoy this introduction. Happy Trails, The Authentic Texas Team
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Taylor County, Mason County, and Lee County Courthouses
Historic Preservation News Over $20 Million In Restoration Grants Awarded to Nine Historic Texas Courthouses
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During its June quarterly meeting, the Texas Historical Commission announced grant recipients for Round XI of the nationally recognized Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program (THCPP). Matching grants totaling $20,038,121 were awarded to nine counties to aid in preservation of their historic courthouses, including three grants for full restorations. Callahan, Mason, and Taylor counties received construction grants for full restorations. Kimble, Washington, Wise, and Willacy counties received planning grants. Duval and Lee Counties received emergency grants to address critical issues. The THCPP Round XI grants were made possible through a $25 million appropriation by the 86th Texas Legislature. Over $2.5 million of those funds were distributed last year to counties with unforeseen conditions in the form of supplemental funding. For more information, visit www.thc.texas.gov.
The Literary Heritage of Texas
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t a most basic level, literature uses the written word to helps us understand people, societies, events, culture and traditions. When we read literary works, we travel to other realms and times, we begin to consider different perspectives and understand the complexity of human nature, and we share the writer’s or characters’ joys and pains. Ergo, the history and culture of Texas can be found in “the literary heritage of Texas.” The first writings about Texas were by Spanish and French explorers. These writings were narratives and fact-based accounts of the land, the people and the plants and animals; frequently these works spurred future exploration.
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent. – Henry David Thoreau
Letters, diaries and other personal accounts give insight to the colonization of Texas, the Texas Revolution era, and insight for political and governmental workings. The first book solely about Texas in English was written by Mary Austin Holley, one of Stephen F. Austin’s
cousins. Originally printed in 1833 as Texas, the piece was expanded and retitled History of Texas in 1836. John Crittenden Duval (also from the mid1800s) wrote about his escape from the Goliad Massacre in Early Times in Texas and Adventures of Big Foot Wallace. Later, twentieth-century author J. Frank Dobie hailed Duval as the Father of Texas Literature. Following the American Civil War, the collection of Texas literature multiplied exponentially. Traditional note-worthy authors include J. Frank Dobie, Walter Prescott Webb, Thomas Calloway Lea, J. Evetts Haley, Sally Reynolds Matthews; Katherine Anne Porter, T. R Fehrenbach and Larry McMurtry. The fight for independence, the adventures of cowboys and trail drives and then the high stakes for wildcatters and oil barons all provided plenty of material for fiction and non-fiction works. Works of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and drama abound in the literary heritage of the Lone Star State. In fiction alone, readers can select from a magnitude of Texas-based works categorized as Southern, Western, Chicano, African American, and Urban. Texas’s literary heritage is so rich that writings by Texans or about the Lone Star State could be examined more deeply by various time periods and genres. Visit AuthenticTexas.com for more of this discussion.
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Texas Heritage Trail Regions
FROM OUR READERS, FA N S A N D F O L L O W E R S
The Texas Heritage Trails program is based on 10 scenic driving trails created in 1968 by Gov. John Connally and the Texas Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation) as a tool for visitors to explore the Lone Star State. The trails were established in conjunction with HemisFair, an international expo that commemorated the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio. In 1997, the State Legislature charged the Texas Historical Commission with creating a statewide heritage tourism program. The THC responded with a program based on local, regional and state partnerships, centered on the 10 driving trails. Today, each trail region is a nonprofit organization governed by a regional board of directors that supports educational and preservation efforts and facilitates community development through heritage tourism.
The Aviation in Texas issue was fantastic. I had no idea what an important role our state has played in the aviation industry. The stories about the early women aviators were so inspirational. Amelia Earhart had nothing on them! C. THOMPSON, SAN ANTONIO
FROM OUR FACEBOOK POST ON STORM’S We travel from Fort Worth to the Hill Country frequently and its always a tough decision if we’re going to take 281 and have Storms or go through Brownwood for Underwoods. We couldn’t live without those! K. MICHAEL
FROM OUR FACEBOOK POST RECOMMENDING THE TIME IT NEVER RAINED BY ELMER KELTON I lived through the Time It Never Rained, watched my family brought to it’s knees, by sickness, by drought, and circumstances not of their making and certainly not by choice. I learned that hard times can hit anyone but you don’t quit trying, you never quit loving and helping one another. C. B. COTTLE
PLAINS TRAIL TexasPlainsTrail.com
PECOS TRAIL TexasPecosTrail.com
LAKES TRAIL TexasLakesTrail.com
MOUNTAIN TRAIL TexasMountainTrail.com
FORTS TRAIL TexasFortsTrail.com
FOREST TRAIL TexasForestTrail.com
HILL COUNTRY TRAIL TxHillCountryTrail.com
TROPICAL TRAIL TexasTropicalTrail.com
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BRAZOS TRAIL TexasBrazosTrail.com
INDEPENDENCE TRAIL TexasIndependenceTrail.com
We love hearing from readers, fans and followers, email us at director@authentictexas.com. Address letters to Authentic Texas, 3702 Loop 322, Abilene, TX 79602; or send us a note at AuthenticTexas. com/contact. Letters/comments may be edited for clarity and length.
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FEATURES
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Au t h e n t i c P e rso n
au t h e n t i c t h i n g
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It’s the Year of Hank the Cowdog in his hometown of Perryton, Texas, and he is primed for his 75th book appearance this fall after 9 million copies in print.
For the first time in its 25-year history, the 2020 Texas Book Festival will be held virtually, after growing to be one of the largest literary events in the nation.
Serving historians, families, and libraries across the state, The Texas State Library and Archives Commission is a literary treasure trove.
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CONTRIBUTORS MEET SOME OF THE CONTENT CREATORS whose works appear in the Fall 2020 Authentic Texas. And if you have comments about the stories in this issue— or suggestions for a destination or theme you’d like to see in the future—send us a note at authentictexas.com/contact
SIDNEY SCHUHMANN LEVESQUE is the marketing director for the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council and an avid reader who loves storybooks and Texas history.
Founded by the Texas Heritage Trails LLC PUBLISHER Margaret Hoogstra Director@AuthenticTexas.com ADVERTISING Jim Stone Sales@AuthenticTexas.com MANAGING EDITOR Editor@AuthenticTexas.com DESIGN DIRECTOR Troy Myatt SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Steven Lyons CONTRIBUTORS Jennifer Borderud, Barbara Brannon, Susan Floyd, Loretta Fulton, Dee Lackey, Sidney Schuhmann Levesque, Bob McCullough, Andy Rhodes, Catherine Sak, Mark Smith
LORETTA FULTON is a freelance writer in Abilene. JENNIFER BORDERUD is associate librarian and director of the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
BARBARA BRANNON Writer, editor and book historian, Barbara is proud to live in the “Tiny House Capital of America,” Spur, Texas. CATHERINE SAK Catherine has served as the executive director of the Texas Downtown Association (TDA) since 2007. Prior to joining TDA, she worked as project manager of a firm specializing in historic renovations, as a city planner, and as program manager of a local nonprofit. In ten years she’s visited over 125 Texas cities and is looking forward to adding more to her list.
MARK SMITH A fifth generation Texan, Mark Smith serves as the chief executive of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. In this position, he is known as the Texas State Librarian.
SUSAN FLOYD She was previously a professional archivist; today, Susan serves as the Communications Officer for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. With a Master’s in English and a love for history, Susan also, of course, loves reading. BOB MCCULLOUGH lives near Camp Verde and frequently contributes to regional and national magazines. He’s also communications director for Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, the world’s first theme park designed with special-needs individuals of all ages in mind.
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DEE LACKEY is a semi-retired journalist residing in San Angelo with her husband, Jerry. She has enjoyed communication careers at West Texas Rehabilitation Center, Angelo State University and San Angelo Standard-Times.
EDITORIAL BOARD Texas Brazos Trail Region Coleman Hampton, LLC Manager Andrea Barefield, Executive Director Texas Forts Trail Region Jeff Salmon, LLC Manager Tammie Virden, Executive Director Texas Lakes Trail Region Billy Huckaby, LLC Manager Jill Campbell Jordan, Executive Director Texas Mountain Trail Region Randall Kinzie, LLC Manager Wendy Little, Executive Director Texas Pecos Trail Region Bill Simon, LLC Manager Melissa Hagins, Executive Director Texas Plains Trail Region Dolores Mosser, LLC Manager Allison Kendrick, Executive Director Texas Tropical Trail Region Mike Carlisle, LLC Manager Nancy Deviney, Executive Director
Texas Heritage Trails LLC 3702 Loop 322 Abilene, TX 79602 AuthenticTexas.com (325) 660-6774 Texas Heritage Trails LLC is owned and operated by seven nonprofit heritage trails organizations.
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DEPARTMENTS LOCAL
LIFE
LEGACY
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Trail Drives
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Literary Heritage of Texas
Literature carries the history and culture of Texas.
Hometown Historians Joe Holley, Paula Allen and Joe Herring
Tied together with passion for Texas Literature and the Haley Library
Texas icon
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A True Texas Saga
John Worth Cloud’s The Legend of Old Stone Ranch
yonder
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Fred Gipson
Patrick Dearen and Pat McDaniel
Eats & Drinks
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Storiebook Café
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Cowboy Oasis Café
Written by this Mason native, Old Yeller is on the top shelf of Southwestern Literature.
In the town of Glen Rose, stories and sandwiches share a home.
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A gathering place in the town of Mobeetie, the “mother city” of the Panhandle
At the State Archives
WPA Texas Writers’ Projects combined research with heritage tourism promotion.
Deep in the art
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Alpine’s Cowboy Poetry
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Old Bayview Cemetery
Pilgrimage to Cross Plains
Alpine’s Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering carries on a three-decade tradition.
“Voice of South Texas” brings history to life in Corpus Christi’s historic cemetery. TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
A destination for fans of pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard
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Reading Austin
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Jacksonville’s Historic Tomato Bowl
city lights
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Leaf through literary destinations in Texas’ capital city.
Abilene Brings Books to Life
The Storybook Capital of Texas
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Rosenberg Library
The namesake of Galveston businessman Henry Rosenberg is the oldest library in Texas.
Browning Library
Baylor Library and Museum is dedicated to the lives and works of British poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
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Red Steagall Fort Worth’s Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering keeps cowboy heritage and values alive.
Football stadium preservation brings heritage and sports together.
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Texamination Take our Texas literary trivia quiz.
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The state’s official epic poem – The Legend of Old Stone Ranch – is an authentic Texas saga.
From Mason, Texas, writer Fred Gipson’s work Old Yeller continues to enchant young readers.
Through art and an annual festival, children’s storybooks come to life in Abilene, the Storybook Capital of America.
Hank the Cowdog, the Texas Book Festival and the Texas State Library and Archives
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A True Texas Saga John Worth Cloud’s The Legend of Old Stone Ranch by Loretta Fulton
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… On a high hill overlooking Old Stone Ranch, a cemetery With a single grave stands vigil…
nd so begins part IX of chapter 35 of The Legend of Old Stone Ranch: A Saga of Texas Borderlands, which was adopted August 7, 1969, as the official epic poem of the State of Texas when then Governor Preston Smith signed Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8. The haunting passage was inspired by a graveyard scene that the poem’s author, John Worth Cloud, came across while researching Shackelford County Sketches by Don H. Biggers. That led to Cloud’s taking on the daunting challenge of writing a poem of epic proportions. The Legend of Old Stone Ranch, like the Swedish Kalevala, is written in unrhymed eight-syllable verse and tells the story of a specific geographic area. In Albany, Texas, seat of Shackelford County, where Cloud had moved in 1953, the day the resolution was signed was a memorable one for just about everyone in the community. “They were really excited about it,” recalled longtime Albany resident, rancher, and history buff Clifford Teinert. When Cloud wrote the poem—a book weighing in at 390 pages—he was working at the Albany News as a writer and Linotype operator. His wife, Josie Herrington Cloud, was a schoolteacher. Cloud died in 1990 in a Denton nursing home, and his wife died in 2002. Both are buried in Huntington Cemetery in Angelina County, birthplace of Josie Cloud. 14
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Author John Worth Cloud (Left) and his wife Josie Cloud, display copies of the state’s epic poem The Legend of Old Stone Ranch.
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The Senate resolution commends poet Cloud “for his distinguished accomplishment in delineating the glorious country that is Texas and interlacing romance and description with the charming legends of American Indians to make the Legend of Old Stone Ranch a true Texas saga.” The “old stone ranch” cited in the title still stands in its restored state in southwestern Throckmorton County, which adjoins Shackelford County to the north. The late Hardin-Simmons University English professor Lawrence Clayton wrote an entry about the ranch for The Handbook of Texas online. The ranch was founded in 1855 by Capt. Newton C. Givens, who at the time was commander of a company of the Second
The Legend of Old Stone Ranch: A Saga of Texas Borderlands John Worth Cloud, with foreword by John Ben Shepperd. Limited edition privately published in Fandangleland by The Albany News, 1968 xiv, 390 pp., grey cloth-covered boards with silver lettering on the front cover and spine. Second printing by Terrill Wheeler. Printing Co., 1968.
United States Dragoons, stationed at nearby Camp Cooper. The ranch history is intertwined with the West Central Texas region of the state. Clayton wrote that in 1866 the Barber Watkins Reynolds family and ranch crew moved there. Their daughter, Sallie Reynolds, who married John Alexander Matthews in 1876, left a record of the ranch in her book Interwoven. In 1879, a fire caused the stones to tumble in the ranch house. The property was transferred from the Givens estate to John H. Hancock of Austin and then sold to the Reynolds and Matthews families in 1880. By the 1980s, it had become a part of the famed Lambshead Ranch, founded by John Alexander Matthews. Clayton wrote that in 1983, Watt Matthews began reconstruction of the ranch structures, following scant directions left in his mother’s book and old photographs made before the roof timbers collapsed. John Worth Cloud’s tombstone in Huntington Cemetery notes that he was an editor, journalist, and poet. He also worked for various Texas oil companies and owned several Texas weekly newspapers from 1939 to 1950. A year before Cloud’s poem was honored by the legislature, it was named by the Texas State Historical Survey Committee (today’s Texas Historical Commission) as “Best Historical Publication of the Year on Local or Regional History.” Copies can be found in some libraries and online.
DON’T MISS Visit Albany albanytexaschamberof commerce.wordpress.com Old Jail Art Center
201 South 2nd Albany, TX 76430 (325) 762-2269 Closed Sundays, Mondays and Major Holidays Hours: 10 am-5 pm
theojac.org
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yon d e r DON’T MISS Visit Mason masontxcoc.com Eckert Memorial Library 410 Post Hill Road Mason, TX 76856 (325) 347-5446
masontexas library.com
Visit Austin austintexas.org Harry Ransom Center The University of Texas at Austin 300 W. 21st St. Austin, TX 78712 (512) 471-8944
hrc.utexas.edu Texas State Cemetery 909 Navasota St. Austin, TX 78702 (512) 463-0605
cemetery.tspb. texas.gov
LOOKING TO THE HILLS A sculpture of Old Yeller and his companion Travis keep watch at the entrance of the M. Beven Eckert Library in Mason, just off the courthouse square. Erected in 1999, the sculpture is by noted Texas artist Garland Weeks of Lubbock. Photo courtesy of the Eckert Library
Mason’s Master Storyteller Fred Gipson Still Enchanting Readers by Dee Lackey
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ason author Fred Gipson’s primary works – Hound-dog Man and Old Yeller – have positioned him on the top shelf of Southwestern literature. Hailed by Eastern book critics, honored by peers and sought after by Disney movie producers, this native son of the Hill Country remained loyal to his Texas roots – for it was in the sandy, red soils and muddy riverbanks that he found his inspiration. 16
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Born in 1908 to humble, farming parents, he grew up with a brother and four sisters (Stella also became a writer). His hardscrabble upbringing never embittered him because he knew a fellow could always retreat to the natural world of creeks and critters. Gipson left home to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he encountered folklorist J. Frank Dobie, yet he quit school to become a reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. He moved to San Angelo where he
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worked at the Standard-Times and soon married Tommie Wynn. Also, he had begun selling short stories to pulp Westerns and slick magazines such as Collier’s and Look. Newspaper work was never his forte, but it greatly increased his pool of personalities for later use. The Gipson family soon included two sons: Mike born in 1940 and Beck in 1945. His first book, The Fabulous Empire, was a moderate success when published in 1946, but it would be Hound-dog Man, released a year later which established his reputation in literary circles. Five more books would be released before Old Yeller (his favorite) was published in 1956. Disney’s film version starring San Angelo native Fess Parker, Tommy Kirk and Dorothy McGuire followed the next year. Gipson resented his time in fastpaced Hollywood working on the movie’s screenplay; however, he and Disney saw eye-to-eye on numerous issues including the story’s realistic, sad ending. His writing habits had been to compose and type during the morning hours and work outdoors on the land in the afternoons. Tommie would correct and retype the manuscript which often benefitted from her editing and organizational skills. Ultimately, he wrote 12 books, several screenplays and hundreds of short stories. Yet words from his manual typewriter came with difficulty. Like other creative personalities, he was often burdened with depression, frustration and a serious lack of self-confidence. Gipson drank and smoked heavily, and his oldest son’s suicide in 1962 brought shock, grief and a worsening level of despondency. He and Tommie separated and ultimately divorced in 1964. On a brighter note, his son Beck had married and presented Fred with his first grandchild, Benjamin, in 1970. Gipson’s final years were spent enjoying little Ben, conserving the land, writing occasionally and visiting with old friends who stopped by his ranch home near Mason. He died in his sleep of a
READ MORE
For a detailed account of Gibson’s life read Mike Cox’s definitive biography, Fred Gipson, Texas Storyteller, published in 1980.
A boy and his dog participating in an Old Yeller look-alike contest at event in downtown Mason. - Courtesy of Eckert Library
brain hemorrhage in August 1973 at age 65. Gipson’s granite marker at the Texas State Cemetery reads simply: His Books Are His Monuments. He rests near fellow literary luminaries Dobie and historian Walter Prescott Webb.
Now, new generations of readers continue to discover the antics of boys, hunting dogs and midnight varmint hunts in the moonlit, serene Hill Countryside. Mason’s Eckert Library has a display of Gipson’s published works, his writing desk and personal photographs. At its entrance is a life-size bronze sculpture of Old Yeller and his constant companion, Travis. Normally Mason pays tribute to Gipson each September during an event which includes an Old Yeller film showing at the Odeon Theater. Due to the coronavirus, this year’s fete has been canceled, but is scheduled to return Sept. 25, 2021. The remainder of Gibson’s memorabilia – including manuscripts, correspondence and financial records – is housed at the Harry Ransom Center at UT-Austin.
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DON’T MISS Robert E. Howard Days
Held each June, since 1986
howarddays.com Visit Cross Plains crossplainschamberof commerce.com
DESTINATION Each year fans, researchers and educators from across the world trek to this simple home in Cross Plains, Texas, to learn more about writer Robert E. Howard. It’s also a destination for players of Pokémon-Go! Photo by Troy Myatt
Pilgrimage to the Cross Plains of Robert E. Howard by Jeff Salmon
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est Central Texas town with fewer than 1,000 people is a pilgrimage destination as the hometown of both a 1930s pulp fiction writer and the modern-day creator of a popular computer game. Cross Plains is an unexpected gem in Texas literary heritage and forever connected to the golden age of pulp fiction -- in particular to one well-known barbarian. Author Robert E. Howard might not be a household name in pop culture today but his best-known creation, Conan the Barbarian, remains 18
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an icon known around the world. Driving into Cross Plains on Highway 36 southeast from Abilene we passed the Robert E. Howard home without noticing it. Even with a distinctive white picket fence and several signs, it easily blends into what is known as “the old town” neighborhood. We realized we had passed it and turned to Google Maps to direct us back to it. Little did we know in those actions, two worlds had just collided. The Howard home was purchased by a local non-profit organization in 1989
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and lovingly restored to a close approximation of how it likely looked in the 1930s. We were greeted there by one of the key caretakers of the Howard home museum, Era Lee Hanke. The modest, white, wooden house was purchased in October 1919 by Dr. Isaac Howard for his family and as his occasional doctor’s office. His only son Robert was 13 and had already moved at least seven times, but this would be his last home. He would take his own life here 17 years later. The town today might seem a nondescript place to inspire the bounding imagination of a young fiction reader, who would one day create many fictional worlds. But the charming little town today is a far cry from the oil boom town of the early 1920s in Howard’s formative years. Robert E. Howard biographer Mark Finn, author of Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, weaves a compelling case that the key to understanding the literary works and characters of Howard is in understanding the people and places of Texas
in this time period. “Story-telling, yarn-spinning, blanket-stretching, and telling ‘windies’ was, in the most desolate places of the frontier, welcome entertainment and highly valued.” Howard achieved modest success and fame from short stories published in pulp fiction magazines such as Weird Tales, but it wasn’t until years after his death in 1936 that he gained worldwide fame. His stories were eventually edited, rewritten and published as paperbacks in the late 1960s. His characters then became hugely popular in comic books in the 1970s. But it was the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, that took the character to the greatest heights of pop-culture fame. And if you wonder if anyone from Cross Plains other than Robert E. Howard has made a mark beyond the region, look no further than Era Lee’s own son, John Hanke. The Cross Plains High School graduate went to the University of Texas and eventually made his way to Silicon Valley and worked for Google, developing geographic mapping technology and the Google Maps app – the same app we used to find the museum. He is also the creator of a little smartphone game called Pokémon-Go! that has been downloaded over 1 billion times. More than just a few of the game’s fanatics have traveled from afar to hunt Pokémon in the game creator’s hometown. They discover one of the best hunting locales is the Robert E. Howard home right behind the white picket fence on Highway 36.
READ MORE Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard Author: Mark Finn © 2006, 2013 The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press. Available on
Amazon.com
A portrait of Robert E. Howard placed just outside the entrance to his bedroom where his original typewriter still sits with a typed cryptic message along with crinkled paper and artifacts. Photos courtesy of Troy Myatt.
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DON’T MISS Visit Abilene abilenevisitors.com Story Book Capital of America storybookcapitalof america.com National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature 102 Cedar St. Abilene, TX 79601 (325) 673-4586
nccil.org
DOWN THE HATCH! Children enter the mouth of David Shannon’s “Jangles” fish at the Center for Contemporary Arts during CALF 2015. Courtesy Steve Butman
Abilene Brings Books to Life by Sidney Schuhmann Levesque
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illiam Joyce’s picture book, Santa Calls, tells the story of a little boy named Art Atchinson Aimesworth, who receives a mysterious box at his Abilene ranch just before Christmas in 1908. The box contains a flying machine that takes Art, his sister and friend from dusty West Texas to the icy North Pole, where they meet the jolly man himself. The book started Abilene on its own journey toward becoming not only the official Storybook Capital of Texas but also to claiming the title of Storybook Capital of America, complete with children’s events, public art and a museum 20
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dedicated to children’s illustrated literature. Joyce published his book in 1993. By December of that year, Abilene Mayor Gary McCaleb found himself reading it to a group of school children. Delighted the fictional book was set in Abilene, he called Joyce in Shreveport, La., and invited him to visit. Joyce had never been to Abilene. Why, then, McCaleb asked, had Joyce set the book there? The author/illustrator said he wanted Art to live in a place where he would wear a cowboy hat. “How was I supposed to know Abilene was a city of cock-eyed
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PLENTY TO DO AT CALF Oliver Jeffers signing books at 2018 CALF; Sidney Levesque with Stuart Little sculpture in the Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden. Courtesy Steve Butman and Ninette Hawkins
optimists and dreamers?” Joyce said. His Abilene visit was a success. The Abilene Cultural Affairs Council held a luncheon in his honor, and McCaleb sat down with Joyce for a Q&A. One of the questions the mayor asked was about Joyce’s dreams. Joyce said it would be wonderful for children’s picture book art to receive the same recognition as other forms of art. The cultural affairs council and the Junior League of Abilene, both under the leadership of Lynn Barnett, began organizing exhibits of original picture book illustrations by award-winning artists and dreaming about a permanent gallery. This led to the creation of the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in a renovated historic building. The NCCIL (known locally as The Nickel) celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017. The museum mounts three exhibitions a year by nationally known artists that then tour the country and are seen by thousands. Additionally, the museum hosts summer camps, workshops, artist talks and weekly art projects. Admission to the NCCIL is free and so is much of its programming. Santa Calls also inspired the Storybook Sculpture Project. In 1996, the cultural affairs council commissioned the first sculpture, “Childhood’s Great Adventure,” based on a scene from Santa Calls. This was followed by “Dino Bob” inspired by the Joyce book Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo. Legendary Texas
artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade created the sculpture – complete with an orange Volkswagen – as part of the council‘s biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. In 2012, the NCCIL made plans to exhibit art from the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax, and the cultural affairs council saw an opportunity to create a festival. The first Children’s Art & Literacy Festival (CALF) celebrated the work of Seuss with dramatic readings, art activities and performances. Families earned Seuss buttons for their lanyards as they completed each activity. The Storybook Sculpture Project expanded that first CALF year. The cultural affairs council raised the money to purchase six bronze Seuss sculptures for Everman Park in downtown Abilene. Each year since then, the CALF has brought to life the books of the summer artist on exhibit at the NCCIL over a three-day period on the second weekend of June and added a new storybook sculpture. The festival grew each year. The 2019 festival, which celebrated the work of Peter Brown, drew more than 5,200 people from 191 Texas cities and 12 states. “We love the festival and drive from Fort Worth every year and stay at least one night in Abilene,” said one festival attendee. Debbie Abshire, from Durham, N.C., said the festival is “beyond excellent.” “The absolute best family literacy event in the world.” Building on the city’s growing repu-
tation for child friendly reading events, the cultural affairs council and the Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau worked to secure the title “Storybook Capital of Texas” from the State Legislature in 2015. City leaders pursued a national designation as festival registrants came from more states, NCCIL exhibits toured nationally, and the Storybook Sculpture Project became the largest in the nation. The city successfully trademarked the slogan “Storybook Capital of America” in 2018. More storybook branding is added each year. Several downtown street signs now say “Storybook Way” or “Santa Calls Lane,” and storybook quotes are engraved on nearly 80 limestone benches downtown. “Abilene is a destination that brings storybooks to life and lets families create memorable vacations and stories of their own,” said Nanci Liles, executive director of the Abilene Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Our new moniker speaks to the journey of the imagination that the young and young-at-heart can experience in Abilene.” Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 CALF was held virtually June 11-13 on Facebook. Virtual CALF was a look back at previous years with photos, videos, surprise guests, prizes and crafts inspired by the books. The Facebook content reached 3,000 people. Plans are underway to resume the regular festival in the summer of 2021 celebrating the work of artist Loren Long. FALL 2020
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c i ty l i g h ts
DON’T MISS Rosenberg Library 2310 Sealy St. Galveston, TX 77550 (409) 763-8854
rosenberg-library.org rosenberg-librarymuseum.org/ Mon.–Sat. 9:00 am–5:45 pm Closed Sunday
Galveston and Texas History Center galvestonhistory center.org The Tremont House
2300 Ship Mechanic Row St.,Galveston, TX 77550 (409) 763-0300
thetremonthouse.com Galveston Island Visitor Information Center
2228 Mechanic St., #101 Galveston TX 77550 (888) 425-4753
Galveston.com
Rosenberg Library is an Island Treasure by Mike Carlisle
I
f you Google the question “Which is the oldest library in Texas,” you might be surprised by multiple answers. In April 2017, David Brown of The Texas Signal started the same pursuit retrieving slightly different results than today. The answer is still the Rosenberg Library of Galveston. Following his death in 1893, Swiss immigrant Henry Rosenberg’s largest bequest went to create the Rosenberg Library as a successor to the Galveston Mercantile Library, which dated back to 1871. The new library was built and opened on Rosenberg’s birthday, 22
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June 22, 1904. “I desire to express in a practical form my affection for the city of my adoption and for the people among whom I have lived for so many years, trusting that it will aid their intellectual and moral development, and be a source of pleasure and profit to them and their children, and their children’s children, through many generations,” reads Rosenberg’s last will and testament. From the beginning, the Rosenberg Library was built to provide more than books. It also houses a museum and archive, and an auditorium that once
GALVESTON
INDEPENDENCE TRAIL REGION
LIBRARY NAMESAKE (Left) A bronze of Henry Rosenberg is seated regally atop the steps leading up to the Rosenberg Library. 1904 AUDITORIUM (Top) The Rosenberg’s auditorium, which seated 700 for lectures, was brought back into the light by Phase VII renovations of the library.
seated 700 for free lectures. Hundreds of intellectual and meaningful talks reached nearly 150,000 listeners over the life of the auditorium. Today, the library, museum and archive house more than four million items, including over 100,000 photographs, according to the library’s executive director, John Augelli. “We have the largest archive of early Texas, Galveston History,” said Augelli. “The Texas Historical Society, founded in Galveston shortly after statehood—all they collected came to the Rosenberg Library.” Besides circulating over 250,000 books annually, the library shares art and historical exhibits, films, and lectures, conducts computer classes, and provides meeting facilities for over 100 groups throughout the year. The library has vast collections of art, historical maps, documents, and artifacts such as Sam Houston’s dueling pistols. Many of the items within the history center are digitized and available online through a separate website.
Since 1941, the city and county of Galveston has contributed to support the library with about 75% of the institution’s operating budget coming from public funds. Private endowments and gifts provide the remainder. The Rosenberg Library heads the Galveston County Library System, serving as the county library as well, providing outreach services to seniors, schools, homebound patrons, and hospitals throughout the county. In 1971, the Moody Memorial Wing opened, doubling floor space for more books, children’s library, museum galleries, special collections, meeting rooms, and a historical research center. Lectures and events were moved to the first floor as well, until Hurricane Ike flooded the first floor of the Library in 2008. Despite the Ike disaster, the phased rebuilding effort improved energy efficiency, interior lighting, electrical and climate control systems. The renovations upgraded and expanded technology to
help children learn, and provided a new media center. One final phase of renovation is nearly complete. Phase VII renovations restored the top floor of the 1904 Rosenberg Wing, including the original leaded glass ceilings panels, arched windows and skylight that had been completely hidden since the 1950s. The renovations created more exhibit space for one-of-a-kind items never displayed before. The new open-concept exhibition areas will include new custom exhibit cases and multimedia displays as well. At least three other libraries covet the distinction as the oldest library in Texas, but experts like Mark Smith, director and librarian for the Texas State Library, agree with Augelli’s position: “We are the oldest operating library in Texas.” The Rosenberg Library truly is one of the most utilized libraries in Texas and clearly fulfills Henry Rosenberg’s mandate to contribute the most to Galveston’s intellectual and educational progress. FALL 2020
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LOCAL
c i ty l i g h ts
Baylor’s Browning Library Brings Poetry to the Heart of Texas by Jennifer Borderud
O
ne man’s dream to honor Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning blossomed into a library containing the world’s largest collection of letters and manuscripts by the renowned Victorian poets. Occupying a three-story Italian Renaissance-style building on the Baylor University campus in Waco, the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum is dedicated to the study and appreciation of the lives and works of the Brownings. The library and museum houses original letters and manuscripts, first and subsequent editions of their works, books from the Brownings’ library as well as a number of the poets’ household and personal effects. The library and museum also contains artwork dating back to the Renaissance and 62 stained-glass windows illustrating the Brownings’ poetry. The Armstrong Browning Library and Museum was the vision of Dr. A.J. Armstrong, chairman of Baylor’s English Department from 1912 to 1952. 24
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Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
Armstrong greatly admired the poetry of Robert Browning and taught courses on him. On a trip to Italy in 1909, he met the Brownings’ son, Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning, known as Pen. When Pen died in 1912 without a will, his belongings were auctioned by Sotheby’s in London. Armstrong got a list of buyers, now on display at the library and museum, and began tracking down all the items he could. In 1918, he gave his modest personal col-
WACO
BRAZOS TRAIL REGION
(LEFT) DR. A.J. ARMSTRONG hoped the beauty of the library’s Foyer of Meditation would inspire the next Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Browning. Courtesy of the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum.
DON’T MISS Armstrong Browning Library and Museum 710 Speight Avenue Waco, Texas 76706 (254) 710-3566
Baylor.edu/ browninglibrary
(RIGHT) PIPPA, the fictional character who sings the well-known lines “God’s in his heaven / All’s right with the world” in Robert Browning’s dramatic poem Pippa Passes, greets visitors to the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum. Courtesy of the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum.
lection of Browning materials to Baylor. Over the years the collection grew, and, in a report to Baylor President Pat Neff in 1936, cited by Scott Lewis in his Boundless Life: A Biography of Andrew Joseph Armstrong (2014), Armstrong wrote, “My dream is a Browning Library, and dreams very frequently come true.” With financial commitments from Baylor and donors, construction on the library and museum began in 1948 and was completed in 1951. Additional funding for the Browning collection and building came from profits from a travel agency run by Armstrong and his wife Mary Maxwell Armstrong, and from ticket sales from performances Armstrong arranged at Baylor by famous actors, musicians and poets, including poets Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost. In a letter to Frost, dated Nov. 4, 1921, and now in the library and museum’s archives, Sandburg wrote: [I]f you hear anything from A.J. Armstrong at Baylor University, you will make no mistakes about co-operating with him on plans he may have for bringing you south ... At Dr. Armstrong’s school they not only read a man’s books before he arrives but they buy them in record-breaking numbers. His interest in you is a sure one and they have a way of looking after you
Mon.-Fri. 9:00 am5:00 p.m., Admission is free; donations accepted
Visit Waco wacoheartoftexas.com
that gets to your heart. Today, collections have expanded to include books, manuscripts, periodicals, tracts, pamphlets, art and other cultural artifacts on 19th-century literature and culture. The collections attract visiting scholars from around the world pursuing in-residence research and support
the teaching and research needs of Baylor faculty and students and the local community. Additionally, the library and museum serves as a cultural venue for the Baylor campus, hosting public lectures, symposia and concerts, and drawing more than 30,000 visitors a year.
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P E R S O N
“Nobody in the literary world would have touched a book narrated by a ranch dog who was five bales short of a full load of hay”
An interview with Hank the Cowdog and his creator, John R. Erickson BY BARBAR A BR ANNON
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you love to travel the Lone Star State as much as we do, it doesn’t take much to inspire your next road trip. A photo of a blazing Big Bend sunset. An image of a field of bluebonnets. An illustration of the Alamo, or Palo Duro Canyon. A mouth-watering shot of beef brisket right from the smoker, so detailed you could taste it. Any of these might make a winning magazine cover. Since the debut of Authentic Texas in 2016, though, we’ve taken a different tack. Our team decided early on that our way of representing Texas’s places would be through its authentic faces. Who wouldn’t be eager to go see Monarch butterflies in migration after hearing about their beauty from former first lady Laura Bush? Who wouldn’t be keen to visit the Wheeler hometown of Apollo astronaut Alan L. Bean after learning he was as talented a painter as a pilot? Who wouldn’t love to go hear Little Joe Hernandez play a set after reading his personal story? 28
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Starting with Buffalo Gap chef Tom Perini, we’ve featured 17 Authentic Texans on our covers. They’ve included Christine Nix, the first Black female Texas Ranger. Filmmaker Richard Linklater. Railroad enthusiast Mary Irwin. Architect Karl Komatsu. But never have we had an Authentic Dog. Until now. When we brainstormed the many, many living figures who might represent the wide-ranging literary heritage of Texas, our whiteboard quickly filled with award winners and best-sellers. Poets, novelists, historians, illustrators, screenwriters, and more—we could’ve populated an entire book festival with this year’s new Texas authors alone. What common denominator, we asked the group, appealed to everyone? What book did every Texan know, regardless of age or interest? What leading character was universally beloved— and maybe even better known than his creator? We had our answer. A scruffymugged, feline-hatin’, adventure-seekin’, badge-wearin’, true-blue-loyal Head of Ranch Security dreamed up by a Panhandle rancher with aspirations to writerly achievement and brought to life by an artist friend. Yes, we’re talking none other than Hank the Cowdog, primed for his 75th book appearance this fall after 9 million copies in print. After all, it’s the Year of Hank in his hometown of Perryton, Texas, and Hank looks forward to being featured at the virtual 25th annual Texas Book Festival in November. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with this season’s Authentic Person, er, Canine, and his creator John R. Erickson. And we hope you’ll be inspired to get out and see some of the rugged country above the Canadian River that Hank calls home. It’s a landscape Hank has in common with one of Erickson’s other works, the recently reissued memoir Through Time and the Valley. Maybe our favorite cowdog won’t mind sharing the spotlight for a bit after he’s answered a few questions.
THE GARBAGE SPACE MONSTER AND SLIM’S GOODBYE (Left) Hank comes face to face with a notorious gang of raccoons who have been raiding Sally May’s garbage barrels and (Below) Hank and Drover hitch a ride with Slim as he hits the road looking for a new job.
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banker wouldn’t have loaned either one of them a pair of sox. Holmes was ranch-raised and grew up with Ace Reid cartoons taped on the refrigerator door. He could draw a bucking horse and sure knew how to put a face on a Head of Ranch Security—me. Lady dogs all over Texas have been grateful ever since. All those calamities and commotions over the years! What were some of your most memorable adventures? AT:
Yes, I’ve had a very adventurous life and have cheated death many times: skunks, porcupines, wild hogs, tornadoes, and the Charlie Monsters. My scariest deal came when I threw up in Sally May’s shoe and she tried to strangle me in the back yard. Lucky for me, her mother-in-law showed up for Thanksgiving. That was a close call. HANK:
What do you think accounts for the enduring popularity of your stories? AT:
THE SECRET PLEDGE Hank still trying to unlock Miss Beulah’s heart as she has fallen for a bird-brained bird dog.
AUTHENTIC TEXAS:
Hank, if memory serves, you made your first appearance in print in 1982. Now, thirty-eight is an awfully long time in dog years. What could there possibly be for a pup to do these days, that you haven’t already done? You’d think that after a while, I’d have all the messes cleaned up and all the cases solved, but when you’re Head of Ranch Security, the job never ends. The raccoons keep wrecking the feed barn, the coyotes keep trying to poach a chicken… slurp…please disregard that slurp…and someone has to humble the local cat. It’s exhausting. HANK THE COWDOG:
If you don’t mind, tell our readers how you entered the imagination of John Erickson all those years ago. Sort of a creation tail, you might say.
Well, John grew up in the Panhandle. After college, instead of trying to amount to something, he combined two bad habits, cowboying and writing, and went to work on ranches. He wrote in the early morning hours and sent things off to New York publishers. They told him to go get a real job, but he didn’t listen and kept banging out hot-shot literary novels on his typewriter. After fifteen years, he figured it out: they didn’t like him, so he started writing for cow papers in Texas. That’s where we met in 1981. HANK:
It was Gerald Holmes who drew your first portrait. How did that come about? Did you have to “Sit” for it? AT:
AT:
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When they met in 1976, Gerald was working at a feedlot and John was punching cows in Oklahoma. A smart HANK:
Beats me. Maybe people get tired of reading stuff that ruins their day. Erickson isn’t too smart but he sees the funny things that happen to people and dogs. I seldom do silly things (I’m Head of Ranch Security, don’t forget), but it’s fun to hear about the weird things others do. We might as well laugh about it. HANK:
What do you consider to be your most endearing trait? AT:
Well, how much time do we have? This could take a while. Tell you what, I’ll cut to the bone and make a short list. Courteous, kind, obedient, reverent, thrifty, brave, strong, loyal, fearless, sincere, brave, strong, loyal, and above all, smart. That’s a big one, smart. Of course, if you asked the lady dogs, they’d mention my long cowdog nose. Awesome. They’re always fainting when I come around. HANK:
AT: Hank, we’ve heard you pen a verse or two and even howl a tune in audiobooks we’ve listened to. Give us an example of your favorite, um, doggerel!
HANK:
There’s wisdom in this one:
Never get your thrills from a guy who’s wearing quills. Bet you five you’ll get your fill pretty quick, and you will. Yes, you will. Most of our readers know about the terrible wildfire in 2017 that burned the ranch where you work (partly because they’ve read your book about it). What was that experience like? AT:
Well, prairie fires are hard on dogs, clothes, and old men. They’re hot and make a lot of smoke. If they get close to your house, they’ll burn it down. Our cows had no grass and were chasing every pickup that went down the road. We gave ’em feed and they bawled for more. They’re greedy and ungrateful. All they think about is food. Dogs are that way too but…never mind, skip it. HANK:
AT: You
and John began collaborating on a series of books about ranching life recently for the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock. What do you enjoy most about this new direction? (Oh, and you’re not going to quit with the main series, are you?!) HANK: Teaching
the kids is a natural part of my job with the Security Division. • Don’t take trash off the cats • Brush your teeth once a week • Eat your spinach • Don’t eat cookies in bed • If you barf, don’t do reruns in front of the ladies, it really grosses them out. Most mutts don’t know squat about ranch work, but I know a lot. I’ve done four books with the NRHC and they get ’em into the schools. You know how I figured out Jim Brett Campbell, the director of the NRHC, was a genu-wine rancher himself? He wrote it in the contract that I get two scoops of Co-op dog food per book. AT:
Hank, this next one’s for John. What
did you aspire to write about Texas, and how did you wind up creating a children’s story series? I grew up in Perryton, a little farm and ranch town in the Panhandle, and it never occurred to me that I could write about such a place. I figured I would have to live in New York and write about “important things.” I tried living in important places (New York, Boston, and Austin) and found, to my disappointment, that everything I wrote was bad: dark, depressing, and ugly. Kris and I moved back to Perryton in 1970. I went to work on ranches and began writing about what I was seeing and doing. It wasn’t “important” in the usual literary sense, but it had heart and soul, and it was funny. I was surprised to find that rural Texas had produced some fine authors, including John Graves and Elmer Kelton. I learned from both, had great admiration for them, and tried to incorporate their insights into my writing. But the Hank stories weren’t an imitation, they were a gift that just dropped out of the sky. It was the kind of blessing that comes after you’ve been looking for something for fifteen years but were never sure what it was. Hank just showed up in a short article I wrote for The Cattleman magazine in 1981 and from the very beginning, there was magic in those stories. I didn’t plan it or predict it, and never intended for the stories to be for children. Nobody in the literary world would have touched a book narrated by a ranch dog who was five bales short of a full load of hay, so I started Maverick Books in our garage in Perryton and published them myself. I had to build an audience from the grass roots, and it has worked out far better than I could have dreamed. JOHN ERICKSON:
The characters in the Hank books, from Slim Chance to Sally May to Pete the Barn Cat, feel familiar to Texas readers—and so do the scenes and settings, AT:
such as the platform dances that people used to attend in Lipscomb to the great ranch expanses of the Canadian Breaks. Are they based on real people and places—and where fans can experience Hank’s Texas for themselves? The Hank stories are a loving portrait of rural America, people who live in little towns and on isolated ranches. They work hard, try to make the world a little better through honest work and good kids, and share their lives with livestock and dogs. They are people who tell stories, funny stories that contain humility and a wonderful innocence. You can meet those characters in any feed store, church, or tire shop in West Texas and hear their voices at a wedding reception, funeral, grass fire, branding, or country dance. You can learn about them and their history at the Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, the Haley Library in Midland, or any county museum between Crane and Perryton. Hank lives in a tiny world…but the odd thing is that those silly little books are popular in China and Iran, countries that aren’t supposed to like us. It tells me that they recognize something dignified and beautiful in the American Heartland. JRE:
The Hank the Cowdog books are still published and sold in Perryton—that’s got to be a pretty big undertaking! Did you ever consider a different distribution channel for your books? AT:
I never expected Hank to become a star, but by the time we had published the first ten books in Perryton, we realized that we needed a more sophisticated distribution system. Gary Rinker had joined me by then, an accounting whiz-kid fresh out of Wayland Baptist University, and he negotiated a deal with Texas Monthly Press to take over the publishing and distribution. Later, we moved the series to Viking-Penguin in New York. When they decided not to renew the contract, we moved it all back to Perryton. JRE:
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(ABOVE) ORIGINAL INSPIRATIONS Hank The Cowdog original illustration from artist Gerald Holmes. This illustration was restored and is featured on the front cover. (Left) Author John Ericson and late Hank The Cowdog Illustrator, Gerald Holmes All photos and illustrations are from John Ericson
We have a big warehouse full of Hank books and audios. When you buy a Hank book at a store or on Amazon, it comes from Ochiltree County, Texas. The past couple of years have brought great challenge and change for you and Kris—the devastation of the ranch and your original works, and Gerald’s passing. How is your literary career evolving? AT:
The fire dealt us a serious blow and we learned to appreciate the words of Job: “Naked I came into this world and naked I will leave it.” But we had strong hands and good angels holding us up: family, church, community, and people we didn’t even know. It took us thirty-nine months to rebuild, but we’re back at home on the ranch. One of the positive things that came out of the fire was that I wrote a nonfiction book about the wildfires of 2006 and 2017, the biggest fires in Texas JRE:
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recorded history. I had a ringside seat to both. Texas Tech University Press will bring it out in 2021. It was hard to say goodbye to Gerald Holmes. We had worked together for thirty years and he had put faces on all my characters. You can’t really replace such a gifted artist, and we dreaded the prospect of trying. We planned to audition a list of prospects but discovered that Nikki Earley, our editor who had worked with Gerald on a number of books, had mastered his style of drawing. She showed us some sketches and won the job. She will make her first appearance in book 75. How is my career evolving? This fall, we’re going to be bringing out a Hank production in a format we’ve never worked in before. It’s going to be a firstclass production that will involve a team of extremely talented individuals. Beyond that, I get up every morning, go to my little office, and write four hours. I’m still writing Hank books and
still enjoying it. I look after my ranch and cattle. I’m an old mule who pulls the same plow every day. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Best of all, I’m still married to the same gal I brung to the dance in 1967. Hank, we’ll come back around to you for the closing question. If you could leave the ranch in Drover’s capable paws for a day or two, what would you want to go see in Texas? AT:
Oh, that’s easy. I’d go camping… at the trash bins behind the Ideal Food Store in Twitchell. I’d wait for the butchers to bring out the beef bones, don’t you see, and chew bones until the world looked level. If a few cats showed up, it would add to the fun. I’d give ’em my Train Horns Bark and run ’em up the nearest telephone pole. Wow, what a life! HANK:
A U T H E N T I C
T H I N G
Texas Book Festival at 25 Goes Virtual
by Jeff Salmon
In March 1989, just two months into serving as First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush established the Foundation for Family Literacy with a stated aim of getting low-income parents reading, creating positive examples for their children. Following her motherin-law’s lead, in 1995, just months into serving as First Lady of Texas, Laura Bush helped establish the Texas Book Festival (TBF) to inspire Texans of all ages to love reading, connect authors and readers through experiences that celebrate the culture of literacy, ideas, and imagination. The Texas Book Festival is now one of the largest literary events in
the nation, typically welcoming about 50,000 people, spread throughout the grounds of the State Capitol and along Austin’s iconic Congress Avenue. For the first time in its 25-year history, the 2020 Texas Book Festival Weekend will be held entirely online offering two full weeks of free programming to the public. The 2020 Festival will feature more than 125 authors starting with the Texas Teen Book Festival on October 31 and November 1, followed by children’s programming from November 2 through 6. Adult programming will take place the final week of the Festival, November 6 through 15. “We invite everyone, and especially
Executive Director, Lois Kim with Author Attica Locke To join the conversation use the hashtag #txbookfest on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @texasbookfest.
Texans from across the state, to take advantage of this year’s Virtual Texas Book Festival to see some of the world’s most celebrated authors for free, from the comfort of their homes,” says Lois Kim, TBF’s Executive Director. The 2020 Festival will include suspense novelist Dean Koontz, award-winning novelist Yaa Gyasi, comedian Michael Ian Black, activist Erin Brockovich, and National Medal of Arts recipient Julia Alvarez. Expanded story and information is available at AuthenticTexas.com
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P L A C E
HISTORY LIVES AT
THE
AND
TEXAS
STATE
ARCHIVES
LIBRARY
COMMISSION
Agency serves historians, families, libraries across the state BY MARK SMITH
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he Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) is a treasure waiting to be discovered. Since its official beginning in 1909, TSLAC has provided a destination for Texans with a passion for history. It has also filled a unique role in encouraging the development of libraries across the state, serving the reading needs of the blind and print disabled, safeguarding public records, and, through the Texas Center for the Book, promoting literacy and a love of books, reading, and library use for all Texans. TSLAC, housed in a mid-century modern landmark building steps away from the east side of the Texas Capitol, opened in 1962 with enthusiastic support from Gov. Price Daniel. The State Library and Archives is a key resource for Texans working on family histories, as well as researchers delving into the millions of documents, manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts documenting the history of Texas from colonial times to the present. Among the vast holdings in the state archives are jewels such as Col. William B. Travis’s impassioned letter from the Alamo written Feb. 24, 1836; the Texas Declaration of Independence – both the handwritten and rare printed broadside versions; and Peter Krag’s original sketch for the Lone Star Flag of Texas from 1838. Visitors to the building step through ornate brass doors into a gorgeous granite, limestone, and terrazzo lobby featuring “Texas Marches to Statehood,” a mural depicting Texas history completed in 1964 by the artist Peter Rogers. Rogers was newly arrived from England when he acquired the commission from his father-in-law, Peter Hurd, a noted painter of New Deal-era post office murals and the official portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (which Johnson loathed, but which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery). The extent of Rogers’ knowledge of Texas history was Lon Tinkle’s Thirteen Days to Glory (1958) which Rogers read at his parents’ kitchen table in the U.K. The resulting mural conveys that stir36
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Above In late 1838, the Texas Senate commissioned a new flag that would better symbolize the independence of the Republic of Texas. This brilliant design was produced by Austin artist Peter Krag for a fee of $10 (about $200 in current dollars). The design was approved on January 25, 1839, and signed on the top by Mirabeau Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas; John M. Hansford, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives; and David Burnet, President of the Texas Senate. Left Governor Daniel and his wife Jean, herself a descendant of Sam Houston, cut the ribbon to officially open the Lorenzo de Zavala State Library and Archives building, April 10, 1962.
ring, romantic view of Texas history. History buffs will love the rotating lobby exhibits featuring choice selections from the archives, most recently, “Women’s Power, Women’s Vote,” commemorating the women’s suffrage movement. TSLAC is also one of only five sites in the state designated as a National Literary Landmark, an honor that was bestowed in a ceremony with former U.S. First Lady Laura Bush in 2012. In addition to its immense research value to historians, genealogists and the general public, TSLAC also supports and encourages the work of local public, K-12, and college and university libraries across the state. This mission to improve library service for all Texans has been in the agency’s DNA since the 1910s. The creation of public libraries was a rallying cry, especially for women’s clubs which saw libraries as a democratizing key to individual advancement and social progress. Early State Librarians Ernest William Winkler and Elizabeth Howard West, the first woman to run a state agency in Texas, campaigned with missionary zeal to expand public library services across Texas. Both Winkler and West were also archivists, and West expanded the early agency’s services to include recorded books for the blind, a program that continues to exist in a thoroughly modern digital version today: the Texas Talking Book Program. TSLAC supports libraries in many ways, including training librarians in management techniques and best practices, supporting the lending of books and other library materials between libraries, and encouraging the use of
Elizabeth Howard West was Texas State Librarian from 1918-1925. the first woman to run a state agency in Texas. She opened the library’s reading room to Blacks and Latinos and introduced services to the blind. West’s actions — at a time of widespread discrimination and segregation–recognized the right of persons of all races and abilities to equally access library books and information.
The State Archives and Library Building, built in 1961, was designed to feature an expansive mural in its lobby to depict Texas’ rich and intricate past. The mural, created by artists Peter Hurd and Peter Rogers, provides an artistic view of historical events, groups and individuals that shaped Texas history.
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Texas Talking Book Program (TBP) staff have been working throughout the pandemic to provide free library services to qualifying Texans with visual, physical, or reading disabilities. The TBP collection, comprised of large print, braille, and audio, includes more than 100,000 titles! The program also runs an in-house recording studio, staffed by dedicated volunteers.
digital resources such as e-books and research materials for students, professionals and the general public. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, libraries have continued to demonstrate the many ways they are essential to their communities. While most libraries closed to walk-in use during the pandemic, many continued to offer services through a variety of creative approaches. Curbside pick-up of materials became a widespread alternative while doors were closed. Some libraries, such as the Georgetown Public Library, offered delivery service to city residents. Many libraries – often the only source of high-speed Internet for Texans if they do not have it at home – boosted their WiFi connections to allow greater access by customers sitting in library parking lots. The Pottsboro Library deployed a WiFi hotspot trailer in the parking lot of a local conference center to provide another point of driveup access. Some libraries pressed their 3-D printers into service making personal protective equipment for first responders in their communities. The Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library in Edinburg made face shields for the local fire department, while the Cleburne Public Library helped create more comfortable facemask buckles for more than 70 city police officers. 38
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But by far the most common strategy used by libraries to engage patrons during the pandemic has been via online resources and services. Use of e-books and other online resources skyrocketed during the closure and many libraries either added resources or took advantage of offers by vendors of those materials to expand access. TSLAC noted a sharp increase in the number of e-resources used through the statewide TexShare program serving public and academic libraries, and TexQuest serving K-12 students across Texas. More than 60 small community libraries across the state also added TSLAC’s new e-book program, E-Read Texas, to allow their patrons access to hundreds of e-book titles. Online story hours and summer reading programs for children have also been wildly popular. Summer is a very busy time in most public libraries in Texas because of robust participation in programs designed to keep kids reading through the hot months. The pandemic hit just as libraries were set to roll out their summer reading plans. Always resilient and nimble, librarians in large and small towns across the state bridged that gap by providing children access to online summer reading programs. From the Marathon County Public Library in far West Texas to the Plano Public Library to the San Antonio Independent
School District’s Online Book Clubs, librarians went online to offer many creative ways to engage young readers. School libraries also played a key role in helping their districts keep students connected with learning during the closure of all public-school campuses in Texas. The Leander Independent School District is typical, offering a wide array of online resources and services. Some libraries are starting to reopen, while others may be closed for a few more weeks. One day soon, however, the libraries of Texas will return to their pre-pandemic operations. At that time, library lovers of all ages will be able to rediscover this wonderful resource. Texans traveling the state will find many libraries in big cities and small towns that are well worth driving out of the way to visit. Consider the following destination libraries for starters: The Austin Public Central Library was designated one of Time Magazine’s “100 greatest places in the world to visit” in 2018. Designed by San Antoniobased Lake Flato Architects and Shepley Bulfinch Architects of Boston, this stunning library integrates comfortable outdoor gardens, copious natural light flooding every corner of the building, and many fun and interesting surprises. Austin’s Central Library is one of the must-see urban libraries in the U.S. In West Texas, the Midland
Left TSLAC continues to digitize paper, photographic, audio, and video records during Covis-19. Here, the Digital Asset Coordinator is working with a volume of handwritten letterpress correspondence from the Governor Richard Coke administration dating to the 1870s. Nearly 4,000 pages of 19th century letterpress volumes of governors’ communications were digitized between March 1 and May 1, 2020. Below Seguin Public Library is not only an architectual paradise but also rests within preserved trees to make for a scenic read.
Centennial Library revived the Midland County Library from the brink of a near-closure to the pride of the city and county. Visitors flock to Centennial to enjoy the path through the rain forest, kids crawl through secret passages into the children’s room, teens use the latest technology in a space all their own, and readers seeking a more traditional library setting enjoy a quiet and formal reading room that is comfy and soundproofed. In Brownsville, the city has created a destination experience for Valley residents with services that expand the traditional role of the library, such as the Exploration Theater and Planetarium, weekly movie screenings, and a full-service cafe. The Seguin Public Library (left) is an architectural jewel, completed by PGAL Architects in 2016, that uses unusual building materials and dazzling modern design elements to create harmonious spaces that make visitors want to linger with a good book. McAllen Public Library Director Kate Horan supervised the conversion of a former big-box retail store into a library that offers contemporary services in an exciting design that encourages visitors to wander the huge space without feeling overwhelmed. Libraries have reinvented themselves in the early 21st century to be community hubs for education, workforce development, technology, and community sustainability. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission as well as libraries across the state welcome millions of customers each day to discover contemporary services with deep roots in Texas history. FALL 2020
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PHOTO COURTESY OF RED STEAGALL
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H i stor ic Journal ists
Stor i e book Ca f e
Mobeetie Oa s i s C a f e
Red S t e ag a l l
Three journalists who share history and heritage in regular newspaper columns.
Pick up a book along with a sandwich in Glen Rose.
Have a seat at the “wisdom table” in the Cowboy Oasis Café.
Cowboy poetry gatherings honor western heritage.
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HISTORICAL JOURNALISTS (Left to Right) Paula Allen, Joe Herring and Joe Holley bring tales of local and state history to readers on a regular basis.
Hometown Historians
DON’T MISS
by Bob McCullough
Visit Houston visithoustontexas.com
J
oe Holley, Paula Allen and Joe Herring all learn something new about something old every week and eagerly share discoveries with readers of their popular newspaper columns rooted in history. Each in his or her own way contributes to the richness of Texas literature with the retelling of tales about those old places and the fascinating people that give depth and context to the storylines. In Hometown Texas, a collection 42
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of his colorful columns published in book form, Holley says crisscrossing the Lone Star State to McCook, Sabine Pass, Hawkins, Aurora, Dubina, Bigfoot and lots of spots in between caused him to focus on “intriguing people, the pervasive influence of place and the enduring significance of the past on present-day lives.” A varied career path in print journalism from coast to coast led Holley to the Houston Chronicle in 2009. He began writing his “Native Texan” column in 2013 and devoted full time to it after retiring as an editorial writer in 2017 and earning nomination as a Pulitzer Prize finalist. “A Chronicle editor was looking for more narrative
Houston Chronicle houstonchronicle.com Visit San Antonio visitsanantonio.com San Antonio Express-News mysanantonio.com Visit Kerrville kerrvilletexascvb.com Kerrville Daily Times dailytimes.com
journalism in the paper,” Holley recalls. “He realized I had an extensive Texas background and suggested I try a weekly column about the state’s past, its people and particularly its small towns. When I previously worked at the Washington Post, I also taught a class each semester at George Washington University. I told my students one day that my unofficial beat at the Post was writing about eccentric Texans. ‘Gee, Mr. Holley, you sure must be busy,’ a young woman observed.” The Waco native traces his penchant for writing about Texans and their hometowns to when he was 4 or 5 years old. His dad had a potato chip route, and every weekday, he would drive to little towns within a 50-mile radius of Waco. During summers and holidays, Holley was his helper. “I gradually came to realize that Cameron or Belton or Rosebud or Marlin each had personalities of their own, like people,” he says. “That interested me. Having lived in Texas off and on for most of my life, I know the state, I’ve written about it for years and I’m still intrigued by its richness and diversity. I write what I know, what I’ve read about, what I’d like to know or what column readers suggest. In fact, I get a lot of ideas from reader suggestions.” The same holds true for Allen, who’s been writing a question-and-answer column on local history for the San Antonio Express-News since 1992. “I didn’t have a background in history, much less Texas history,” says the former New Yorker who came to San Antonio in 1985 after working in the book-publishing business. “I inherited a feature called “S. A. Questionnaire.” It started out as short answers to any kind of questions about San Antonio, but after we got some really popular questions about local history, our readers turned it into a history column.” Questions that changed the column’s focus included one from a man who moved back to San Antonio after retirement and wondered what happened to the “healthy pool” he remembered swimming in as a child and teenager.
Allen’s research showed that Terrell Wells, fed by sulfurous spring water, closed in the 1960s but once occupied a site where McCollum High School sits today. “This query led to so many readers writing about their memories and sending photos,” she says, “so we ended up publishing two more columns and a picture page.” Allen relishes “the thrill of the chase,” hunting down the elusive fact or reliable confirmation. That has gotten somewhat easier these days with the growth of online resources. But she still relies on experts in many subfields of local history such as German Texans, HemisFair ’68 or the San Antonio River and its tributaries. “The kind of history the column looks into tends to be microhistory—the small details of a particular place or life that help fill in a larger picture,” she explains. “It’s color and detail that attract me because it’s as close as we’ll get to getting to know people who lived, in many cases, long before we were born. If you enjoy expanding your circle of acquaintance, you can enjoy local history.” Although she’s been writing her column for more than a quarter century, Allen says she learns new lessons every week. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen was asked to write columns about previous epidemics—cholera in 1849, influenza in 1918, polio in 1946. “It was startling to see, even though these illnesses are different, how people in those times went through the same sort of challenges we’re facing,” she says. “It can help us learn about what worked and what didn’t in earlier times. They were just people like ourselves, feeling their way through difficult situations.” Allen’s column led to her involvement in a book project, San Antonio Then and Now, in 2005 and a second edition in 2010. She got to select the “then” photos and write the text. Another book of her most popular columns is currently under consideration. Kerrville native Herring, who once served as the scenic Hill Country city’s
mayor and who superintends the family’s printing business, is now working on his fourth book of columns published in the Kerrville Daily Times. “I started writing a weekly column for the Times in 1994,” Herring says. “It was a bit of a fluke. A friend of mine was the newspaper’s lifestyles editor, and one of her columnists was inconsistent…missing deadlines, for instance, so she offered me a slot. It wasn’t a job I sought or dreamt of. I am good with deadlines, though!” Like Allen, Herring relies to a great extent on readers for column ideas. People bring him their ancestors’ diaries or journals, and he gets particularly excited about old photographs. “I love photographs because they really tell a story,” Herring says. “Sometimes, at the edge of the frame, you can really learn something new and unexpected. I have around 5,000 historic photographs of Kerrville, Kerr County and the Texas Hill Country in my collection.” In a sense, the column has constituted Herring’s backstage pass, “opening a lot of doors for me. I get to see inside historic sites as well as study old documents and photographs that would not be available to me otherwise.” His favorite columns solve a mystery about local history or debunk a longheld historical belief. “The trick is to make history interesting and entertaining,” Herring contends. “I think most of my readers would say they never liked history when they were in grade school, but they like the stories I tell about our community’s past. A community is stronger if it knows its story.” Herring and Allen agree with Holley that “writing a column is sort of like writing a sonnet. There’s a precise amount of space to fill, no more or no less.” The three enjoy the challenge of getting a story told within that space, finding out new things and sharing those discoveries with their readers. “History is people,” Holley adds. “People aren’t boring. Their stories may be offered up in boring ways, but that’s not history’s fault.” FALL 2020
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Eats & D r i n ks
Stories and Sandwiches at Glen Rose’s Storiebook Café by Billy Huckaby
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len Rose is billed as the “Dinosaur Capital of Texas,” but the Central Texas town of about 2,700 is much more. Situated on the banks of the Paluxy River, it offers a charming small-town atmosphere, which tends to attract quaint, small businesses such as the Storiebook Café. Storie Sharp moved to Glen Rose twelve years ago from Sonora, where she had been the editor of the Devil’s River News. Sharp joined the staff of a newspaper in Glen Rose called The Rose, and spent four years there as a feature writer. “I fell in love with this little building and thought it would be the perfect little bookstore and coffee shop,” Sharp said. “Glen Rose didn’t have one, and I loved going to them and the whole feel of going into a little bookstore. I love to write, and love to read.” The little building she refers to was originally a 1940s car dealership constructed of native rock. Crabtree Chevrolet Co., which featured a one-car showroom in half of the building and a service station in the other, offered tires,
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DON’T MISS The Storiebook Cafe 502 NE Barnard St. Glen Rose, TX 76043 (254) 897-2665
facebook.com/ TheStoriebookCafe/ Hours: Mon.–Sat. 11 am–3 pm; Closed Sunday
Glen Rose CVB & Visitors Center
100 NE Barnard St. Glen Rose, TX 76043 (254) 897-3081
glenrosetexas.org/visit
(ABOVE) A NOVEL EXPERIENCE Storie Sharp combined reading and repast in a former Chevrolet dealership in Glen Rose, Texas. -Photos Courtesy of Storie Sharp
THREE PUMPS AND A PICKUP (Left) Glen Rose’s Crabtree Chevrolet once occupied a busy curve in Glen Rose, with a service station in one half and a one-car showroom in the other; today the building houses the Storiebook Café. TEA TIME (Below) Sandwiches and stories go together perfectly well inside the Storiebook Café.
tubes, and repairs. Sharp’s original goal was to focus on new books and offer a daily sandwich special. But the café quickly surpassed the book portion of the business. “I was going to have one soup and one sandwich a day, and I started that way,” Sharp said. “But people could not follow the rules, and they would come in on Wednesday and want the special that was on Monday. So we started a menu, and that continues to grow because people want the specials that are not on the menu.” The Storiebook Café offers a variety of sandwiches, soups, and pasta, along with daily specials. According to Sharp, her most popular items are the Reuben and the ABC sandwich, featuring avocado, bacon, and cheese. However, the Wednesday special is starting to take off. “It is called a Chickadowich,” Sharp said, laughing. “Chicken, avocado, and made like chicken salad, with a little
cilantro, a little lime, and mayonnaise. People love that one.” Tourists are a big part of the Storiebook Café, which also means lots of children visiting Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, Dinosaur Valley State Park, and Dinosaur World. “People know we are a family place,” Storie said. “We have a playroom where kids can play dress up as their favorite character. We do grilled cheese sandwiches in the shapes of dinosaurs, and they get a dinosaur cup they can take home.” Glen Rose has a rich literary history, having been the longtime home of memoirist John Graves. Best known for the award-winning Goodbye to a River, Graves was a prolific writer and conservationist. His Somervell County home, Hard Scrabble, became the subject of his 1974 Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land. Pick up either of these titles, along with your favorite sandwich, at the Storiebook Café. FALL 2020
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The Cowboy Oasis Café by Allison Kendrick
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s you travel Texas Highway 152 in the northeastern corner of the state, with the Oklahoma border almost in sight, you’ll pass through the town of Mobeetie, the “mother city” of the Panhandle. In 1874 Mobeetie (mow-BEE-tee) was a bustling town full of buffalo hunters, then in later years its residents were primarily those making a living catering to the troops stationed at nearby Fort Elliott. The town became the commercial center of the Panhandle, connected by a mail route hugging the southern edge of the rugged Canadian River breaks to Tascosa, to the west. Throughout the 1880s the community continued to grow with the addition of a mercantile to service ranchers in 46
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the area, a schoolhouse, churches, and other enterprises. With the army’s abandonment of Fort Elliot in 1890, Mobeetie began to decline. The town faced more troubles over the years, with a tornado destroying many of the buildings, a move of the county seat to Wheeler, and the railway missing the town by two miles. However, it hung on through the years, currently boasting a population of around 100.
OASIS IN THE PANHANDLE (Above) The Cowboy Oasis Café in Mobeetie (Wheeler County) serves up small-town comfort and a menu fit for cowboys and hungry travelers alike. - Photos courtesy Allison Kendrick - Texas Plains Trail (Right) Meet the locals at the “wisdom table” and enjoy steak fingers and gravy or a piece of pecan pie.
Mobeetie, like many small towns, claims a few special residents who are passionate about their community’s history and keeping the story alive. For Old Mobeetie, its former postmistress Ada Lou Lester. Seen the movie Dances With Wolves starring Kevin Costner? Stand in Lester’s back yard, and you might think you were watching it play out right there in Mobeetie instead of South Dakota. In fact, at a book signing with author Michael Blake, who wrote the novel on which the movie is based, Blake told Ada that Fort Elliott was the site he’d researched in writing his book and the basis for his main character’s arrival at a distant fort. Though Mobeetie is no longer a bustling town like it was in the 1800s, it is still in the heart of a ranching and agricultural area and serves a clientele drawn from those industries. Instead of a mercantile, travelers will find the Cowboy Oasis Café on the south side of
the route between Old Mobeetie and New Mobeetie. “It is the gathering place for the locals to meet at six every morning for coffee and to hear the area news from the day before,” says Lester. “If the large, oblong table where they all sit could talk—oh, what news it could report, and from the wisdom gained volumes could be written and all the world’s problems could be solved.” If you’re an early riser, set yourself down at what the Mobeetie community has dubbed “The Wisdom Table” and get ready for a heaping helping of coffee, breakfast, and all you need to know to make it through the day. Or if you’re not one to be out and about when the rooster crows, the café also serves up delicious down-home cooking from a menu featuring items like steak fingers and gravy, juicy barbecue, and a daily special. You can also satisfy your sweet tooth with a fresh-made dessert like pecan pie, peach cobbler, or a cinnamon roll. Though no book has been started from the stories of “The Wisdom Table,” the story of Mobeetie continues. As you plan your travel around Texas, add a page to your own history book by exploring the Mother City of the Panhandle. Stop at the lone flag marking the spot of Fort Elliott, visit the Old Mobeetie Jail Museum, and sample the cooking at the Cowboy Oasis Café.
DON’T MISS Cowboy Oasis Café 14810 TX 152 Mobeetie, TX 79061 (806) 845-1061 Mon.–Sat., 6:30 am–2 pm
Old Mobeetie Jail Museum
Olaughlin Street Mobeetie, TX 79061 (806) 845-2028 Mon., Thu., Sat., 1–5 pm
Wheeler Economic Development and Chamber of Commerce
505 S. Alan L. Bean Blvd. Wheeler, TX 79096 (806) 826-3408
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DON’T MISS 2nd Annual LSCP Gathering
February 19–20, 2021 Sul Ross State University campus 79830 US-90 Alpine, TX 79830
lonestarcowboy poetry.com. Visit Alpine
106 N. 3rd St. Alpine, TX 79830 visitorcenter@visital pinetx.com (432) 837-2326
visitalpinetx.com
Mural in downtown Alpine, Texas - The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library of Congress,
Alpine’s Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering carries on a three-decade tradition by Randall Kinzie
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ut in Big Bend Country each February, the largest assembly of cowboy poets, singers, musicians, and storytellers in Texas gathers on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine to perform new works among peers. Known as “The Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering” for the last thirty years, after the founding group retired in 2019, a group of enthusiastic supporters formed a new board to host what’s now called the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The event features top artists of the genre. Red Steagall, musician, 48
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recording artist, poet, and band leader, is always a highlight, along with Jean Prescott, Jeff Gore, Joel Nelson, and syndicated columnist, TV personality, poet and former veterinarian Baxter Black. These stars are joined by dozens of performers from all around the country. J.R. Smith, an Alpine radio personality, artist and musician, explained the difference between cowboy poetry and other traditional verse. “The folks that create this art form most always have something to do with ranching, farming, and nature,” said Smith. “The inspiration comes from riding pastures,
There’s a hundred years of history, And a hundred before that All gathered in the thinkin’ Goin’ on beneath his hat. And back behind his eyeballs And pumpin’ through his veins, Is the ghost of every cowboy That ever held the reins.
Baxter Black, Legacy of the Rodeo Man
Allan Chapman, Dale Burson, Michael Stevens, Pipp Gillette, & Andy Hedges at the 2019 Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine. Photo by Kay Nowell
working cattle, breaking horses, and just overall living the western heritage dream.” Although it is not necessary to be a “cowboy or cowgirl” to render a poem, song, or story, most of the performers at gatherings around the country have that background. Texas Lifestyle Magazine said this about the Lone Star Gathering: “Cowboy poetry is a primary part of our western heritage and history [and] authentic cowboy poetry gatherings keep it alive today. It is a historical treasure.” It is not clear how poetry and the cowboy merged into an “art form.” One could surmise the men and women working and driving cattle 150 years ago would alleviate the tediousness of being on horseback for long hours by telling stories, creating rhymes, and occasionally sing about the day. As practical as this may be in history, the reality is a bit closer to the middle 20th century. With the advent of recorded music and moving pictures, the singing cowboy grew into a stock favorite on the silver screen. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry and others from the era popularized and romanticized the cowboy lifestyle. As this medium grew in popularity, men and women used the inspiration to create their repertoire for entertainment purposes. Despite trends today that suggest fewer families are involved in the ranching life, the love for that lifestyle is on full display in gatherings around the state and the nation. Reviewing the schedule from the organization’s website, the program is packed with free shows, paid headliners, and an open mic session. By tradition, each day begins with an authentic chuck wagon breakfast held outdoors at Poets’ Grove in Alpine’s Kokernot Park. FALL 2020
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DON’T MISS Voices of South Texas
Sat., Nov. 7, 2020 10 am–2 pm Old Bayview Cemetery 1150 Ramirez St. Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
obc.cclibraries.com
South Texas Historians Doug Crumly (361) 947-0351
southtexashistorians.com
GUN SALUTE South Texas historical reenactors fire off their weapons before the opening ceremonies of “Voices of South Texas.”
Talking Tombstones “Voices of South Texas” Brings History to Life in Corpus Christi’s Old Bayview Cemetery Story and photos by Mike Carlisle
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n 1955, Corpus Christi police were on guard against people digging at the historic Old Bayview cemetery following claims in the local newspaper that Mexican bandito Pancho Villa had buried about $1.5 million in gold coins and jewelry in “the old cemetery.” Old Bayview does hold treasures, but of a different kind. Old Bayview is the oldest federal military cemetery in Texas, established in 1845, before Corpus Christi even became a city. From the soldiers of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, then the War between the States and Spanish-American War, to the first 50
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mayor and first sheriff of Corpus Christi, more than 600 individuals are buried throughout the four-acre plot overlooking Corpus Christi bay. Multiple historical markers explain the importance of many laid to rest there. Old Bayview cemetery has recently been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. A treasure chest of history lies beneath the weathering gravestones, waiting to be told. In honor of Veterans Day, “Voices of South Texas: Old Bayview Cemetery Comes Alive” is held each year on the first or second Saturday of November between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. More than 30 storytellers and re-enactors
stand at gravesites, portraying the person buried, sharing personal details and their history. Many portrayed are outside the military. More than 800 people attended and literally heard voices from the graves in 2019, doubling the number of attendees at the premiere event in 2010. “People buried at Old Bayview represent all cultures—Hispanic, AfricanAmerican, and Anglo, without any segregation, with Buffalo Soldiers, Confederate, Union, and Mexican armies all represented side by side,” said Karen Howden of the Friends of Old Bayview Association.. The many different organizations that participate
(ABOVE) LADIES PARADE Members of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Daughters of the American Revolution, and others stroll the grounds depicting prominent women buried at the cemetery. (RIGHT) BUFFALO SOLDIER Reenactor Horace Williams depicts George Owens, who served in the Union army. Williams educates people about the games, the educational use of playing cards and the life of Buffalo Soldiers.
are equally diverse, from the Sons and Daughters of the Republic of Texas, to American Revolution, the Civil War, and Mexican-American War reenactors, the Sons of the War of 1812, and the Boy Scout Venture Crew 6 that have attended every year since the beginning. Over a decade ago, Howden, along with Anita Eisenhauer, former Nueces County Historical Commission chair, began the passionate work to raise awareness, and to resurrect and protect Old Bayview Cemetery from years of vandalism and neglect. Eisenhauer also worked with Connie Paddock of the National Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) to transform QR code placards staked at gravesites into “talking tombstones.” Visitors can scan these codes with smartphones and listen to more information from the Corpus Christi Public Library archives. One of the biggest concerns for Howden is safety during the event. Focusing on gravestones in danger of toppling, Howden brought in cemetery
experts and enlisted many dedicated volunteers, including over 40 Navy chiefs from nearby NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville, to get gravestones back on firm foundations. “Voices of South Texas highlights the oldest U.S. military cemetery in Texas and draws in the public to learn about the rich history of the Coastal Bend and the people who made it,” said Jim Klein, vice chair of the Nueces County Historical Commission. “Karen Howden is to be applauded for creating and committing to this annual event.” Howden never dreamed the event would still be held over ten years later. Voices of South Texas successfully raised awareness about the presence of Old Bayview, its security issues, and vandalism, leading to the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County voicing their support for improvements to the cemetery grounds in security and landscaping. Anita Eisenhauer once put it best: “This is American history that has come alive, and we need to preserve that!” FALL 2020
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Poetry keeps cowboy heritage, values alive by Billy Huckaby
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erhaps, no figure in the world is more iconic than the American cowboy. Working cowboys have always been known for their roping, riding and ability to wrangle cattle. Hollywood brought us the fast draw and singing cowboys, but it is the lesser-known art form of cowboy poetry that keeps real cowboys’ stories and values alive. “Real cowboy poetry that is authentic is a recorded history of a particular group of people that existed during a particular period in the history of mankind,” said singer and cowboy poet Red Steagall. “They have a love of the land; they primarily deal with livestock, and they love and respect the other people who write about the same subject matter.” Steagall knows what he is talking about. In 1991, he was named the “Official Cowboy Poet of Texas” by the state Legislature. He also heads up the Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering, held each October in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. “When I write cowboy poetry, I try to have a message.” Steagall said. “I appreciate the set of values of the agrarian society, and they continue to this day. A set of social rules such as taking your hat off in the presence of a lady, and you honor the man who signs your paycheck. It is called riding for the brand.” Cowboy poetry grew from the stories cowboys would tell around the
4th generation Texan Red Steagall brings the cowboy way of life to the public in music, poetry, and acting. Photo courtesy of Red Steagall
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campfire or bunkhouse trying to kill time or entertain themselves. But the art form dates back even further to the storytelling tradition of the Irish and Scottish settlers across the United States. Working cowboys came from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, including African American and Hispanic, but the majority were white. “The white cowboys were mostly of Celtic origin, and they brought the love of the Old World folktales and the Old World poetry, Keats and Shelley,” Steagall said. According to Steagall, up until 1935, several cowboy poets published their works in books. Arthur Chapman and Henry Herbert Knibbs were two of the early and most noted poets. And Bruce Kiskaddon has been called the quintessential cowboy poet and published several books. Elko, Nevada, lays claim to the first cowboy poetry gathering in 1985. But Elko may have hosted the first cowboy poetry gathering even earlier when Badger Clark entertained a large crowd at the Elko High School gym on April 3, 1926. Prior to the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985, cowboy poetry was well on its way to becoming a forgotten art. From 1935 to 1985, few people were publishing cowboy poetry, according to Steagall. Since renamed the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering by an act of Congress, the Elko event started a cowboy poetry renaissance that has spread across the country. Cowboy gatherings and poetry festivals have become popular in Texas, too. In addition to Fort Worth’s Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering, Alpine hosts the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering every February. Cowboy poetry is a part of several other events, such as the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock and Abilene’s Western Heritage Classic. The various cowboy poetry events not only preserve the heritage but also develop future cowboy poets. The Fort Worth and Alpine events feature youth poetry competitions. The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering has awarded more than
$1 million in scholarships since its inception. “The first girl that won our scholarship was from east Fort Worth,” Steagall said. “She was the first person in her family to graduate high school and the first to go to college. She made a statement to us when she read her poem. ‘I want you to know that what I am going to tell you I got from a book,’ she said. ‘Because I have never been farther west than the city limits of Fort Worth.’” “It was the most beautiful poem about how proud she was that there were Black cowboys,” Steagall said. “She went on to Rice University and used that scholarship to get started, earned additional academic scholarships, and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering.” Additional scholarship winners from Steagall’s event have included a young man who graduated from the ranch management program at Texas Christian University and became the manager of the famous 6666 Ranch. Plus, two young ladies that have graduated from Harvard Law School, he said. This year’s Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering, which would have been the 30th annual, has been postponed to October 22-24, 2021, due to COVID-19. The Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine is currently slated for Feb. 19 and 20, 2021.
DON’T MISS Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering (Fort Worth) redsteagallcowboy gathering.com Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District fortworth stockyards.org Visit Fort Worth fortworth.com Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering (Alpine) lonestarcowboy poetry.com Visit Alpine visitalpinetx.com National Cowboy Symposium (Lubbock) cowboy.org Visit Lubbock visitlubbock.org Western Heritage Classic (Abilene) westernheritage classic.com Visit Abilene abilenevisitors.com
(Above) Red Steagall performing at radio station WBAP’s Country Gold 1974 anniversary event, August 26, 1974 Courtesy University of North Texas Libraries (Right) Riding for the brand, Red Steagall entertains the crowd during a previous year’s Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival held in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. - Photo courtesy of Red Steagall
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COMING IN DECEMBER!
State of Texas HISTORIC SITES
Featuring the sites owned and managed by the State of Texas – places of Native American significance, places telling the story of Texas independence, as well as frontier forts and the former homes of state and national leaders.
Sign up for a print and/or digital subscription and a free e-newsletter at AuthenticTexas.com
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LEGACY
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T e xas originals
T e x a s S tat e L i b r a ry & Archives
T e xas H i s to r i ca l Co m i s s i o n
T e xas d ow n tow n a s s o c i at i o n
WPA researchers and writers helped develop heritage tourism information.
The capital city is also a literary hub.
Preservation in Jacksonville brings together heritage and football.
Two West Texas friends share a passion for the Haley Library.
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LEGACY
o r i g i nals
A Passion for Texas Literature and the Haley Library Patrick Dearen and Pat McDaniel – tied together by Melissa Hagins / Edited by Larry Zelisko
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s the author of 24 books, Patrick Dearen knows the importance of research. Whether writing nonfiction or a novel, getting historical context right is key to telling a good story. And what better place for research than a library? That’s where Pat McDaniel and Midland’s Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library & J. Evetts Haley History Center come in. McDaniel is director of the privately funded library that preserves the history, traditions and ideals of early Texas and the Southwest.
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Says Dearen, “For anyone studying the history of the Southwest, particularly as it involves the cattle industry, the Haley library is a little-known gem.” Adds McDaniel, “A novelist could find inspiration for eternity.” Library founder J. Evetts Haley was the son of pioneer Midland-area ranchers and himself a working rancher. Over his lifetime, he wrote more than 20 books on the West. His extensive collection of books, photos and artifacts is part of the library, which is named after his wife.
DON’T MISS Nita Stewart Haley Memorial Library & J. Evetts Haley Research Center 1805 W. Indiana Ave. Midland, TX 79701 432-682-5785
haleylibrary.com
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday–Friday Admission: Free
HERE ARE SOME OF DEAREN AND MCDANIEL’S THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LIBRARY:
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH THE LIBRARY? Dearen: My involvement dates to the 1980s, when I set out to chase down the lore and legend of West Texas. I had been a regional reporter for both the San Angelo Standard-Times and the Midland Reporter-Telegram, and I heard many stories that intrigued me enough to do primary research in the remarkable holdings of the Haley. McDaniel: I knew J. Evetts Haley before
even considering going to work at the library. A mutual friend of ours contacted me to apply for the position upon the departure of the previous director in the spring of 1995. After passing muster with the Board of Trustees, I officially was on the payroll on July 1, 1995. Mr. Haley died in October 1995. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK IN THE LIBRARY? Dearen: I think Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman by J. Evetts Haley is one of the greatest books ever written about the American Southwest. The library contains not only copies of all the interviews that Haley conducted with Goodnight, but every draft of the manuscript. The material makes for fascinating insight into the remarkable figure of Goodnight. McDaniel: How do you pick a favorite in
three decades, there are still so many hidden treasures. Among those are audio interviews that Haley conducted with individuals beginning in 1945. These SoundScriber discs — 215 hours — have now been digitized, allowing a researcher to listen to the actual recollections of pioneers born as early as 1850. McDaniel: When I can justify the time spent, usually when a
research request comes in that I handle, I am very easily distracted in the files of Mr. Haley’s 600-plus transcribed interviews with the old traildrivers and lawmen. The true stories told by those old-time westerners cannot be equaled.
Friends Patrick Dearen and Pat McDaniel share an appreciation of Texas and Southwest history; both make their living based on that enthusiasm and the Haley Memorial Library draws them together. PAT MCDANIEL has been the director of the Haley Memorial Library since 1995. Courtesy of Pat McDaniel
Award-winning author PATRICK DEAREN draws upon his knowledge of history and folklore in crafting his works. Courtesy of Patrick Dearen
a building with 25,000 books? I find myself re-reading the Charles Goodnight book by Mr. Haley. The historical events related in that book spawned the most popular historical fiction ever written, Lonesome Dove — still my favorite film of all time. WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE IN THE LIBRARY? Dearen: Just lock me inside the archives, and give me a little food and water, and I’ll be happy. Even though I’ve researched at the Haley for more than FALL 2020
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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY & ARCHIVES
At the State Archives
Records of the WPA Texas Writers’ Project (1935-1942) by Susan Floyd
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he Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) preserves and documents the shared heritage and culture of Texas by identifying, collecting, and making available the official archival records of Texas government. From historical treasures such as the first Texas Constitution to government digital records, the State Archives maintains and provides access to more than 200 million pages of archival documents and more than two million volumes of printed library materials. Among these are the Texas Writers’ Project records (1903, 1912-1916, 193158
AUTHENTIC TEXAS
1958, and undated, bulk 1936-1942). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a federal relief agency established on May 6, 1935, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. In Texas, the WPA helped 600,000 people provide subsistence for themselves and their families through employment in a wide variety of projects based on local needs and workforce skills. In Texas, this included construction, vocational training, childcare, garment manufacturing, gardening and food production, healthcare, libraries and archives, recreation, and the arts. The name of the agency
(Above) The Texas Writers’ Project records also include ephemera, such as newspaper clippings, notes, and postcards presumably collected by WPA researchers and writers during their work. Seen above is one of a series of nine black and white photographs of the Alamo, dated 1916. Texas Writers’ Project records, 1962/218-9.
was changed to the Work Projects Administration on July 1, 1939, when it was placed under the supervision of the Federal Works Agency, an umbrella agency, although its purposes and operations continued as before. Due to falling unemployment during World War II, the WPA began phasing out operations in Texas in 1942, and the agency was dissolved on June 30, 1943. Major archival and literary programs of the WPA in Texas included the Texas Historical Records Survey and the Texas Writers’ Project, both organized in 1935. The Texas Writers’ Project, directed by author and newspaperman James Francis (J. Frank) Davis, employed researchers and writers to compile guides to the state and its regions focus-
ing on cultural, geographic, and historical points of interest. Its best-known publication was Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State (1940), cosponsored and copyrighted by the Texas State Highway Commission for tourism development. Costs associated with the publication of these guides were usually underwritten by sponsors. Areas of Texas were assigned as Writers’ Project districts, and researchers visited local libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and community members to collect information including folklore and folkways, legends, and local events and customs. The Writers’ Project also researched the histories of Texas towns and cities, transcribed old newspaper articles, wrote
The Fiesta! typescript includes many descriptive, often humorous descriptions of the city’s history and culture, such as this “San Antonian’s Creed,” where number two is, “Dallas and Houston may be bigger, but so is an egg bigger than a diamond.” Texas Writers’ Project records, 1962/218-9.
essays on business, industry, architecture, and other topics, and created walking tours of historical sites. The county histories in this collection include guides to: Bell, Burleson, Falls, Fayette, Gillespie, Kleberg, Milam, and San Saba Counties. This city and town historical material in the Texas Writers’ Project collection includes material from Ballinger, Bastrop, Beaumont, Bird’s Point, Bryan, Concho, Corpus Christi, Corsicana, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fort Worth, Gainesville, Galveston, Gatesville, Houston, Marshall, Palestine, Paris, Peters Colony, San Angelo, San Antonio, Sherman, Tyler, Uvalde and Waco. These are primarily transcriptions of newspaper articles and excerpts from published histories, biographies, theses, and dissertations, as well as other publications such as magazines and city guides, illustrations removed from books, and a few photographs. But these records also contain two book-length unpublished manuscripts along with research notes, outlines, and other related documents. San Antonio is especially well represented in these records. Writers also worked on a regional series and suggested for publication such titles as America Eats (on the culture and traditions associated with regional cuisine; to include recipes); Hands That Built America (a history of handicrafts, sometimes also referred to as Hands that Built the Nation); and The Western Range: The Story of the Grasslands (in cooperation with the Texas Historical Records Survey project). The University of Texas Bureau of Research in the Social Sciences sponsored the project after the federal government withdrew full funding in 1939; after the program ended, the bulk of its manuscript materials were deposited in the University of Texas at Austin archives (now the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History). These records are open for research at the State Archives, and the finding aid can be browsed online. FALL 2020
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TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
Reading Austin Leaf through Literary Destinations in Texas’ Capital City by Andy Rhodes
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ittingly, Austin’s nucleus of intellectual activity—the University of Texas—is also its literary hub. With nearly 50,000 students on a 357-acre campus, UT is a major entity in Austin. Locals and visitors benefit from the campus’ museums and research centers, showcasing Texas’ finest literary resources. Among UT’s notable literary sites is the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, an often-underappreciated gem. The Ransom Center houses 36 million written manuscripts,
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5 million photographs, and 1 million rare books. The publicly displayed artifacts are world-class attractions, including a Gutenberg Bible and a 1450 edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Other rare holdings at the Ransom Center include manuscripts from Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman, along with the complete working libraries of E.E. Cummings and James Joyce. Visitors can also access archives of classic literary works like Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and A Streetcar Named
Desire by Tennessee Williams. Nearby, the Briscoe Center for American History is an esteemed special collections repository and historical research institute. The Briscoe Center contains extensive collections dedicated to American history and the world’s largest archive documenting Texas history, including more than 7 million photographs, 200,000 books, and 17 miles of manuscripts and archives. Highlights include Stephen F. Austin’s 1822 map of the Province of Texas, José Enrique de la Peña’s account of Davy Crockett’s execution at
SAMPLING AUSTIN’S LITERARY SITES (Left) The Bullock Texas State History Museum invites visitors to explore the story of Texas through engaging exhibits, programs and films.
DON’T MISS
(Right Top) The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, showcases the life and times of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Visit Austin Austintexas.org Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
(Lower Left) An exhibit at the LBJ Presidential Library displays the variety of campaign buttons used to promote LBJ.
300 West 21st Street Austin, TX 78712 (512) 471-8944
(Lower Right) At the O. Henry Museum, an early portrait of the Porter family shows William Sidney Porter (aka O. Henry) with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret. Photos courtesy of Texas Historical Commission
Briscoe Center for American History
hrc.utexas.edu
Admission is Free
The University of Texas at Austin 2300 Red River St., Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 2, Austin, Texas 78712-1426
cah.utexas.edu (512) 495-4515
LBJ Library and Museum
2313 Red River Street Austin, TX 78705
lbjlibrary.org
(512) 721-0200
the Alamo, and Freedom Rider James Farmer’s papers. Next door, documents of a different variety are housed at the LBJ Library and Museum, dedicated to America’s 36th president, a Texas Hill Country native. The facility occupies 14 acres on the UT campus and includes four floors’ worth of manuscripts, artifacts, and nearly 45 million documents. Visitors can stroll through a reproduction of President Johnson’s Oval Office into exhibits about Lady Bird Johnson’s life as first lady, including love letters from their courtship. Next to the university campus is the Bullock Texas State History Museum, named after the heritage-minded state lieutenant governor. Permanent and temporary exhibits feature objects covering centuries’ worth of Texas history, including rare writings and artifacts.
About a mile south amidst high-rise buildings is a small house museum dedicated to William Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry. Between 1893 and 1895, O. Henry and his family occupied the home where he experienced “a series of major twists” that defined his distinguished literary career as a short story writer. He would go on to author acclaimed works such as The Gift of the Magi and The Ransom of Red Chief. A literary tour of Austin would be incomplete without a visit to the city’s stunning new Central Library. Opened in 2017, the six-story architectural gem includes more than 351,000 items in its collection, along with reading porches, an art gallery, rooftop garden, and café. The library was named a finalist for the 2018 Public Library of the Year Award by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
Bullock Texas State History Museum 1800 Congress Ave. Austin, TX 78701 (512) 936-8746
thestoryoftexas.com O. Henry Museum 409 East 5th Street Austin, TX 78701 (512) 974-1398
Austintexas.gov/ department/o-henry-museum Note: The O. Henry Museum is closed for renovation and should be reopened in early 2021.
Central Library
710 W. Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78701 (512) 974-7400
library.austintexas. gov/central-library FALL 2020
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Rock Solid Since 1940 Jacksonville’s Historic Tomato Bowl By Catherine Sak
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exas and football are practically synonymous. Every fall, fans gather in stadiums across the state to cheer on their favorite teams and players. In one East Texas city of some 14,000, this means heading downtown. Jacksonville’s Historic Tomato Bowl was built in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration as an athletics venue for the Jacksonville Independent School District (JISD). The stadium was constructed on a hill in the heart of downtown Jacksonville, which at the time was known as the “Tomato Capital of the World” due to its production and shipping of the crop. Both the stadium and the wall surrounding it were constructed out of local iron ore rock—also known as giraffe rock—delivered to the site by residents. The Tomato Bowl hosted its first game in September 1940 and has been in continuous use as the primary stadium for 62
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JISD ever since. Very little was done to the stadium over the course of 80 years. In 1970, a small wooden press box was added and in 1980, lights were updated and aluminum seating was installed on top of the rock bleachers. No parking was ever developed for the stadium, so visitors park downtown and walk to events, allowing attendees to explore shops and businesses along the way. Upon his arrival as superintendent of JISD, one of the first meetings Dr. Chad Kelly attended was with a group of concerned citizens hoping to raise money for minor renovations to the
PRESERVATION CELEBRATION Jacksonville’s Tomato Bowl reopened at a ceremony June 7, 2019, and local teams returned that fall to play in the improved venue. | Courtesy Jacksonville ISD
Tomato Bowl. At this point, the visitor stands were deemed dangerous and the restrooms, lighting, press box, and grass field were in dire need of updating. The building known as the dressing room for teams was small, unable to house two teams at once, and falling apart. The original steps of the stadium were uneven and deteriorating. Not realizing that any efforts to renovate would trigger full compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, the group understood Jacksonville faced an “all or nothing” scenario where the beloved stadium was concerned. In 2017, a bond was called for $21 million to renovate the Tomato Bowl and the Career & Technology facility at Jacksonville High School. The projected cost of the stadium was figured at $15 million, and the CTE facility at $6 million. The bond passed with an 80% approval rate, and interior and exterior
renovations were completed in 2019. The historic rock façade and wall were maintained, while state-of-the-art updates were made to the interior and press box. The entryway was redesigned to include displays of historic documents and images of the Tomato Bowl from previous decades. Photos were printed on metal and framed, showcasing students and teams from each decade, school traditions and their origins, and JISD Board documents from 1938–39 board meetings about construction of the stadium. The Cherokee County Historical Commission history of the Tomato Bowl is hung with images of the first game roster and team schedule of the Jacksonville “Fightin’ Indians.” A favorite is a large picture collage of Fred Douglass High School, the African American high school that operated until 1970 and whose teams also played in the Tomato Bowl. After integration,
the school building burned, and much of their history was lost in the fire. The picture collage has photographs of the Dragons, cheer squads, and band, and of the Dragon school annual. Both the FDHS and JHS school songs are showcased. Also included in the entry is a high wall named the “Corridor of Champions” with fourteen arrowhead-design plaques depicting former players and coaches who went on to play and coach in the NFL. The community’s investment in this amazing downtown asset was rewarded in 2019 when the Historic Tomato Bowl Stadium was recognized as Best Public Improvement/Under 50,000 Population by the Texas Downtown Association. The judges panel was impressed by the scale of the project and the community’s commitment to maintaining its one-ofa-kind venue.
DON’T MISS Historic Tomato Bowl Stadium
200 Austin Street. Jacksonville, TX 75766 (903) 586-6511 Visitors wishing to attend a football game at the stadium should consult parking information and clear-bag policy at www.jisd.org. During non-game times, stadium tours are available by advance arrangement with the school district.
Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce 1714 E. Rusk St. Jacksonville, TX 75766 (903) 586.2217 info@jacksonville texas.com
jacksonvilletexas.com ROCK SOLID TRADITIONS (Clockwise from Top) A statue in front of the Tomato Bowl honors Cherokee County’s heritage and reminds visitors they’re in the “fightin’ Indians’” territory. Red iron ore rocks commonly known as “giraffe rock” originally came from area farms. Historic documents and images line the stadium’s entryway. |Courtesy Texas Bob and the Jacksonville ISD
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With thanks to information from the Handbook of Texas, by the Texas State Historical Association.
1.
For eight years this explorer traveled across what is now known as the American Southwest and northern Mexico before reconnecting with Spanish civilization. Early in his journeys, he was shipwrecked either on or near present-day Galveston. Upon his return home, the chronicles of his experiences were published in 1543. The narrative Relación, is commonly known as the most notable work relating to Texas.
5.
The author of twenty-nine novels, collections of essays and more than thirty screenplays, this native Texan’s work is noted for being set in the Old West, contemporary small towns and more frequently in urbanized and industrial areas of Texas. In the late 1980s he opened a bookstore in his hometown and eventually had four storefronts. His most widely known for The Last Picture Show and Lonesome Dove. A. Benjamin Capps B. Eddie Anderson C. Larry McMurtry
6.
A native of San Antonio, a university professor and internationally acclaimed Chicana writer, she served as the poet laureate of San Antonio and was named the Poet Laureate of Texas. She has written more than thirty books and won multiple literary awards. A writer of both poetry and prose, she has deepened multicultural perspectives and challenged various stereotypes. Her works include The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans: A Feast of Short Fiction and This River Here: Poems of San Antonio. A. Estela Portillo Trambley B. Carmen Tafolla C. Sandra Cisneros
7.
A native of Crane and longtime resident of San Angelo, he was an agriculture journalist, editor of Sheep and Goat Raiser and retired from Livestock Weekly. Author of over 50 Western novels, this writer was recognized as the Greatest Western Writer of all time by the Western Writers of America, Inc. His works include The Day the Cowboys Quit, The Time it Never Rained, and The Good Old Boys. A. Louis L’Amour B. Elmer Kelton C. Zane Grey
8.
He moved to Texas to cure a cough and learned ranching, shepherding and bits of Spanish and German. Convicted of embezzlement, he served time in a federal prison. His former home in Austin is now a museum. Writing under a pseudonym, his short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. Two of his most popular stories are The Gift of the Magi and The Ransom of Red Chief. A. O. Henry B. Tom Jones C. J. Marvin Hunter
A. Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca B. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado C. Alonso De Leon
2.
This twentieth-century author was born in Indian Creek, Texas; her childhood home in Kyle, Texas, is now a literary center. She was a journalist before writing short stories, essays and short works of fiction. Although she is best known for her short story collections, it was after publication of her novel Ship of Fools that she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a National Book Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal Award for Fiction. A. Winifred B. M. Sandford B. Katherine Anne Porter C. Emily Dorothy Scarborough
3.
This author is perhaps the most well-known folklorist of Texas. He was a journalist, teacher, ranch manager, and life-long proponent for the heritage, culture and traditions of rural life in Texas and the Southwest. He is probably most well-known for his book The Longhorns and is credited for helping to save the Longhorn breed. A. J. Frank Dobie B. J. Marvin Hunter C. John A. Lomax
4.
An author, freelance writer, and historian who grew up in Houston, he is an Air Force/Vietnam veteran, and a Journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. As a sportswriter, he started his career at the Houston Post and has written for the Austin American-Statesman, and Yahoo Sports. His groundbreaking first book, Black College Football, 1892-1992 is the only book that comprehensively documents the history of football programs at historically black colleges. A. Michael Hurd B. Varian Johnson C. John Mason Brewer
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ANSWERS F1-A; 2-B; 3-A; 4-A; 5-C; 6-B; 7-B; 8-A
CALL FIRST, MAKE A PLAN & VISIT A MUSEUM! ARANSAS COUNTY FULTON MANSION STATE HISTORIC SITE 317 S. Fulton Beach Road, Rockport 361-729-0386 Fulton Schoolhouse Museum 205 7th St., Fulton 361-729-5533 History Center for Aransas County 801 E. Cedar St., Rockport 361-727-9214 Texas Maritime Museum 1202 Navigation Circle, Rockport 361-729-1271 BROOKS COUNTY Heritage Museum of Falfurrias 415 N. St. Marys St., Falfurrias 361-325-2907 CAMERON COUNTY Brownsville Heritage Museum/Stillman House 1325 E. Washington, Brownsville 956-541-5560 Historic Alonso Building 510 E. St. Charles St., Brownsville 956-541-5560 Historic Brownsville Museum 641 E. Madison St., Brownsville 956-548-1313 Historic Laureles Ranch House Museum 1501 E. 7th St., Brownsville 956-372-1515 Market Square Event Hall/Research Center 1150 Market Square St., Brownsville 956-546-4242 Old City Cemetery & Old City Cemetery Center 1325 E. Washington St., Brownsville 956-541-5560 Brownsville Museum of Fine Art 660 E. Ringgold, Brownsville 956-542-0941 Callandret Black History Museum 305 Doherty St., San Benito 956-245-3998 Children’s Museum of Brownsville 956-548-9300 501 E. Ringgold #5, Dean Porter Park, Brownsville Costumes of the Americas Museum 956-547-6890 POBox 3790, 501 E. Ringgold St., Brownsville Freddy Fender Museum 210 E. Heywood St., San Benito 956-361-3800 Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum 2425 Boxwood St., Harlingen 956-216-4901 Historical Museum of South Padre Island 615 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island Iwo Jima Museum 320 Iwo Jima Blvd., Harlingen 956-421-9234 Little Graceland 701 W. Ocean Blvd., Los Fresnos 956-233-5482 Port Isabel Historic Museum 317 E. Railroad Ave., Port Isabel 956-943-7602 PORT ISABEL LIGHTHOUSE STATE HISTORIC SITE 421 E. Queen Isabella Blvd., Port Isabel 956-943-2262
RGV Wing – Commemorative Air Force Museum Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport, Buena Vista Blvd., Los Fresnos 956-579-2611 Rio Hondo Historical Museum 121 N. Arroyo Blvd., Rio Hondo 956-367-5305 San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum 956-245-1666 250 E. Heywood St., POBox 774, San Benito San Benito History Museum 210 E. Heywood St., San Benito 956-399-9991 Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame & Museum 210 E. Heywood St., San Benito 956-245-1666 Treasures of the Gulf Museum 317 E. Railroad Ave., Port Isabel 956-943 7602 DIMMIT COUNTY Dimmit County Visitor Center & Jailhouse Museum 103 N. 6th St., Carrizo Springs 830-876-5205 Wade House Memorial Museum 200 N. 9th St., Carrizo Springs 830-876-5788 DUVAL COUNTY Duval County Museum 208 E. St. Joseph St., San Diego 361-279-2597 HIDALGOCOUNTY Alamo (City of) Museum 130 S. 8th St., Alamo 956-961-4398 Bryan (The) House 1113 E. 2 Mile Line, Mission 956-330-7497 Donna Hooks Fletcher Historical Museum 129 S. 8th St., Donna 956-464-9989 Edinburg Volunteer Fire Department Museum 211 W. McIntyre St., Edinburg 956-292-2101 Hub City Conjunto & Tejano Museum 207 W. Newcombe Ave., Pharr 956-249-9365 International Museum of Art & Science 1900 W. Nolana Ave., McAllen 956-681-2800 McAllen Heritage Center 301 S. Main St., McAllen 956-687-1904 Mission Historical Museum 900 Doherty Ave., Mission 956-580-8646 Museum of South Texas History 200 N. Closner Blvd., Edinburg 956-383-6911 Old Hidalgo Pumphouse 902 S. 2nd St., Hidalgo 956-843-8686 Weslaco Museum of Local History & Cultural Arts 500 S. Texas Blvd., Weslaco 956-968-9142 JIM HOGG COUNTY Hebbronville Museum 105 E. Santa Clara, Hebbronville JIM WELLS COUNTY Orange Grove Area Museum
119 S. Eugenia St., Orange Grove 361-384-1300 South Texas Museum 66 Wright St., Alice 361-668-8891 KENEDY COUNTY Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas 200 E. La Parra Ave., Sarita 361-294-5751 KLEBERG COUNTY Conner (John E.) Museum MSC 700 University Blvd., Kingsville 361-593-2810 King Ranch Museum 405 N. 6th St., Kingsville 361-595-1881 1904 Train Depot Museum 102 E. Kleberg Ave., Kingsville 361-592-8516 Riviera Historical Museum 202 E. North Blvd., Riviera 361-488-8719 LA SALLE COUNTY Brush Country Museum 201 S. Stewart, Cotulla 830-879-2429 LIVE OAK COUNTY Grace Armantrout Museum S. Highway 281, George West 361-449-3325 McMULLEN COUNTY McMullen County Historical Museum 501 River St., Tilden 78072 361-274-3900 NUECES COUNTY Art Museum of South Texas 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi 361-825-3500 Centennial House 411 N. Upper Broadway, Corpus Christi 361-882-8691 Corpus Christi Museum of Science & History 1900 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi 361-826-4667 Corpus Christi Police History Museum 321 John Sartain St., Corpus Christi 361-215-4237 Heritage Park 1581 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi 361-826-3410 Instituto de Cultura Hispanica de Corpus Christi 1617 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi 361-879-0336 Port Aransas Museum N. Alister St., Port Aransas 361-749-3800 Robstown Area Historical Museum 203 E. Main, Robstown 361-752-3052 Selena Museum 5410 Leopard St., Corpus Christi 361-289-9013 Tejano Civil Rights Museum 1517 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi 361-452-3650 Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures & Education Center 1809 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi 361-881-8827
Texas Surf Museum 309A N. Water St., Corpus Christi 361-882-2364 USS Lexington Museum on the Bay 2914 N. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi 361-888-4873 x305 War & Peace, Ltd. 361-993-1111 5858 South Padre Island Blvd., Suite 34, Corpus Christi REFUGIOCOUNTY Refugio County Museum 102 W. West St., Refugio 361-526-5555 SAN PATRICIOCOUNTY Museum of Military History – Third Coast Squadron 3201 FM 3512, Hangar H11, Aransas Pass 361-356-4918 San Patricio Historical Museum FM 666, San Patricio 361-537-9516 Sinton Historical Museum 116 W. Sinton St., Sinton 361-537-9516 Taft Blackland Museum 301 Green Ave., Taft 361-528-2206 STARR COUNTY Kelsey Bass Museum 956-487-0672 x2277 101 S. Washington St., Rio Grande City WEBB COUNTY Republic of Rio Grande Museum 1005 Zaragoza St., Laredo 956-727-3480 Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum 810 Zaragoza St., Laredo 956-718-2727 Washington’s Birthday Celebration Museum 920 Zaragoza St., Laredo 956-722-0589 Laredo Water Museum 2702 Anna Ave., Laredo 956-795-2620 WILLACY COUNTY Willacy County Historical Museum 427 S. 7th St., Raymondville 956-689-6604 ZAPATA COUNTY Mertens Frontier Ranch Store & Museum 1302 Jackson St., Zapata 956-849-5200 Zapata County Museum of History 805 N. US Highway 83, Zapata 956-765-8983