East & West Texas History

The East is East and the West is West and the twain shall meet.

The West Texas Historical Association will meet jointly with the East Texas Historical Association February 26-27, 2010 in Fort Worth.

Américo Paredes Literature & Letters Award

UT's Center for Mexican American Studes awards Ana Castillo, a Chicago native, the first quadrennial Américo Paredes Literature and Letters Award for her contribution as "an individual whose creative and scholarly contributions have had a significant impact in the field of Mexican American studies."  Castillo is a poet, novelist, essayist, and short story writer.  Arte Publico in Houston published one of her many books, Women Are Not Roses, 1984  Read more at http://anacastillo.com/a/   and http://www.utexas.edu/depts/cmas/

Story Corps - National Day of Listening Nov 27

Story Corps http://www.storycorps.org/ states its purpose "Our mission is to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening. Since 2003, over 45,000 everyday people have shared life stories with family and friends in our StoryBooths. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the Library of Congress. Millions listen to our broadcasts on public radio and the web. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind." Some of its stories from Texas are online in their  blog "StoryCorps Facilitator Weblog," http://www.storycorps.org/blog/  .  Listen to some Texas entries:   A picture show: the West Texas frontier, posted on May 1, 2008, from Abilene, Texas Southern sisters from Brazil, posted on April 18, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas Women leading Texas, posted on March 26, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas A Walk in the Clouds, posted on February 28, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas From the open road, posted on February 10, 2008, from San Antonio, Texas The Shiloh Community: A Landmark School and a Deadly Study, posted on January 27, 2008, from Tuskegee, Alabama Austin, TX, posted on October 15, 2007, from Fort Worth, Texas

Texas in World Cat

World Cat http://www.worldcat.org   World Cat is an online database of over 10,000  library catalogs – books and other things.  Older librarians may recall the OCLC (Ohio College Library Center) catalog operation; well, World Cat is its descendant.   Its content is beyond enormous.  It is not a substitute for checking your local library for various reasons, but it's an interesting place.   SEARCHING   For instance, at the homepage, a simple search for the word "Texas" brought 794,604 entries in 2.29 seconds.  Remember that the searched word does not automatically bring entries on the subject, but all sorts of contexts.  A typical entry is Texas by James A Michener  Book : Fiction - Language: English   Publisher: New York : Random House, 1985. View all editions and formats An advanced search allows you to control for keyword, author, title, subject, ISBN, format, publication date, content, audience, and language.  A search for < keyword: Texas; format: book; Content: fiction; Audience: juvenile; and Language: Spanish >, finds 10 entries, e.g. El Llanero Solitario : historia de un rural de Texas.  Book : Fiction : Juvenile audience Language: Spanish   Publisher: Bilbao, España : Editorial Fher ; Racine, Wis. : Wrather Corp., published by arrangement with Western Pub. Co., 1967.   Click that title and you find UT-Pan American has the book.  (Other titles have scads of holding libraries.  If you have an account, the libraries nearest you will be at the top of the list.)   BUILDING A BIBLIOGRAPHY   There are many other search options, but it is useful to know that you can build and save bibliographies of your selections.  You can create a World Cat account.  It is free and easy.  Once you have performed a search, you can click each title you wish on your list, save it to a list which you can name yourself, and, voila, those titles are saved, as in an account I opened to keep titles on African Texana for children and teenagers.  That account is at http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/WillHoward48/lists where you can see several sub-categories and that I have copied them into a single list called Skywriting.

National Poetry Month

Larry Thomas 2008 Poet Laureate http://www.larrydthomas.com/ TSLAC's Laureate roster http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/poets.html   Poetry Society of Texas http://www.poetrysocietyoftexas.org/ Sol Magazine's http://texaspoetryevents.info/ Sol Magazine http://www.ampersand-poetry.org/ Ampersand Poetry Journal http://www.sol-magazine-projects.org/apj/nav.html Borderlands: Texas Poetry Journal http://www.borderlands.org/ Descant: Fort Worth's Journal of Poetry and Fiction http://www.descant.tcu.edu/ Concho River Review http://www.angelo.edu/dept/english/conchoriverreview.html REAL: Regarding Arts & Letters http://real.sfasu.edu/ Texas Review http://www.shsu.edu/~www_trp/ Southwestern American Literature http://swrhc.txstate.edu/cssw/publications/sal.php Oak Bend Review http://www.oakbendreview.com/ Pecan Grove Press http://library.stmarytx.edu/pgpress/

Newspaper staff cuts

In March and April, Belo (Dallas Morning News) and Hearst (regarding the San Antonio Express- News and the Houston Chronicle) announced staff cuts of 12-15 % of their respective employees.

Lou H. Rodenberger Rests

Dr. Lou H. Rodenberger passed April 9.  Her presence in Texas letters is widely recognized.  She was one of the frist woman to receive a Ph.D. in English at TAMU.  She became regent at TWU.  I most recently read her biography of Jane Gilmore Rushing a remarkable inquiry.   The posting at Molcie's Literary Corner carries her obituary.  It begins "Dr. Lou H. Rodenberger died peacefully April 9 at her home north of Cross Plains. Her funeral is scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday April 11 at the First United Methodist Church in Cross Plains. The service will be conducted by Rev. Dr. Robert Monk and Rev. John Woody. Dr. Molcie Lou Halsell Rodenberger was born September 21, 1926 in Okra, TX to Austin Carl and Mabel Falls Halsell. She attended schools at the many schools where her parents taught in West Central Texas. She started high school in Cross Plains but graduated from Anson as Valedictorian. At age 16 she entered Texas State College for Women graduating with a BS degree in Journalism in 1943. She worked for the Kerrville Times before becoming the English and Journalism teacher at Levelland High School in 1947. There she met and married Charles A. Rodenberger Sept. 3, 1949."  Read more of Charles' elegant statement: http://molcielou.blogspot.com/2009/04/lous-death-obituary-dr.html

Hubbing Texas with Murrah

Hmmm,  Hubpages is new to me.  Apparently, after establishing a free account, you write articles on just about anything and then you add it or upload it to the Hubpages.com website.  Each individual posting or uploading is called a "Hub."Aside from the joy of being in print you can get paid some amount if visitors to your Hubs click on the advertisements. Searching for the word < Texas history > brought 870 entries, both words appearing in diverse settings.  Search for "Texas history" (i.e., within the quotation marks) brought 56 enties. J. D. Murrah, author of some Texas history books, has over a hundred Hubs and most are Texas history.  The first one I stumbled upon was on Texas history and home schooling.   http://hubpages.com/profile/J+D+Murrah

UNT Texas History Symposium - Native Americans

Texas History Symposium at UNT to focus on state's Native Americans What: "Enduring Frontiers: Indians in Texas" -- The 2009 Texas History Symposium at the University of North Texas. Featuring addresses by Dr. David L. La Vere, professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Dr. Rodney Stapp, chief executive officer of the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas. When: 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. April 18 (Saturday) Where:   Room 122 of Wooten Hall, located one block west of Welch and Highland streets (1121 Union Circle) Cost: $25, or $35 after April 13 (Monday). Registration forms are available in the symposium brochure at http://www.hist.unt.edu/THS09_color.pdf. No registration will be available on the day of the conference. Contact: UNT Department of History at 940-565-2288 or history@unt.edu. Read more: http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=11408

Western Nature Essay

Texas Christian University Press' Literary History of the American West has wonderful 10 pages on "The Western Nature Essay since 1970."  It begins "1970, the year of the first Earth Day and of several important pieces of environmental legislation, makes a logical starting date for a summary of recent trends in the western nature essay. In truth, though, the "Environmental Decade" saw no startlingly new developments in western nature writing; what happened was that the theme and concerns of the genre, as they had evolved for almost a century, now became public themes and national concerns. Indeed, as Paul Brooks has argued in Speaking for Nature (1980), the work of such writers as John Muir, Mary Austin, Enos Mills, and Joseph Wood Krutch may have been a major impetus to the environmental awakening."  Read more (the whole book's online) at http://www2.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/pdf/wl1246.pdf

Dobie and Others Museum Exhibit

The Brazos Valley Museum, over College Station way, mounts an exhibit on Texas Writers and J. Frank Dobie, circulated from Humanities Texas.   http://www.brazosvalleymuseum.org/exhibits/texas-writers-and-j-frank-dobie-texan-legend

Texas Nature Project

The Texas Nature Project, at Northpoint Ranch out around Mason, self-describes itself "Texas Nature Project offers one-semester, for-credit internships for qualified students of all majors enrolled in one of Texas' accredited four-year colleges or universities. This integrated learning experience is especially suited to students who are seeking ways to live their lives with meaning and make a positive contribution to the world. Texas Nature Project students are enthusiastic learners and find joy and inspiration in the camaraderie that comes with being a member of a community of scholars."  Read more at  http://www.texasnatureproject.org/overview.html Seems attractive in idea and goal.

Bump's Nature Writing at UT

Over to the Forty Acres on the Colorado, there's a Jerome Bump who taught a course in Nature Writing back a few years ago, maybe still is.  The course is described at http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E309K/  Although some of the links are dead some lead to interesting options, including a tour of outdoor sculptures on the campus     E309K Nature Writing / Spring, 2000 / Jerome Bump Course Description Course Schedule Course Anthology Class Contacts Local Sights/Sites Examples of Student Nature Sites Texas Nature Writing (summary) Dobie, Bedichek, and Webb Harry Ransom Tom Lea Local Nature Writing in U.T. Library Roger Rouland's Course on the Nature Essay Eric Lupfer's Course on the Nature Essay FORUMS HRC SYCAMORE LITTLEFIELD PINE WALLER CREEK 1 PROJECT 1 DOBIE BIOLOGY PONDS 1 WALLER CREEK 2 TANIGUCHI ORIENTAL GARDEN BIOLOGY PONDS 2 PROJECT 2

Southern Nature Project

The Southern Nature Project's writers of note can be arranged by state, see Texas at http://www.southernnature.org/writers_list.php?case=state&State=Texas The Texans who write and think about the Southern landscape include Bass, Rick Bedichek, Roy Clark, Gary Cullar, Carol Gonzales, Ray Graves, John Gunter, Pete Haddad, Marian Harrigan, Stephen Meinzer, Wyman Nelson, Barbara "Barney" Nye, Naomi Shihab Patoski, Joe Nick Taylor, David Thurmond, Gerald Williams, Burr

Austin Postcards - Weaver

Casey Weaver and his friends have hundreds of historical Austin postcards and some photograhs and essays.  He's mounted them on his website http://www.austinpostcard.com/

Dorman Winfrey Rests

Dorman Winfrey died March 27, 2009 at the age of 84.  Winfrey served, among his many contributions, as State Librarian for over twenty years.  See the Austin American Statesman article " Longtime state librarian called devoted historian: Winfrey authored several articles and books about Texas history" by Joshunda Sanders at http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/02/0402winfrey.html and the Henderson Daily News at http://www.hendersondailynews.com/articles/2009/04/02/obituaries/01winfrey.txt  As a minor footnote to is remarkable career and life, Winfrey was important to the Texas Parlor's host during the 1970s.  My first job at TSLAC was in the Genealogy Dept. on Saturdays.  Thereafter he eased my transferral to several different posts through which I became aware of the broader view of Texas bibliography.  While this writer was still a student at UT, Winfrey offered essential encouragement to me toward the UT Library School "Indexing and Abstracting" class project of indexing of the TSLAC's "Texas State Documents" monthly checklist.  Then he then saw to it that it was permanently funded by the Legislature at the next biennial budget of TSLAC.  Winfrey was a fellow of graceful vision and practicality.  He left behind him a legacy of Texas history, Texas archives, and classical music.  Winfrey is now buried in the Welch Cemetery at Henderson, not far, he pointed out to me, from my hometown of Marshall.  I'll stop by there on my next trip home.  In the meantime I'll listen to and watch Toscanini conduct Verdi's "Hymn of the Nations" on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9B70Ku5qSg