A List of Two Options for Finding Texas lists in Wikipedia
1. Surfers can use the Wikipedia search box for "Texas list" and discover that it finds over 18,000 hits, 500 of which are presented to observe. Apparently, if there is a page on which Texas is mentioned and a list accompanies, the entry appears. Many are duplicative in nature, but many are truly a list of something Texan. Using particular words, e.g., "Austin list" can produce others wherein the word Texas may not appear, some of which are applicable. Most are not found in Wikipedia's Category of "Texas-related lists" as more broadly explored below in option 2. Searching this first option can be useful to add to the second option.
2. One of Wikipedia's conceptual options is the "Category" of "Lists" of other lists of topics under a subject. Yes, that sounds a bit convoluted. One such List is the "Texas-related lists." Go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Texas-related_lists
As of today, May 2, 2008, "The following 57 pages are in this category, out of 57 total. Updates to this list can occasionally be delayed for a few days. "
They're usually arranged alphabetically by keyword but you'll notice that several are filed under L, apparently for the keyword "List of ...."
Two lists are actually "Timelines," under that entry below.
A
List of Texas amphibians List of Texas area codes
B
List of Texas butterflies
C
List of cities in Texas List of counties in Texas Current and former railroad companies operating in Dallas, Texas
F
List of Farm to Market Roads in Texas
G
List of German Texans List of Governors of Texas
H
List of high schools in Texas List of hospitals in Texas
I
List of Interstate Highways in Texas
L
List of Austin neighborhoods List of Dallas-Fort Worth area colleges and universities
List of Dallas-Fort Worth area freeways List of Houston neighborhoods List of Presidents of the Republic of Texas List of Registered Historic Places in Texas List of Texas Governors and Presidents List of Texas county name etymologies List of Texas county seat name etymologies
List of Texas sports teams List of Texas state symbols List of Texas-related topics
List of U.S. Highways in Texas List of colleges and universities in Houston List of colleges and universities in Texas List of individuals executed in Texas List of largest Texas universities by enrollment List of mayors of Austin, Texas List of mayors of Dallas, Texas List of mayors of Fort Worth, Texas List of mayors of Houston List of mayors of Plano, Texas List of mayors of San Antonio, Texas
M
List of mammals in Texas List of Texas metropolitan areas List of military installations in Texas
N
List of neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas List of newspapers in Texas List of all newspapers in the United States List of city nicknames in Texas
P
List of people from Texas
R
List of Texas railroads List of Texas reptiles List of rivers of Texas List of the ten longest Texas rivers
S
List of school districts in Texas List of schools in Harris County, Texas List of state highway spurs in Texas List of state highway loops in Texas List of state highways in Texas List of Texas state parks
T
Timeline of the Republic of Texas Timeline of the Texas Revolution
V
List of Vice Presidents of the Republic of Texas
u
List of unincorporated communities in Texas
Do you have a list to share?
Friday, May 02, 2008
Wikipedia's Texas Portal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Portal
A Wikipedia conceptual option is a "Portal." The self-definition is:
"The idea of a portal is to help readers and/or editors navigate their way through Wikipedia topic areas through pages similar to the Main Page. In essence, portals are useful entry-points to Wikipedia content.
Portals are subject to the five pillars of Wikipedia, and must comply with Wikipedia's core content policies like Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Verifiability.
At present, there are 115 featured portals, of a total of 548 portals on Wikipedia."
So, there is a "Texas Portal" is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Texas
at which you'll find there are also Portal for Houston, Dallas, UT-Austin, and U of Houston.
At that Texas Portal you'll fine a variety of search options. One of those options is the Category of "Texas Lists."
A Wikipedia conceptual option is a "Portal." The self-definition is:
"The idea of a portal is to help readers and/or editors navigate their way through Wikipedia topic areas through pages similar to the Main Page. In essence, portals are useful entry-points to Wikipedia content.
Portals are subject to the five pillars of Wikipedia, and must comply with Wikipedia's core content policies like Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Verifiability.
At present, there are 115 featured portals, of a total of 548 portals on Wikipedia."
So, there is a "Texas Portal" is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Texas
at which you'll find there are also Portal for Houston, Dallas, UT-Austin, and U of Houston.
At that Texas Portal you'll fine a variety of search options. One of those options is the Category of "Texas Lists."
Texas Wikipedia Encyclopedia Collaboration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Texan_Collaboration_of_the_Month#Selecting_the_next_Collaboration_of_the_Month
Among Wikipedia's options is the creation of a groups who wish to collaborate toward creating or improving particular topics or categories. "One such is the Texan Collaboration of the Month."
The self-description is "Every month, a Texan Collaboration of the Month will be picked using this page. This is a specific topic which either has no article or a basic stub page that is directly related to Texas, the aim being to have a featured-standard article by the end of the period, from widespread cooperative editing."
This month's collaborative effort is described as:
"The current Texan Collaboration of the Month is Marshall, Texas. Every month, a different Texas-related topic, stub or non-existent article is picked. Please read the nomination text and improve the article any way you can."
Go to Wikipedia for further info.
Among Wikipedia's options is the creation of a groups who wish to collaborate toward creating or improving particular topics or categories. "One such is the Texan Collaboration of the Month."
The self-description is "Every month, a Texan Collaboration of the Month will be picked using this page. This is a specific topic which either has no article or a basic stub page that is directly related to Texas, the aim being to have a featured-standard article by the end of the period, from widespread cooperative editing."
This month's collaborative effort is described as:
"The current Texan Collaboration of the Month is Marshall, Texas. Every month, a different Texas-related topic, stub or non-existent article is picked. Please read the nomination text and improve the article any way you can."
Go to Wikipedia for further info.
Texas Writers, Authors in Wikipedia
Texas Writers Category
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Texas_writers
Here's a list of about 100 Texas writers with their own Pages in Wikipedia. The implicit task is, well, Texan in dimension - not to mention who qualifies. The "Texas Portal" link is displayed to link you to a general article on Texas; it is not that fine group of University of North Texas librarian smoothing the wrinkles in the sheet of Texas time through their "Portal to Texas History," itself a broad and admirable effort.
Wikipedia, the community based international encyclopedia, includes the option of clustering topics for users convenience. This clustering or categorizing is called a "Category." One such category is "Texas Writers" which offers an opportunity for enrichment. As with other Wikipedia efforts, its improvement rests with users, as occasionally supervised by another participant. The current list is a good beginning. It does properly include William Goyen who has been slighted by some current raining critics of Texana. It does not include Cormac McCarthy whose writing is also refined and literary.
The lists includes novelists, journalists, folklorists, playwrights, essayists, and other idlers travelling under the social approbation of wordsmithery. Who is Paco Ahlgren? He's just a click away.
A
Paco Ahlgren Susan Wittig Albert Aaron Allston Ellis Amburn Dr. Moe Anderson Mechelle Avey
B
Neal Barrett, Jr. Gordon Baxter Roy Bedichek Raymond Benson Sarah Bird Jayme Lynn Blaschke Timothy Braun Walter H. Breen Sandra Brown Paul Burka James Lee Burke
C
Rachel Caine Candace Camp Matt Clark (writer) Ernest Cline Madison Cooper Richard L. Cox
Deborah Crombie
D
J. Frank Dobie Allen Drury
E
Lars Eighner Linda Ellerbee P. N. Elrod
F
James L. Farmer, Sr. John Henry Faulk O. C. Fisher Brian Floca Robert Flynn (author) Horton Foote Kinky Friedman
G
Gail Giles Fred Gipson William Goyen John Gray (U.S. author)
H
Leon Hale Brett Halliday Charles L. Harness Vicki Hearne Allison Hedge Coke Kate Heyhoe
Donna Hogan Kimberly Willis Holt Robert E. Howard James Hynes
I
Molly Ivins
J
Bret Anthony Johnston Tom Jones (writer)
K
Elmer Kelton Rick Klaw
L
Woodrow Landfair Joe R. Lansdale Christopher Largen James Lavilla-Havelin
Thomas C. Lea, III Cara Lockwood
M
Ardath Mayhar Larry McMurtry Judith McNaught
N
Chris Nakashima-Brown Warren Carl Norwood
O
Joe M. O'Connell Chad Oliver Karen Olsson William O'Neil
P
Lawrence Person D. T. Pollard Katherine Anne Porter
R
Karen Ranney Nancy Taylor Rosenberg Ron Rozelle
S
Dorothy Scarborough Harvey Schmidt Duane Simolke Skeeter Skelton Jimmy Starr
Bruce Sterling Whitley Strieber Katherine Sutcliffe Shanna Swendson
T
Jodi Thomas John Thomason Frank X. Tolbert Sergio Troncoso Lisa Tuttle
U
Jim Underwood Steven Utley
W
Howard Waldrop Linda Warren Joanna Wayne Don Webb Walter Prescott Webb
Janice Woods Windle Gene Wolfe Ramsay Wood M. K. Wren
Y
J. Lanier Yeates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Texas_writers
Here's a list of about 100 Texas writers with their own Pages in Wikipedia. The implicit task is, well, Texan in dimension - not to mention who qualifies. The "Texas Portal" link is displayed to link you to a general article on Texas; it is not that fine group of University of North Texas librarian smoothing the wrinkles in the sheet of Texas time through their "Portal to Texas History," itself a broad and admirable effort.
Wikipedia, the community based international encyclopedia, includes the option of clustering topics for users convenience. This clustering or categorizing is called a "Category." One such category is "Texas Writers" which offers an opportunity for enrichment. As with other Wikipedia efforts, its improvement rests with users, as occasionally supervised by another participant. The current list is a good beginning. It does properly include William Goyen who has been slighted by some current raining critics of Texana. It does not include Cormac McCarthy whose writing is also refined and literary.
The lists includes novelists, journalists, folklorists, playwrights, essayists, and other idlers travelling under the social approbation of wordsmithery. Who is Paco Ahlgren? He's just a click away.
A
Paco Ahlgren Susan Wittig Albert Aaron Allston Ellis Amburn Dr. Moe Anderson Mechelle Avey
B
Neal Barrett, Jr. Gordon Baxter Roy Bedichek Raymond Benson Sarah Bird Jayme Lynn Blaschke Timothy Braun Walter H. Breen Sandra Brown Paul Burka James Lee Burke
C
Rachel Caine Candace Camp Matt Clark (writer) Ernest Cline Madison Cooper Richard L. Cox
Deborah Crombie
D
J. Frank Dobie Allen Drury
E
Lars Eighner Linda Ellerbee P. N. Elrod
F
James L. Farmer, Sr. John Henry Faulk O. C. Fisher Brian Floca Robert Flynn (author) Horton Foote Kinky Friedman
G
Gail Giles Fred Gipson William Goyen John Gray (U.S. author)
H
Leon Hale Brett Halliday Charles L. Harness Vicki Hearne Allison Hedge Coke Kate Heyhoe
Donna Hogan Kimberly Willis Holt Robert E. Howard James Hynes
I
Molly Ivins
J
Bret Anthony Johnston Tom Jones (writer)
K
Elmer Kelton Rick Klaw
L
Woodrow Landfair Joe R. Lansdale Christopher Largen James Lavilla-Havelin
Thomas C. Lea, III Cara Lockwood
M
Ardath Mayhar Larry McMurtry Judith McNaught
N
Chris Nakashima-Brown Warren Carl Norwood
O
Joe M. O'Connell Chad Oliver Karen Olsson William O'Neil
P
Lawrence Person D. T. Pollard Katherine Anne Porter
R
Karen Ranney Nancy Taylor Rosenberg Ron Rozelle
S
Dorothy Scarborough Harvey Schmidt Duane Simolke Skeeter Skelton Jimmy Starr
Bruce Sterling Whitley Strieber Katherine Sutcliffe Shanna Swendson
T
Jodi Thomas John Thomason Frank X. Tolbert Sergio Troncoso Lisa Tuttle
U
Jim Underwood Steven Utley
W
Howard Waldrop Linda Warren Joanna Wayne Don Webb Walter Prescott Webb
Janice Woods Windle Gene Wolfe Ramsay Wood M. K. Wren
Y
J. Lanier Yeates
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Observer Observes McMurtry's Unnatural Observation on Place
The Texas Observer's role in disturbing the burial place of Texas literature is paid a light revivival within its "A Novelist in Full" by Azita Osamloo.
While pawing through the remains of a separate dilemma, Osamloo states,
"The dilemma calls to mind the 1981 Observer essay in which Larry McMurtry took his fellow Texas writers to task for “paying too much attention to nature, not enough to human nature.” "
Yes, that would partially account for McMurtry's differing sensibilities, his separation from nature, and his documentation of Texans' collective separation.
Now that our separation from nature is acknowledged by climate change, one wonders when our novelists will document our going back home again, back to the plains, the ponds, the forests, the highlands, and the marshlands.
Somewhere I seem to remember that I read an account of Edward Abbey, an, ahem, activitst environmentalist and writer, and that account included a portion of his childhood maybe in or around San Antonio in the custody of his mother and her some sort of emotionally intense religious committment. Could that intensive religiosity have transferred into his own firebrand label? If that were plausible, could we lay some claim to him as a Texas writer - that is, if his time here and some of his influences are significantly derived from here?
Such a connection, if we successful transit to it, may offer a basis for other surreal or otherwise odd literary passersby.
It's unfashionable to claim Conan the Barbarian as a Texan, despite the author's clear Texan citizenship and the outlandish bragadaccio of Conan being suggestive of the often larger-than-life Texan profile (even in something so simple as that Lions movie with the two brothers on their old Texas farm).
And there's Anne Rice and her previous vampirial narratives. She met and matured and married with a young Texan who went on to be a significant surrealist poet. She and he were close kins in their literature. Is vampirism so distant from surreal poetry? Her husband's Texas roots sucked up something to push him onward when "feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace" (terribly misquoting Browning). But could Anne have sunk her teeth properly without her Texas influence?
While Conan and vampires are beyond the realm of real nature, they are still bound to it by their very primitive and visceral existences - hence still deferring to nature.
Even Cormac McCarthy's work begins and lives deep within natural impulses and terrains - The Road being one of the ultimate places, merging the internal novel with the external.
While pawing through the remains of a separate dilemma, Osamloo states,
"The dilemma calls to mind the 1981 Observer essay in which Larry McMurtry took his fellow Texas writers to task for “paying too much attention to nature, not enough to human nature.” "
Yes, that would partially account for McMurtry's differing sensibilities, his separation from nature, and his documentation of Texans' collective separation.
Now that our separation from nature is acknowledged by climate change, one wonders when our novelists will document our going back home again, back to the plains, the ponds, the forests, the highlands, and the marshlands.
Somewhere I seem to remember that I read an account of Edward Abbey, an, ahem, activitst environmentalist and writer, and that account included a portion of his childhood maybe in or around San Antonio in the custody of his mother and her some sort of emotionally intense religious committment. Could that intensive religiosity have transferred into his own firebrand label? If that were plausible, could we lay some claim to him as a Texas writer - that is, if his time here and some of his influences are significantly derived from here?
Such a connection, if we successful transit to it, may offer a basis for other surreal or otherwise odd literary passersby.
It's unfashionable to claim Conan the Barbarian as a Texan, despite the author's clear Texan citizenship and the outlandish bragadaccio of Conan being suggestive of the often larger-than-life Texan profile (even in something so simple as that Lions movie with the two brothers on their old Texas farm).
And there's Anne Rice and her previous vampirial narratives. She met and matured and married with a young Texan who went on to be a significant surrealist poet. She and he were close kins in their literature. Is vampirism so distant from surreal poetry? Her husband's Texas roots sucked up something to push him onward when "feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace" (terribly misquoting Browning). But could Anne have sunk her teeth properly without her Texas influence?
While Conan and vampires are beyond the realm of real nature, they are still bound to it by their very primitive and visceral existences - hence still deferring to nature.
Even Cormac McCarthy's work begins and lives deep within natural impulses and terrains - The Road being one of the ultimate places, merging the internal novel with the external.
Great Texas Novel - Part C
In the volume "Updating the Literary West" in article on John Graves (p. 573) Craig Clifford states "Every critical discussion of Graves writing, this one not excluded, finally turns to the question, will he ever put forward the Great Texas Novel (pace Larry McMurtry)."
What is Texas Literature?
If we're gonna talk Great Texas Novel, then "What is Texas Literature?" The blog "A Practical Policy" which normally focuses on Liberation Lit and the Middle East, explored the topic in October of 2006. It begins:
"The question is sometimes asked, What is Texas literature? Is there one? And the answer is sometimes that Texas literature is more of a national literature than anything else – perhaps given that Texas has three of the 9 or 10 largest US cities and its vast countryside and great ethnic and class diversity and other factors. Among other Texas surprises, I suppose, there’s a book coming out on an “Asian underground railroad” that once ran through El Paso, Texas."
"The question is sometimes asked, What is Texas literature? Is there one? And the answer is sometimes that Texas literature is more of a national literature than anything else – perhaps given that Texas has three of the 9 or 10 largest US cities and its vast countryside and great ethnic and class diversity and other factors. Among other Texas surprises, I suppose, there’s a book coming out on an “Asian underground railroad” that once ran through El Paso, Texas."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Great Texas Novel - Part B
After the entry from the Campaign for the American Reader, I wondered about the phrase and, yes, searched Google, some of the results being:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2006/wier.htm Tejano
"Tehano is a terrific novel, an epic tale of the Western frontier that is superior to Lonesome Dove: better written, more smoothly plotted, more historically accurate. It may well be the Great Texas Novel."—Dallas Morning News
http://www.forewordmagazine.com/articles/shw_article.aspx?articleid=177 Tejano
Tehano by Allen Wier (Southern Methodist University Press, 736 pages, hardcover, $27.50, 0-87074-506-9): Tehano has been cited as rivaling War and Peace in scale and Lonesome Dove in gripping reality. With the Texas Comanche territory as his arena and Antebellum days through Reconstruction as his timeframe, Wier tracks the destiny of a motley army of Americans—from displaced Northerners to desperate Okies. This is indeed the Great Texas Novel.
http://www.ninavida.com/ Texicans
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMANFREDERICKSBURG, TX NEWSBy Amanda Maria Morrison" Just when you thought the great Texas novel has already been written and any more attempts would be just running over the same armadillo again and again, comes the Texicans, a tremendous historical novel set in the aftermath of the Texas' independence and its burgeoning statehood. ...The author's ability to reveal the human heartache that plagued so many settlers in their cabins and on their ranches drives the novel's convincing plotlines........Vida's work should be placed on the same shelf with Lonesome Dove, Texas, and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. "
http://books.google.com/books?id=E3J21cztCHsC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=%22Great+TExas+novel%22&source=web&ots=6mE1PURAm4&sig=VTE5zfFa7BHZ3xf7P9d--9JjBhk&hl=en#PPA123,M1
Farther off from Heaven
In Bert Almon's "William Humphrey: Destoryer of Myths" regarding William Humphrey's "Farther," Almon invokes James Ward Lee's pamphlet on Humphrey as suggesting the volume is a great Texas novel.
A Sunday, October 30, 2005, opinion at the Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-clarke_30edi.ART0.State.Edition1.db82fc2.html
"Will Clarke: Beyond the Texas Myth: When Larry McMurtry bashed the state's literati, he must've been having one bad day" explores greatness.
A DMN sidebar asked for email suggests under the question: "Your Point: If a novelist tried to write the Great Texas Novel this year, what would it be about?
Quiet Bubble (Southern writing) explores, in July 2005, in a broader context, Texas great(?) novelists
http://quietbubble.typepad.com/quiet_bubble/2005/07/texas_writers_o.html
"Quick thinking: name four major Texas writers. By “Texas writer,” I guess I mean writers who grew up in Texas and/or writers who glean from the state for their themes, plots, geography, and moral frameworks.
After two days of back-and-forth emails with Ernesto and some web browsing, I came up with Katherine Anne Porter and Larry McMurtry. Donald Barthelme grew up in Houston, but he doesn’t count–when I think of him, I think of the hippest, strangest Greenwich Village insider you’d ever want to have a drink with, but Texas would never enter the conversation. I’ve heard the name Elmer Kelton batted around in a few newspapers, but I think he’s too obscure even for Bookforum.
So, two writers. That’s it. Why is that?"
Then Quiet Bubble goes further
http://quietbubble.typepad.com/quiet_bubble/2005/07/texas_writers_p.html
wherein he invokes Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" and Poppy Brite's "Prime" among others.
Others' added "Comments" go further.
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2006/wier.htm Tejano
"Tehano is a terrific novel, an epic tale of the Western frontier that is superior to Lonesome Dove: better written, more smoothly plotted, more historically accurate. It may well be the Great Texas Novel."—Dallas Morning News
http://www.forewordmagazine.com/articles/shw_article.aspx?articleid=177 Tejano
Tehano by Allen Wier (Southern Methodist University Press, 736 pages, hardcover, $27.50, 0-87074-506-9): Tehano has been cited as rivaling War and Peace in scale and Lonesome Dove in gripping reality. With the Texas Comanche territory as his arena and Antebellum days through Reconstruction as his timeframe, Wier tracks the destiny of a motley army of Americans—from displaced Northerners to desperate Okies. This is indeed the Great Texas Novel.
http://www.ninavida.com/ Texicans
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMANFREDERICKSBURG, TX NEWSBy Amanda Maria Morrison" Just when you thought the great Texas novel has already been written and any more attempts would be just running over the same armadillo again and again, comes the Texicans, a tremendous historical novel set in the aftermath of the Texas' independence and its burgeoning statehood. ...The author's ability to reveal the human heartache that plagued so many settlers in their cabins and on their ranches drives the novel's convincing plotlines........Vida's work should be placed on the same shelf with Lonesome Dove, Texas, and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. "
http://books.google.com/books?id=E3J21cztCHsC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=%22Great+TExas+novel%22&source=web&ots=6mE1PURAm4&sig=VTE5zfFa7BHZ3xf7P9d--9JjBhk&hl=en#PPA123,M1
Farther off from Heaven
In Bert Almon's "William Humphrey: Destoryer of Myths" regarding William Humphrey's "Farther," Almon invokes James Ward Lee's pamphlet on Humphrey as suggesting the volume is a great Texas novel.
A Sunday, October 30, 2005, opinion at the Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-clarke_30edi.ART0.State.Edition1.db82fc2.html
"Will Clarke: Beyond the Texas Myth: When Larry McMurtry bashed the state's literati, he must've been having one bad day" explores greatness.
A DMN sidebar asked for email suggests under the question: "Your Point: If a novelist tried to write the Great Texas Novel this year, what would it be about?
Quiet Bubble (Southern writing) explores, in July 2005, in a broader context, Texas great(?) novelists
http://quietbubble.typepad.com/quiet_bubble/2005/07/texas_writers_o.html
"Quick thinking: name four major Texas writers. By “Texas writer,” I guess I mean writers who grew up in Texas and/or writers who glean from the state for their themes, plots, geography, and moral frameworks.
After two days of back-and-forth emails with Ernesto and some web browsing, I came up with Katherine Anne Porter and Larry McMurtry. Donald Barthelme grew up in Houston, but he doesn’t count–when I think of him, I think of the hippest, strangest Greenwich Village insider you’d ever want to have a drink with, but Texas would never enter the conversation. I’ve heard the name Elmer Kelton batted around in a few newspapers, but I think he’s too obscure even for Bookforum.
So, two writers. That’s it. Why is that?"
Then Quiet Bubble goes further
http://quietbubble.typepad.com/quiet_bubble/2005/07/texas_writers_p.html
wherein he invokes Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" and Poppy Brite's "Prime" among others.
Others' added "Comments" go further.
Great Texas Novel
Campaign for the American Reader
The official blog of the Campaign for the American Reader, an independent initiative to encourage more readers to read more books. The CAR kicked off a campaign of inquiry regarding the Great Novel of each state. Texas commentary included:
Fort Worth's Bryan Curtis weighs in with "The Gay Place"
http://americareads.blogspot.com/2006/03/bryan-curtis-on-great-texas-novel.html
Don Graham weighs in with "Lonesome Dove" and "Blood Meridian"
http://americareads.blogspot.com/2006/03/great-texas-novel-part-2.html
The official blog of the Campaign for the American Reader, an independent initiative to encourage more readers to read more books. The CAR kicked off a campaign of inquiry regarding the Great Novel of each state. Texas commentary included:
Fort Worth's Bryan Curtis weighs in with "The Gay Place"
http://americareads.blogspot.com/2006/03/bryan-curtis-on-great-texas-novel.html
Don Graham weighs in with "Lonesome Dove" and "Blood Meridian"
http://americareads.blogspot.com/2006/03/great-texas-novel-part-2.html
Friday, March 14, 2008
A Few Good Horses by Pierce Burns
A Few Good Horses, by Pierce Burns. Austin: Gap Creek Press (12109 Shetland Chase, 78727), 2008. Well designed back hardback and excellent cover. ISBN 9780615164892. Notes, index, many photos. $24.95, 174 pp. http://www.pierceburns.com/
Pierce Burns, who now lives in Austin and visits the ranch, offers more than a few good chapters on his family’s heritage through smooth, readable prose, and the reader’s sense of being there pervade the social life and customs of many folks, not just those in about Brown County and the Hill Country.
Burns' great-grandfather fled Ohio due to something they don't talk about much and came to Texas in 1847. There, he established a flourishing family and a then came a fine ranch.
Although the recounting reaches back to the 1840’s and forward to the 1940’s, the best and main focus is his life during the Teens, Twenties and Depression. He begins the tome as a five-year-old boy, Christmas 1939, in the presence of “heroes, giants, and saints” at his grandfather’s knee. And there’re blue northers, a secret marriage (“We gotta tell Daddy we’re married. We can’t go on like this”), careful food calculating (people and livestock), circuses in Brownwood, swimming in the mountain creek, the school bus incident, Sunday Best, building the fence (“Needs to go another six inches”), and Papa and Uncle Billy’s building of the ranch and distant expeditions despite hard times.
It was a time of Tall women, going about birthing, clothing, rounding up cattle and sheep. They made ends meet. As a stereotype, think of them as somebody you'd want in your family.
By the way, they did find the lump of silver left after the grandparents’ house burned.
As for the cover photo, I'd almost swear they took one of my family's photos and put their kids in it. But they don't a hole in their t-shirt, at the navel, like I did.
The chapter, “Killing Hogs and Canning Food,” takes me back to my father’s killing chickens and my mother’s preserving figs. The grace and precision of the descriptions there, and throughout the volume, suggest the author’s keen memory and technical bend (he holds patents).
And the volume is patently good. It touches the heart, mind, and a documentary testament to real life.
Get Mike Cox’s opinion at http://www.lonestarbooks.blogspot.com/
Texas Speaks - Texas Escapes Magazine
Texas Escapes is as comfortable as sitting at a gimham-cloth table or a cracker barrel. While it covers lotsa territory, Im' most drawn to its Piney Woods articles.
http://www.texasescapes.com/
TEXAS TOWNS1829 towns to date
TEXAS GHOST TOWNS465 ghost towns to date
TEXAS FEATURES People, Ghosts, Animals, Historic Trees, Cemeteries, Railroads, History, WWII, Sagas, Food...more
TEXAS ARCHITECTURECourthouses, Jails, Churches, Theaters, Bridges, Gas Stations, Depots, Schoolhouses, Post Offices, Hotels, Water Towers, Gargoyles...more
TEXAS IMAGESOver 12,000 Images Then & Now, Signs, Old Neon, Murals, Grain Elevators, Statues, Monuments, Ghost Signs, Murals... more
FORGOTTEN TEXASVintage Photos from Texas' Past
TEXAS TRIPSTexas State Parks Rivers Lakes DrivesUS Featured Destinations Mexico
SOME OF ITS COLUMNISTS INCLUDE
HISTORY...Bob Bowman, Archie P. McDonald "All Things Historical" 3-10-08W. T. Block Jr. "Cannonball's Tales"Murray Montgomery "Lone Star Diary" 2-3-08C. F. Eckhardt "Charley Eckhardt's Texas" 3-3-08Delbert Trew "It's All Trew" 3-13-08Mike Cox "Texas Tales" 3-13-08Clay Coppedge "Letters from Central Texas" 3-6-08Linda Kirkpatrick "Somewhere in the West" 3-10-08HUMOR, OPINION, MEMOIRS...Maggie Van Ostrand "A Balloon in Cactus" 3-6-08Bill Cherry "Galveston Memories" 3-6-08Peary Perry "Letters From North America" 3-13-08Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal"The Girl Detective's Theory of Everything" 3-6-08Gael Montana "The View from Under the Bus" 3-10-08 N. Ray Maxie "Rambling Ray" 3-3-08EDITOR/GUESTS: "They shoe horses, don't they?" 2-11-08CARTOON: Roger T. Moore "Moore Texas" 3-13-08Readers' Forum
http://www.texasescapes.com/
TEXAS TOWNS1829 towns to date
TEXAS GHOST TOWNS465 ghost towns to date
TEXAS FEATURES People, Ghosts, Animals, Historic Trees, Cemeteries, Railroads, History, WWII, Sagas, Food...more
TEXAS ARCHITECTURECourthouses, Jails, Churches, Theaters, Bridges, Gas Stations, Depots, Schoolhouses, Post Offices, Hotels, Water Towers, Gargoyles...more
TEXAS IMAGESOver 12,000 Images Then & Now, Signs, Old Neon, Murals, Grain Elevators, Statues, Monuments, Ghost Signs, Murals... more
FORGOTTEN TEXASVintage Photos from Texas' Past
TEXAS TRIPSTexas State Parks Rivers Lakes DrivesUS Featured Destinations Mexico
SOME OF ITS COLUMNISTS INCLUDE
HISTORY...Bob Bowman, Archie P. McDonald "All Things Historical" 3-10-08W. T. Block Jr. "Cannonball's Tales"Murray Montgomery "Lone Star Diary" 2-3-08C. F. Eckhardt "Charley Eckhardt's Texas" 3-3-08Delbert Trew "It's All Trew" 3-13-08Mike Cox "Texas Tales" 3-13-08Clay Coppedge "Letters from Central Texas" 3-6-08Linda Kirkpatrick "Somewhere in the West" 3-10-08HUMOR, OPINION, MEMOIRS...Maggie Van Ostrand "A Balloon in Cactus" 3-6-08Bill Cherry "Galveston Memories" 3-6-08Peary Perry "Letters From North America" 3-13-08Elizabeth Bussey Sowdal"The Girl Detective's Theory of Everything" 3-6-08Gael Montana "The View from Under the Bus" 3-10-08 N. Ray Maxie "Rambling Ray" 3-3-08EDITOR/GUESTS: "They shoe horses, don't they?" 2-11-08CARTOON: Roger T. Moore "Moore Texas" 3-13-08Readers' Forum
Mike Cox, Back in the Blog Saddle
Mike Cox whose Texas books and book reviews have been read many is back in the saddle after a hiatus in his blog http://www.lonestarbooks.blogspot.com/. He's offered a review of Pierce Burns' A Few Good Horses, an account of his times. We've also got a copy of the volume here at WT and will recommend it shortly.
Also you'll be wanting to get a copy of Cox's new book on the Texas Rangers. With Cox's in depth knowledge of them, by his own personal research and his years at Texas Department of Public Safety, now the home of the Rangers, plus his years journalism experience, and his very readable style, it ought to be wonderful reading.
Also you'll be wanting to get a copy of Cox's new book on the Texas Rangers. With Cox's in depth knowledge of them, by his own personal research and his years at Texas Department of Public Safety, now the home of the Rangers, plus his years journalism experience, and his very readable style, it ought to be wonderful reading.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Texas Joins Google Digitization
Google giant project to digitize vast libraries is going to UT.
Should be interesting. Will they do the Center for American History, i.e., the Texas history collection?
Should be interesting. Will they do the Center for American History, i.e., the Texas history collection?
Texas to Save Jericho
Way back before the writers' strike, the new TV show "Jericho" aired and found a modest cult following, but the network wonks leaned toward cancellation and the strike bit off a few heads. The series disappeared. The angry mob assailed the castle. Jericho has now returned. Jerich is set in modern Kansas, just after a series of mysterious nuclear blasts have devasted the country.
The show's first new episode opens with the country now divided into two countries, east and west, Kansas is in the west. It seems the western Allied States of America is strangely off-beat and oppressive.
A reference to made that actually Texas is split off again, and Texas may save the country. Now that a nice turn. Keep watching.
ADDENDUM May 2008
The few, last episodes were followed. Ultimately our Kansas patriots saw the light found their "Allied United States" government vastly corrupt and began their rebellion. As the hero was jetting to independent Texas, he was attacked by AUS jets at the Texas border, but sure enough a couple of Texas jets appeared and shot down the enemy, thus assuring that rebellious freedom would ring west of the Mississippi. So ended "Jericho" as a television series.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/
The show's first new episode opens with the country now divided into two countries, east and west, Kansas is in the west. It seems the western Allied States of America is strangely off-beat and oppressive.
A reference to made that actually Texas is split off again, and Texas may save the country. Now that a nice turn. Keep watching.
ADDENDUM May 2008
The few, last episodes were followed. Ultimately our Kansas patriots saw the light found their "Allied United States" government vastly corrupt and began their rebellion. As the hero was jetting to independent Texas, he was attacked by AUS jets at the Texas border, but sure enough a couple of Texas jets appeared and shot down the enemy, thus assuring that rebellious freedom would ring west of the Mississippi. So ended "Jericho" as a television series.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/
Houston School Libraries Standards
Back in December we read Jennifer Radcliffe's article in the Houston Chronicle regarding the poor condition of many HISD school libraries in terms of their book stock, staffing, and facilities (when present). Folks wrote letters in support of school libraries. (It turns out that poor libraries equal poor achieving students. Golly, who'd guessed?)
http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/2007/12/chronicle-exposes-school-libraries.html
This February we've been blessed by learning that a high HISD official has described the state standards for school libraries as "Cadillac" standards. When such starkly inaccurate statements are made one wonders, is the person just ignorant, inveigling for bureaucratic purposes, or what?
If you want a fact sheet to the contrary from willstexana, just ask.
http://texasparlor.blogspot.com/2007/12/chronicle-exposes-school-libraries.html
This February we've been blessed by learning that a high HISD official has described the state standards for school libraries as "Cadillac" standards. When such starkly inaccurate statements are made one wonders, is the person just ignorant, inveigling for bureaucratic purposes, or what?
If you want a fact sheet to the contrary from willstexana, just ask.
Citizen Introduction to a Historical Marker via Harris County Historical Commission
"You, the Citizen Sponsor"
is a brief (about 7 minutes) PowerPoint introduction to folks who may wish to pursue getting a Texas Historical Marker through the Harris County Historical Commission.
"You, the Citizen Sponsor" is an electronically lightweight file and easily emailable. You can request a free email copy from willstexana@yahoo.com
is a brief (about 7 minutes) PowerPoint introduction to folks who may wish to pursue getting a Texas Historical Marker through the Harris County Historical Commission.
"You, the Citizen Sponsor" is an electronically lightweight file and easily emailable. You can request a free email copy from willstexana@yahoo.com
Houston Online History
Houston, Texas Online History
A Categorized Webliography of Houston Historical Interests Online:
A Starter Kit
By Will Howard
Back in the olden days, researching meant paper, maybe with a touch of film. Then came electricity.
Houston is such a large place with such a rich history that straping it down with a few websites is not a probable task. All organizations and institutions that provide a link list do so scantily. A couple of years ago the City of Houston Mayor formed a task force on Houston history. As a last minute thought, I was asked to compile a list of websites of interest. I did so and it was a rough list of about 150 sites. Occasionally, I tinker with it, and now it's over 300 sites, and still a bit rough and unbalanced. It does string out to about 30 pages.
I wonder how large it can get before the simple "list" format is no longer practical. But lists are wonderful. Image the difference in a library where you are restricted to ONLY using the catalog because the stacks are "restricted" to staff ony. Gee, the serendipituos learning that occurs when browsing a collection freely is remarkably rewarding. So browsing a simple list( as compared to being forced to search a database and retrieving only single hits without a content of the total) is usually quite wonderful. I suppose the interim stage is when the list become so long that the compiler begins categorizing the entries.
The list of "History Interest Groups" is interesting in itself.
However, if you'd like a copy just let me know.
However, if you'd like a copy just let me know.
It's a free electric monograph that I can email to you.
Texas Vampire Moans Intro
The Texas Vampire Moans
A Will's Texana Electric Monograph
The full bibliography is available free by emailing a request to willstexana@yahoo.com
The "Introduction" to the bibliography is below:
Introduction
With thanks to Texas A & M University Bibliographer Bill Page and Novelist Anne Rice, and a blood bank of librarians, TAMU Librarian Candace Benefiel, Dallas Public Librarian Rachel Howell, and Yale Librarian Eva Guggemons for allowing me to drain them of their vital, free-flowing information.
We could just point to our neighboring Creole and Cajun rich cultural mix in Louisiana where there is a stunningly high ratio of fictional vampire settings. But there may be even lurking foreign influences. J'arbre comme cadaver, by Léo Malet (Paris : Editions Sagesse: Librairie Tschann, 1937) a surreal work by the future major French detective novelist with a yen for America and Texas. It contains six poems, the first entitled “Texas” and another invoking a vampire’s street presence in Paris. The German comic book series “Pecos-Bill, der Held von Texas” [Pecos Bill, Hero of Texas] had as its 20th issue (among 60 others) the title Die Vampire der Goldstadt, [The Vampire of the City of Gold] (Hamburg: Mondial - Verl., 1954). But Bram’s behind it all.
The true progenitor of the Texas vampire genre begins with the modern master, if not the seminal source, Bram Stoker. Stoker’s original Dracula in 1897 included Quincey Morris, a mysterious, rich, young, cowboy Texan, a gentleman suitor of Mina, an Englishwoman caught in Dracula’s web. Morris and other suitors pursue them from England to Transylvania. There Morris stabs, quite literally with his bowie knife, the heart of Dracula, killing him even sans wooden or silver stake: “Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart” (see Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=35364&pageno=292
Quincey’s subsequent death from a previous fatal wound does not end the story. The gentlewoman takes her other, true love (the story’s narrator) and she bears a child. “It is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together. But we call him Quincey” (page 293).
Folklore begat The Texas Folklore Society. Among its many books, the TFS volume # 25 Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales, and Talk (SMU 1953), includes the venerable Roy Bedichek’s “Folklore in Natural History” and he refers a number of times to the bloodsucking vampire bat, including (page 30) “Our own Cabeza de Vaca contributed his mite to a flourishing folklore by the tale of bloodsucking bats as "big as turtle doves…” In another TFS volume # 24 The Healer of Los Olmos: And Other Mexican Lore (SMU 1951) Soledad Perez recounts in “Mexican Folklore from Austin, Texas” (page 74) “A few believe she [La Llorona]is a vampire that sucks its victim’s blood” or “has the face of a bat.” TFS pushed the envelope further; T for Texas: A State Full of Folklore edited by Francis Edward Abernethy and Herbert C Arbuckle (Dallas: E-Heart Press, 1982) contained the article “The vampire in an age of technology” by Leslie M. Thompson.
All that remains to be found is an urban legend where the Vampire Jay Frank battles the Yaqui Crying Woman Maria Inman for their love-child Erwin Frank, a chupacabra variation, in order to install the rising dark star to control the world through Austin’s “Silicon Hills.” Indeed Erwin has already made reading Stoker’s Dracula virtually mandatory for UT freshmen http://www.lib.utexas.edu/pcl/roundup/2006.html
Can we credit the modern revival to Anne O’Brien Rice?
As a New Orleans child, Anne had written a novella about Martians and other outlandish tales. Her mother died and her father was transferred to Richardson. She spent her last year at Richardson High School where she met her future husband, Dallas-born Stan Rice the late, noted poet and artist, and she began her college days at Texas Woman’s University and North Texas State University. The two young writers were consanguine in literature. They decamped to California. Her first novel Interview with the Vampire (1976), begun in San Francisco as a short-story in 1969, marked the initial volume of her “Vampire Chronicles” series filled with evocative longing, lusting and intrigue, although not itself set in Texas but New Orleans.
Her later Queen of the Damned (1988) contains a chapter, “The short happy life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang,” which Rice reports to Texas readers was informed by her brief Texas experience, “As I recall, the Queen of the Damned was the only novel in which I used my Texas experience. Baby Jenks the little biker novel comes from the area around Cedar Creek lake where I lived, and I get to describe the towns.” The chapter is strong with adolescent emotion, rejection, rebellion, and self-assertion. Jenks dies. But Rice lived through her adolescence and left with her Texan who with her and Browning might find themselves, lovingly “feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace.” Baby Jenks and Dallas’ Fang Gang are more than nomenclatural adornment; surely they reflect some broken fragments of light on Rice’s own passage, though “through a glass darkly.”
In 2002 after husband Stan Rice’s death in New Orleans, she wrote “In 1973, when I wrote INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, my beautiful husband Stan was the inspiration for the vampire Lestat. He had Stan's long blond hair and blue eyes and feeling grief that inspired Lestat's charm and magnetism and mesmerizing movement,” (http://www.angelfire.com/journal/riceans/messnews7.html ).
Stan’s poems are streaked with surrealism, chunks of color and emotion, and bizarre commentaries on death. His own dead father was the subject of two poems “Don't Put Him In the Freezer" and "Dad is Dead," (The Radiance of Pigs, Knopf, 1999). While not suggestive of his total corpus of his poetry, portions evince nihilism, the pursuit of physical pleasures, vanity, disloyalty, and a touch of brutality – not unknown among the fanged crowd. Obviously, Anne ascended publishing with good company at home, as the numerous uses of Stan’s poetry in her writing affirm.
Doctor of Anthropology Sylvia Grider joined in. As Rice was enjoying her first laurels in 1976, Grider spoke to the Texas and New Mexico folklore societies under the title "Meanwhile Back in Transylvania, or: Dracula and the Texan." She took hero Quincey Morris from comparative literature to social profiles.
In 1982 look to Lubbock. Notice the nascent, literary drops coming from cognoscenti in Lubbock where the dry winds can drive you to strange alternatives. First, Texas Tech Press published Dracula: The Ballet by Peggy Willis and Bram Stoker (Lubbock: Texas Tech Press, 1982). Then only five mysterious years later a dissertation was completed, “Magic, trick-work, and illusion in the vampire plays” by Thomas Leonard Colwin, (Ph. D.) --Texas Tech University, 1987. Something had gotten into the aquifer. Don’t blame the Red Vaiders; they were left alone on the plains, attractive to the thirsty thespians, and the national vampire revival bit their naïve, exposed neck early. Recently Tech-student Dustin’s http://www.westtexasvampires.com/ teaser began lurking in videos prepared after he studied the course “Slavistics” (the study of vampires) and chose to expand his earlier “West Texas Vampires” venture on You Tube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=L_6Cgiz9sew
Joe, Al, and Bill legitimized our local genre. Two novels in the late 1980’s appeared each by a good and successful writer: Joe R. Lansdale (Dead in the West - New York: Space and Time, 1986) and Alan R. Erwin.(Skeleton Dancer - New York: Dell Pub., 1989). Then the next year Bill Crider released his children’s book (A Vampire Named Fred. Lufkin, TX: Maggie Books, 1990). After which anti-coagulants were added to the water. Dozens undulated though the publishers’ veins. The cotton tenant farmer and stoic cowboy and the patient heroine and Old Yeller have company, and they are not all gentlemen or all men for that matter or human.
Quickly Dracula movies flickered in dark rooms , Les Vampires (1915) onward with maybe 200 versions. Quincey’s big screen roles are un-researched. Robert Rodriguez directed the 1996 From Dust Till Dawn, set in Texas and Mexico, then the sequel Texas Blood Money (1999) and the prequel The Handman’s Daughter (2000).
An independent company http://www.mistydawntexas.com/ has recently produced Misty Dawn “created and written by Terry Yates and being taped in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It is both a parody and an homage to the Dark Shadows gothic daytime soap opera. Think of it as "Dark Shadows meets Dallas", complete with a mysterious vampire and a greedy oil baron. / Terry had the idea for the TV series and started writing the scripts, but never dreamed that he would actually end up producing an end product. Together with David Moore as executive producer and a talented cast and crew that are currently giving their time and talent for practically nothing, Misty Dawn is taking shape as a very funny parody in a comedy style not unlike. See their You Tube trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvf9QCWDSCo.
If you visit You Tube http://www.youtube.com/ your search for “Texas and vampire” retrieves 98 videos. Similar to You Tube, the Metacafe at http://www.metacafe.com/ pulls up 1,000 videos, a bewildering number; maybe the “and” was not read as Boolean.
Pale short stories, and extracts from novels-in-progress appear via the net. The author “UntaintableRoses” offers “The Official Bloodline,” an El Paso passage, rating itself for young adults, and appearing at http://www.quizilla.com/users/.Chasing.bunnies./quizzes/The%20Official%20Bloodline%20%5BA%20Vampire%20Story%5D%20El%20Paso/
Also for flickering gamesters, an interactive game is found at B.R. Turner’s http://www.onr.com/user/bturner/ as “Chris’ Houston Vampire Game,” which seems to center in the housing projects, dating about 2000.
In terms of gross, suggestive gestures, the Google is searched to find the most bloodsucking Texan city. “Texas vampire” gives 621,000 hits, Dallas 495K, Austin 488K, Houston 416K, San Antonio 240K, El Paso 163K, Galveston 92K, and Lubbock 84K. Dallas’ Chamber of Commerce must be pleased with the Fang Gang, and the Austin Weird” campaign seems to be working. We’re so relieved. How are things in your locale?
Aggie Bill Page’s outstanding “Horny Toads and Ugly Chickens: A Bibliography on Texas in Speculative Fiction” (September 2001) - at TAMU’s Cushing website http://library.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/lit/science/sci-fi/texfan.htm - set an entirely new standard in bibliography. A number of the several hundred citations invoke our topic. Page notes that 90% of his total citations were published since 1970, shadowing the wave of Texas vampirism. Even since 2001 the further growth has been remarkable. Page’s other work “Fantasyland / Aggieland: A History of Science Fiction and Fantasy at Texas A&M University and in Brazos County, Texas, 1913-1985” (2007) reveals Aggieland’s deep interests and probably profiles much of broader Texas. He even notes vampire movies shown on campus as far back as the 1930s. See http://libraryasp.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/lit/science/sci-fi/science%20fiction%20texas%20am.pdf
Texas has always been a piece of surreal exotica for fantastic tales in the coffee and whiskey and pillow talk in Europe. And there’s the frontier bloodbath where we demonized the “savage” natives. Let’s not forget the un-human conditions of the slavery institution, fogging the distinctions of acceptable, civilized behavior and blowing the embers of secret conspiracies to overthrow the common power structure. And there’s the recent public interest in chupacabras, bloodsuckers as fearless as bats, they say.
Yes, the bats. Did you know that Texas is the national capital for bats (see http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp). Our official state symbol for flying mammals is the Mexican Free-tailed bat.
And through it all, women have behaved increasingly more independently and, indeed, have written half the adult novels listed below and with increasing eroticism. Are you nervous yet? Check the several recent works of Diane Whiteside.
Our wide open Texas plains, dense forestlands, lapped coasts, and glittery cities invite writers to fill them, imaginatively.
Before 1980 Texas vampires, except as bats, were virtually non-existent. Then there was the trickle at the base of Texas’ long Panhandle neck. Whatever the causes or correlates or co-incidents or consequences, in the last 25 years an entirely fresh, literary vein or genre or topic has pulsed to life, as uncovered in the below thin-skinned listing. Just since 2000, over 30 titles have been published.
The works listed below (an incomplete list) are usually books of fiction with Texas settings or Texas characters (except for the D & T’s) with the vampire theme. You’ll find children’s books, YA novels, graphic stories/comics, theses, adult novels, and recent articles. If you dare, pick up a few the 60 titles and explore the new blood in Texas literature - vampires. Is Vlad a fad or the newest, loneliest, midnight cowboy?
For a free, electric copy of the bibliography, willstexana@yahoo.com
A Will's Texana Electric Monograph
The full bibliography is available free by emailing a request to willstexana@yahoo.com
The "Introduction" to the bibliography is below:
Introduction
With thanks to Texas A & M University Bibliographer Bill Page and Novelist Anne Rice, and a blood bank of librarians, TAMU Librarian Candace Benefiel, Dallas Public Librarian Rachel Howell, and Yale Librarian Eva Guggemons for allowing me to drain them of their vital, free-flowing information.
We could just point to our neighboring Creole and Cajun rich cultural mix in Louisiana where there is a stunningly high ratio of fictional vampire settings. But there may be even lurking foreign influences. J'arbre comme cadaver, by Léo Malet (Paris : Editions Sagesse: Librairie Tschann, 1937) a surreal work by the future major French detective novelist with a yen for America and Texas. It contains six poems, the first entitled “Texas” and another invoking a vampire’s street presence in Paris. The German comic book series “Pecos-Bill, der Held von Texas” [Pecos Bill, Hero of Texas] had as its 20th issue (among 60 others) the title Die Vampire der Goldstadt, [The Vampire of the City of Gold] (Hamburg: Mondial - Verl., 1954). But Bram’s behind it all.
The true progenitor of the Texas vampire genre begins with the modern master, if not the seminal source, Bram Stoker. Stoker’s original Dracula in 1897 included Quincey Morris, a mysterious, rich, young, cowboy Texan, a gentleman suitor of Mina, an Englishwoman caught in Dracula’s web. Morris and other suitors pursue them from England to Transylvania. There Morris stabs, quite literally with his bowie knife, the heart of Dracula, killing him even sans wooden or silver stake: “Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart” (see Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=35364&pageno=292
Quincey’s subsequent death from a previous fatal wound does not end the story. The gentlewoman takes her other, true love (the story’s narrator) and she bears a child. “It is an added joy to Mina and to me that our boy's birthday is the same day as that on which Quincey Morris died. His mother holds, I know, the secret belief that some of our brave friend's spirit has passed into him. His bundle of names links all our little band of men together. But we call him Quincey” (page 293).
Folklore begat The Texas Folklore Society. Among its many books, the TFS volume # 25 Folk Travelers: Ballads, Tales, and Talk (SMU 1953), includes the venerable Roy Bedichek’s “Folklore in Natural History” and he refers a number of times to the bloodsucking vampire bat, including (page 30) “Our own Cabeza de Vaca contributed his mite to a flourishing folklore by the tale of bloodsucking bats as "big as turtle doves…” In another TFS volume # 24 The Healer of Los Olmos: And Other Mexican Lore (SMU 1951) Soledad Perez recounts in “Mexican Folklore from Austin, Texas” (page 74) “A few believe she [La Llorona]is a vampire that sucks its victim’s blood” or “has the face of a bat.” TFS pushed the envelope further; T for Texas: A State Full of Folklore edited by Francis Edward Abernethy and Herbert C Arbuckle (Dallas: E-Heart Press, 1982) contained the article “The vampire in an age of technology” by Leslie M. Thompson.
All that remains to be found is an urban legend where the Vampire Jay Frank battles the Yaqui Crying Woman Maria Inman for their love-child Erwin Frank, a chupacabra variation, in order to install the rising dark star to control the world through Austin’s “Silicon Hills.” Indeed Erwin has already made reading Stoker’s Dracula virtually mandatory for UT freshmen http://www.lib.utexas.edu/pcl/roundup/2006.html
Can we credit the modern revival to Anne O’Brien Rice?
As a New Orleans child, Anne had written a novella about Martians and other outlandish tales. Her mother died and her father was transferred to Richardson. She spent her last year at Richardson High School where she met her future husband, Dallas-born Stan Rice the late, noted poet and artist, and she began her college days at Texas Woman’s University and North Texas State University. The two young writers were consanguine in literature. They decamped to California. Her first novel Interview with the Vampire (1976), begun in San Francisco as a short-story in 1969, marked the initial volume of her “Vampire Chronicles” series filled with evocative longing, lusting and intrigue, although not itself set in Texas but New Orleans.
Her later Queen of the Damned (1988) contains a chapter, “The short happy life of Baby Jenks and the Fang Gang,” which Rice reports to Texas readers was informed by her brief Texas experience, “As I recall, the Queen of the Damned was the only novel in which I used my Texas experience. Baby Jenks the little biker novel comes from the area around Cedar Creek lake where I lived, and I get to describe the towns.” The chapter is strong with adolescent emotion, rejection, rebellion, and self-assertion. Jenks dies. But Rice lived through her adolescence and left with her Texan who with her and Browning might find themselves, lovingly “feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace.” Baby Jenks and Dallas’ Fang Gang are more than nomenclatural adornment; surely they reflect some broken fragments of light on Rice’s own passage, though “through a glass darkly.”
In 2002 after husband Stan Rice’s death in New Orleans, she wrote “In 1973, when I wrote INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, my beautiful husband Stan was the inspiration for the vampire Lestat. He had Stan's long blond hair and blue eyes and feeling grief that inspired Lestat's charm and magnetism and mesmerizing movement,” (http://www.angelfire.com/journal/riceans/messnews7.html ).
Stan’s poems are streaked with surrealism, chunks of color and emotion, and bizarre commentaries on death. His own dead father was the subject of two poems “Don't Put Him In the Freezer" and "Dad is Dead," (The Radiance of Pigs, Knopf, 1999). While not suggestive of his total corpus of his poetry, portions evince nihilism, the pursuit of physical pleasures, vanity, disloyalty, and a touch of brutality – not unknown among the fanged crowd. Obviously, Anne ascended publishing with good company at home, as the numerous uses of Stan’s poetry in her writing affirm.
Doctor of Anthropology Sylvia Grider joined in. As Rice was enjoying her first laurels in 1976, Grider spoke to the Texas and New Mexico folklore societies under the title "Meanwhile Back in Transylvania, or: Dracula and the Texan." She took hero Quincey Morris from comparative literature to social profiles.
In 1982 look to Lubbock. Notice the nascent, literary drops coming from cognoscenti in Lubbock where the dry winds can drive you to strange alternatives. First, Texas Tech Press published Dracula: The Ballet by Peggy Willis and Bram Stoker (Lubbock: Texas Tech Press, 1982). Then only five mysterious years later a dissertation was completed, “Magic, trick-work, and illusion in the vampire plays” by Thomas Leonard Colwin, (Ph. D.) --Texas Tech University, 1987. Something had gotten into the aquifer. Don’t blame the Red Vaiders; they were left alone on the plains, attractive to the thirsty thespians, and the national vampire revival bit their naïve, exposed neck early. Recently Tech-student Dustin’s http://www.westtexasvampires.com/ teaser began lurking in videos prepared after he studied the course “Slavistics” (the study of vampires) and chose to expand his earlier “West Texas Vampires” venture on You Tube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=L_6Cgiz9sew
Joe, Al, and Bill legitimized our local genre. Two novels in the late 1980’s appeared each by a good and successful writer: Joe R. Lansdale (Dead in the West - New York: Space and Time, 1986) and Alan R. Erwin.(Skeleton Dancer - New York: Dell Pub., 1989). Then the next year Bill Crider released his children’s book (A Vampire Named Fred. Lufkin, TX: Maggie Books, 1990). After which anti-coagulants were added to the water. Dozens undulated though the publishers’ veins. The cotton tenant farmer and stoic cowboy and the patient heroine and Old Yeller have company, and they are not all gentlemen or all men for that matter or human.
Quickly Dracula movies flickered in dark rooms , Les Vampires (1915) onward with maybe 200 versions. Quincey’s big screen roles are un-researched. Robert Rodriguez directed the 1996 From Dust Till Dawn, set in Texas and Mexico, then the sequel Texas Blood Money (1999) and the prequel The Handman’s Daughter (2000).
An independent company http://www.mistydawntexas.com/ has recently produced Misty Dawn “created and written by Terry Yates and being taped in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It is both a parody and an homage to the Dark Shadows gothic daytime soap opera. Think of it as "Dark Shadows meets Dallas", complete with a mysterious vampire and a greedy oil baron. / Terry had the idea for the TV series and started writing the scripts, but never dreamed that he would actually end up producing an end product. Together with David Moore as executive producer and a talented cast and crew that are currently giving their time and talent for practically nothing, Misty Dawn is taking shape as a very funny parody in a comedy style not unlike. See their You Tube trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvf9QCWDSCo.
If you visit You Tube http://www.youtube.com/ your search for “Texas and vampire” retrieves 98 videos. Similar to You Tube, the Metacafe at http://www.metacafe.com/ pulls up 1,000 videos, a bewildering number; maybe the “and” was not read as Boolean.
Pale short stories, and extracts from novels-in-progress appear via the net. The author “UntaintableRoses” offers “The Official Bloodline,” an El Paso passage, rating itself for young adults, and appearing at http://www.quizilla.com/users/.Chasing.bunnies./quizzes/The%20Official%20Bloodline%20%5BA%20Vampire%20Story%5D%20El%20Paso/
Also for flickering gamesters, an interactive game is found at B.R. Turner’s http://www.onr.com/user/bturner/ as “Chris’ Houston Vampire Game,” which seems to center in the housing projects, dating about 2000.
In terms of gross, suggestive gestures, the Google is searched to find the most bloodsucking Texan city. “Texas vampire” gives 621,000 hits, Dallas 495K, Austin 488K, Houston 416K, San Antonio 240K, El Paso 163K, Galveston 92K, and Lubbock 84K. Dallas’ Chamber of Commerce must be pleased with the Fang Gang, and the Austin Weird” campaign seems to be working. We’re so relieved. How are things in your locale?
Aggie Bill Page’s outstanding “Horny Toads and Ugly Chickens: A Bibliography on Texas in Speculative Fiction” (September 2001) - at TAMU’s Cushing website http://library.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/lit/science/sci-fi/texfan.htm - set an entirely new standard in bibliography. A number of the several hundred citations invoke our topic. Page notes that 90% of his total citations were published since 1970, shadowing the wave of Texas vampirism. Even since 2001 the further growth has been remarkable. Page’s other work “Fantasyland / Aggieland: A History of Science Fiction and Fantasy at Texas A&M University and in Brazos County, Texas, 1913-1985” (2007) reveals Aggieland’s deep interests and probably profiles much of broader Texas. He even notes vampire movies shown on campus as far back as the 1930s. See http://libraryasp.tamu.edu/cushing/collectn/lit/science/sci-fi/science%20fiction%20texas%20am.pdf
Texas has always been a piece of surreal exotica for fantastic tales in the coffee and whiskey and pillow talk in Europe. And there’s the frontier bloodbath where we demonized the “savage” natives. Let’s not forget the un-human conditions of the slavery institution, fogging the distinctions of acceptable, civilized behavior and blowing the embers of secret conspiracies to overthrow the common power structure. And there’s the recent public interest in chupacabras, bloodsuckers as fearless as bats, they say.
Yes, the bats. Did you know that Texas is the national capital for bats (see http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp). Our official state symbol for flying mammals is the Mexican Free-tailed bat.
And through it all, women have behaved increasingly more independently and, indeed, have written half the adult novels listed below and with increasing eroticism. Are you nervous yet? Check the several recent works of Diane Whiteside.
Our wide open Texas plains, dense forestlands, lapped coasts, and glittery cities invite writers to fill them, imaginatively.
Before 1980 Texas vampires, except as bats, were virtually non-existent. Then there was the trickle at the base of Texas’ long Panhandle neck. Whatever the causes or correlates or co-incidents or consequences, in the last 25 years an entirely fresh, literary vein or genre or topic has pulsed to life, as uncovered in the below thin-skinned listing. Just since 2000, over 30 titles have been published.
The works listed below (an incomplete list) are usually books of fiction with Texas settings or Texas characters (except for the D & T’s) with the vampire theme. You’ll find children’s books, YA novels, graphic stories/comics, theses, adult novels, and recent articles. If you dare, pick up a few the 60 titles and explore the new blood in Texas literature - vampires. Is Vlad a fad or the newest, loneliest, midnight cowboy?
For a free, electric copy of the bibliography, willstexana@yahoo.com
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Sam Wants You! San Jacinto Fundraiser
Selective Service System of the San Jacinto Battleground Association issues a
CALL TO ARMS, TO ARMS !!!
to support the SAN JACINTO VOLUNTEERS
The Interim President of the Republic of Texas, To GREETING:
You are hereby ordered to report to General Sam Houston, Commander in Chief of the Texas Army
At: the home of Edd and Nina Hendee, 7 Radney Estates, Houston, TX 77024 At 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 15, 2008 For cocktails, dinner and auctions – silent and otherwise. The purpose of this call-up is to help offset expenses of the San Jacinto Volunteers as they bring history to life each year in re-enacting the Battle of San Jacinto at the battleground. Business attire. The favor of a reply by January 10 is requested. Jerry Tubbs, Commander, San Jacinto Volunteers IMPORTANT NOTICE (Read each paragraph carefully) TO ALL REGISTRANTS: Sure to be entertaining is K.R. Wood and his band, Camp Cookie and the Cow Camp Review. Hear Wood and cohorts, “Dangerous” Doug Taylor and “Lonesome” Greg Lowrey, play and harmonize old cowboy songs from the Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Wills and others. Wood will also conduct a brief live auction. Dinner is from Ed and Nina Hendee’s “Taste of Texas”–juicy prime steaks and all the trimmins’ as only they can fix them. Auction items? Historic cruise to Morgan’s Point; travel the route the Mexican Army took on its return to Mexico through the Mar de Lodo (Sea of Mud); enjoy an expert tour of the San Jacinto Battleground; fight in the middle of the 2008 Battle of San Jacinto re-enactment (appropriately clad and armed); own a prototype Texas carbine that’s actually been fired at the Alamo and San Jacinto; possess a hand-crafted Bowie knife; take a private hardhat tour of the Battleship Texas; hang on your wall a genuine invitation to the opening of the San Jacinto Monument from April 1939; entertain thirty of your closest friends at a chuck wagon dinner; and more. Bring your invitation and designer Cliff Gillock will autograph it for you. IF YOUR PHYSICAL OR MENTAL CONDITION IS SUCH THAT YOU WISH TO ATTEND, PLEASE SO INDICATE ON THE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE..
Texas Literary Drought of the 1910's
Judy Alter in Mike Merschal's "Books Blog" at http://books.beloblog.com/archives/2007/08/top_ten_texas_books.html
recently started a string on Texas literature. I responded as below:
"Here's a list of Texana novelists made to fit a chronology for the 20th century, selected sometimes for first effort and other times for my preferred. Oddities include, I gave only one entry per novelist, so, e.g., having entered the 'Horseman' I passed by the 'Dove.' "
Andy Adams. The Log of a Cowboy. Boston: Houghton, 1903.
Dorothy Scarborough. The Wind. New York: Harper, 1925.
Katherine Anne Porter. Pale Horse, Pale Rider. New York: Knopf, 1939
George Sessions Perry. Hold Autumn in Your Hand New York: Viking, 1941.
William Goyen. House of Breath. New York: Random House, 1950.
William Humphrey. Home from the Hill. New York: Knopf, 1958.
Larry McMurtry. Horseman, Pass By. New York: Harper, 1961.
Capps, Benjamin. The Trail to Ogalla. New York: Duell, 1964.
Robert Flynn. North to Yesterday. New York: Knopf, 1967.
Shelby Hearon. Armadillo in the Grass. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Elmer Kelton The Day the Cowboys Quit. New York: Doubleday, 1971.
Tomás Rivera. . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1971.
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1972.
Edwin Shrake. Strange Peaches. 1973.
R.G. Vliet. Rockspring. New York: Viking, 1974
Donald Barthelme. The Dead Father. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1975.
Beverly Lowry. Daddy’s Girl. New York: Viking, 1981.
Sarah Bird. Alamo House. New York: Norton, 1986.
Lionel G. Garcia. Hardscrub. Houston: Arte Publico, 1990.
Americo Paredes. George Washington Gomez. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1990.
Cormac McCarthy. All the Pretty Horses. New York: Knopf, 1992.
J. California Cooper. The Wake of the Wind. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
A friendly, email pot-shot was taken for my 1910's gap. There really weren't adequate titles. The Texas novels were few, folks being interested in folklore, cowboy songs, the Soutwest, Mexico, nature, recollections, and such. Stark Young did start the "Texas Review," now the "Southwest Review," in 1915. Women were looking elsewhere. Some of the period titles include:
Joseph Atlsheler. Texan Scouts: The Story of the Alamo and Goliad, 1913 (a juvenile sequel to The Texan Star) and The Texan Triumph: A Romance of the San Jacinto Campaign, 1917.
Everett McNeil. In Texas with Davy Crockett: A Story of the Texas War of Independence, a 1918 variant of a 1908 issue(?).
Lewis Miller. Saddles and Lariats, 1912. (almost all true, a drive to California, maybe in the vein of Adams "Log" that went to Montana.)
O. Henry's shorts ended with his death in 1910.
Edwin Sabin. With Sam Houston in Texas: A Boy Volunteer..., 1916.
Zane Grey. Riders of the Purple Sage, 1912. and The Lone Star Ranger, 1915.
recently started a string on Texas literature. I responded as below:
"Here's a list of Texana novelists made to fit a chronology for the 20th century, selected sometimes for first effort and other times for my preferred. Oddities include, I gave only one entry per novelist, so, e.g., having entered the 'Horseman' I passed by the 'Dove.' "
Andy Adams. The Log of a Cowboy. Boston: Houghton, 1903.
Dorothy Scarborough. The Wind. New York: Harper, 1925.
Katherine Anne Porter. Pale Horse, Pale Rider. New York: Knopf, 1939
George Sessions Perry. Hold Autumn in Your Hand New York: Viking, 1941.
William Goyen. House of Breath. New York: Random House, 1950.
William Humphrey. Home from the Hill. New York: Knopf, 1958.
Larry McMurtry. Horseman, Pass By. New York: Harper, 1961.
Capps, Benjamin. The Trail to Ogalla. New York: Duell, 1964.
Robert Flynn. North to Yesterday. New York: Knopf, 1967.
Shelby Hearon. Armadillo in the Grass. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Elmer Kelton The Day the Cowboys Quit. New York: Doubleday, 1971.
Tomás Rivera. . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1971.
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1972.
Edwin Shrake. Strange Peaches. 1973.
R.G. Vliet. Rockspring. New York: Viking, 1974
Donald Barthelme. The Dead Father. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1975.
Beverly Lowry. Daddy’s Girl. New York: Viking, 1981.
Sarah Bird. Alamo House. New York: Norton, 1986.
Lionel G. Garcia. Hardscrub. Houston: Arte Publico, 1990.
Americo Paredes. George Washington Gomez. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1990.
Cormac McCarthy. All the Pretty Horses. New York: Knopf, 1992.
J. California Cooper. The Wake of the Wind. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
A friendly, email pot-shot was taken for my 1910's gap. There really weren't adequate titles. The Texas novels were few, folks being interested in folklore, cowboy songs, the Soutwest, Mexico, nature, recollections, and such. Stark Young did start the "Texas Review," now the "Southwest Review," in 1915. Women were looking elsewhere. Some of the period titles include:
Joseph Atlsheler. Texan Scouts: The Story of the Alamo and Goliad, 1913 (a juvenile sequel to The Texan Star) and The Texan Triumph: A Romance of the San Jacinto Campaign, 1917.
Everett McNeil. In Texas with Davy Crockett: A Story of the Texas War of Independence, a 1918 variant of a 1908 issue(?).
Lewis Miller. Saddles and Lariats, 1912. (almost all true, a drive to California, maybe in the vein of Adams "Log" that went to Montana.)
O. Henry's shorts ended with his death in 1910.
Edwin Sabin. With Sam Houston in Texas: A Boy Volunteer..., 1916.
Zane Grey. Riders of the Purple Sage, 1912. and The Lone Star Ranger, 1915.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Chronicle Exposes School Libraries
The Houston Chronicle recently displayed plain common sense and leadership on our children's education as squarely based on their school libraries.
The article by Jennifer Radcliffe made the front page and above the fold. By simply letting the facts and experts tell the story, she exposed the stunning reality that HISD and other area Districts are sharply below standards on the number and age of books available in our students' libraries, the availability of professionally educated staff (sometimes no staff at all), and, surprise of surprises, no libraries at all in some schools.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5326658.html
Only days later four letters to the Editor were printed, all clearly advocating improvement.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5334132.html
The next week, another letter writer revealed the state's separate culpability in undermining our libraries.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5349106.html
In its boldest stance, the Chronicle also ran its own editorial, at the top, further remarking on the the necessity of such a simple component of the educational experience. In fact, the Chron noted that the availability of a well stocked library was SECOND!!!!! only to socioeconomic factors in determining the success of the students on the usual tests - that's SECOND! Good libraries in schools are that important.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5346247.html
If we wish to destroy the next generation, it's easy, take away their books - if not, give them good libraries.
The article by Jennifer Radcliffe made the front page and above the fold. By simply letting the facts and experts tell the story, she exposed the stunning reality that HISD and other area Districts are sharply below standards on the number and age of books available in our students' libraries, the availability of professionally educated staff (sometimes no staff at all), and, surprise of surprises, no libraries at all in some schools.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5326658.html
Only days later four letters to the Editor were printed, all clearly advocating improvement.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5334132.html
The next week, another letter writer revealed the state's separate culpability in undermining our libraries.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5349106.html
In its boldest stance, the Chronicle also ran its own editorial, at the top, further remarking on the the necessity of such a simple component of the educational experience. In fact, the Chron noted that the availability of a well stocked library was SECOND!!!!! only to socioeconomic factors in determining the success of the students on the usual tests - that's SECOND! Good libraries in schools are that important.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5346247.html
If we wish to destroy the next generation, it's easy, take away their books - if not, give them good libraries.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Texas Museums Exhibit Record: A Directory of 2007
Following is the "Introduction" to the December issue of Will's Texana Monthy. We wondered, "What did our museums do this year?"
Introduction
The Texas Museums Exhibits Record: A Directory of 2007 was made possible by the growing sophistication and outreach of the Texas Association of Museums with
the electronic world and the broader bibliographic view of Will’s Texana. We wondered, “What did the museums exhibit this year?” The TAM website has a regular, monthly feature listing its members’ current exhibits as submitted for that purpose. The lists of August onward were captured and interfiled under their respective cities and Texas-based institutions for your inspection. The list is intriguing and inspiring to recognize the variety of productions across the state. December is a great time to visit your local museums.
Museums are curious creatures, for the public as well as for the museums’ staffs. The Texas museum heritage stretches far back. In homes and organizations at some time a few artifacts begin to gather, often for nostalgia, inspiration, merchandizing, or even a legal purpose. In time their location becomes stabilized on a chest of drawers, a cupboard, a shelf, or wrapped carefully away. The keeper began a casual patter for family members, customers, or visitors. Seniors begin jotting notes, enthusiastic youngsters start asking questions, and the ember of a museum begins it slow smolder toward formality. The Handbook of Texas Online offers a brief historical gesture at http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/lbm3.html
Most museums’ subjects are local or state oriented and those that are not demonstrate the cosmopolitan nature of Texans as we visually touch the art, business, and technology of other lands. For the present compilation, all exhibits are included here whether they are Texana or not. Not all TAM members post their exhibits with TAM.
We found no current retrospective compilation of Texas museum exhibits, but the electronic world hastens communication and permits this compilation with some ease where previously it would have been onerous.
December exhibits are in red. Although some museums do not show a currently open exhibit they are open for business and your pleasure and edification for their ongoing exhibits and exhibits not reported here. TAM members who do not post their exhibit with TAM are not cited here.
TAM membership includes many institutional members, but some small museums are not members. Their connection to TAM would be beneficial. A brief history of TAM is on their website at “About TAM / History” at
http://www.prismnet.com/~tam/About/history.html
Locations and contact information for each museum can be found on the website at “Find a Museum / TAM Member Links” at http://www.prismnet.com/~tam/Museums/museumlinks.html
Introduction
The Texas Museums Exhibits Record: A Directory of 2007 was made possible by the growing sophistication and outreach of the Texas Association of Museums with
the electronic world and the broader bibliographic view of Will’s Texana. We wondered, “What did the museums exhibit this year?” The TAM website has a regular, monthly feature listing its members’ current exhibits as submitted for that purpose. The lists of August onward were captured and interfiled under their respective cities and Texas-based institutions for your inspection. The list is intriguing and inspiring to recognize the variety of productions across the state. December is a great time to visit your local museums.
Museums are curious creatures, for the public as well as for the museums’ staffs. The Texas museum heritage stretches far back. In homes and organizations at some time a few artifacts begin to gather, often for nostalgia, inspiration, merchandizing, or even a legal purpose. In time their location becomes stabilized on a chest of drawers, a cupboard, a shelf, or wrapped carefully away. The keeper began a casual patter for family members, customers, or visitors. Seniors begin jotting notes, enthusiastic youngsters start asking questions, and the ember of a museum begins it slow smolder toward formality. The Handbook of Texas Online offers a brief historical gesture at http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/lbm3.html
Most museums’ subjects are local or state oriented and those that are not demonstrate the cosmopolitan nature of Texans as we visually touch the art, business, and technology of other lands. For the present compilation, all exhibits are included here whether they are Texana or not. Not all TAM members post their exhibits with TAM.
We found no current retrospective compilation of Texas museum exhibits, but the electronic world hastens communication and permits this compilation with some ease where previously it would have been onerous.
December exhibits are in red. Although some museums do not show a currently open exhibit they are open for business and your pleasure and edification for their ongoing exhibits and exhibits not reported here. TAM members who do not post their exhibit with TAM are not cited here.
TAM membership includes many institutional members, but some small museums are not members. Their connection to TAM would be beneficial. A brief history of TAM is on their website at “About TAM / History” at
http://www.prismnet.com/~tam/About/history.html
Locations and contact information for each museum can be found on the website at “Find a Museum / TAM Member Links” at http://www.prismnet.com/~tam/Museums/museumlinks.html
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Will Howard and Texas Children's Literature
I post this in preparation of the November Will's Texana Monthly entitled: Children's Texana Picture and Easy Books of Recent Interest: A Casual Bibliography of about 150 titles.
I became aware of the genre through previous matters. I co-chaired in the middle 1970s a Youth Services Interest Group Task Force for the Southwestern Library Association to compile a selective bibliography of books in print. It was intended to supplement The Southwest in Children's Books: A Bibliography, edited by Mildred Harrington (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1952).
The subsequent distant touchstone for that project was Southwest Heritage: a literary history with bibliography, 2nd edition, by Mabel Major, Rebecca Smith, and T.M. Pearce (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1948.) Southwest Heritage’s 1938 edition lacks a children’s section. But, of course, there was Texas in Children's Books compiled by Kay Pinckney Braziel and Dorothy Brand Smith. (Austin: Univ. of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library Science, 1974.) Another earlier work consulted was “A Collection of Stories of Early Texas for Supplementary Reading in the Elementary Grades” by Leslie Mullin, a master’s thesis from Southwest Texas State Teachers College, 1943. Several locally compiled lists from Dallas etc. were also considered, e.g., A List of Books and Related Materials about Texas for use in schools, by Mary Akin Cochran (Austin Public Schools, 1952.) That SWLA task force’s work became a paperback list, A Selective Guide to In-print Children's Books about the Southwest co-edited by Will Howard and Judith Bryant (Dallas: Southwestern Library Association, Youth Services Interest Group, 1977.) Through that project, Texas writer Byrd Baylor’s elegant, humanistic, and charming books came to dwell in my sentiments. And we’ve all slapped our legs on James Rice’s humor.
Determining that Texana in general was not systematically monitored, I founded the Texas Bibliographical Society’s Texas Current Bibliography and Index (early 1970s to 1981), and I deliberately included children’s material in that periodical’s listings. The TCBI as served as a book review index.
After a trip to Chicago, I collected children’s material published by the communist Chinese government because they were so intriguing to compare with our democratic Western European tradition and so revealing by a reverse mirror image. I married children’s librarian Carol Spencer with her interest, research and personal collection of Wanda Gag, who established the modern American picture book standard with Million of Cats.
I wrote and published an ABC book on Austin, Texas, Arthur’s Austin ABC: Arturo en Austin, un abecedario, illustrated by Ben Sargent and translated by Maria Isabel Jofre (Winter Wheat House, 1981). At the time Texana picture books, indeed even alphabet books, were available but in relatively small numbers. For a while I consulted for school libraries and taught in some Austin private schools.
Some time later, in Houston, the arrival of youngsters into Houston Public Library’s Texas Room, where I served for many years, was a continuing pleasure.
When I retired and began the Monthly, I included youngsters’ books. My discovery of the National Center for Illustrated Children’s Literature and Museum at http://www.nccil.org/ with its wonderful facility in Abilene has been a delight.
I became aware of the genre through previous matters. I co-chaired in the middle 1970s a Youth Services Interest Group Task Force for the Southwestern Library Association to compile a selective bibliography of books in print. It was intended to supplement The Southwest in Children's Books: A Bibliography, edited by Mildred Harrington (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1952).
The subsequent distant touchstone for that project was Southwest Heritage: a literary history with bibliography, 2nd edition, by Mabel Major, Rebecca Smith, and T.M. Pearce (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1948.) Southwest Heritage’s 1938 edition lacks a children’s section. But, of course, there was Texas in Children's Books compiled by Kay Pinckney Braziel and Dorothy Brand Smith. (Austin: Univ. of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library Science, 1974.) Another earlier work consulted was “A Collection of Stories of Early Texas for Supplementary Reading in the Elementary Grades” by Leslie Mullin, a master’s thesis from Southwest Texas State Teachers College, 1943. Several locally compiled lists from Dallas etc. were also considered, e.g., A List of Books and Related Materials about Texas for use in schools, by Mary Akin Cochran (Austin Public Schools, 1952.) That SWLA task force’s work became a paperback list, A Selective Guide to In-print Children's Books about the Southwest co-edited by Will Howard and Judith Bryant (Dallas: Southwestern Library Association, Youth Services Interest Group, 1977.) Through that project, Texas writer Byrd Baylor’s elegant, humanistic, and charming books came to dwell in my sentiments. And we’ve all slapped our legs on James Rice’s humor.
Determining that Texana in general was not systematically monitored, I founded the Texas Bibliographical Society’s Texas Current Bibliography and Index (early 1970s to 1981), and I deliberately included children’s material in that periodical’s listings. The TCBI as served as a book review index.
After a trip to Chicago, I collected children’s material published by the communist Chinese government because they were so intriguing to compare with our democratic Western European tradition and so revealing by a reverse mirror image. I married children’s librarian Carol Spencer with her interest, research and personal collection of Wanda Gag, who established the modern American picture book standard with Million of Cats.
I wrote and published an ABC book on Austin, Texas, Arthur’s Austin ABC: Arturo en Austin, un abecedario, illustrated by Ben Sargent and translated by Maria Isabel Jofre (Winter Wheat House, 1981). At the time Texana picture books, indeed even alphabet books, were available but in relatively small numbers. For a while I consulted for school libraries and taught in some Austin private schools.
Some time later, in Houston, the arrival of youngsters into Houston Public Library’s Texas Room, where I served for many years, was a continuing pleasure.
When I retired and began the Monthly, I included youngsters’ books. My discovery of the National Center for Illustrated Children’s Literature and Museum at http://www.nccil.org/ with its wonderful facility in Abilene has been a delight.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Ghosts in the Handbook of Texas and TARO
Almost 300 uses of the word "ghost" in the Handbook of Texas Online
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/
Almost 100 citations of the "ghost" in the Texas Archives Research Organization files
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/
Almost 100 citations of the "ghost" in the Texas Archives Research Organization files
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/
Ghost and Haunts
Texas Hauntings -150 haunts
http://www.sgha.net/texas_haunts.html
Texas Escapes: another long list of ghosts
http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/Texas_ghosts.htm
My UFO Blog _ with maybe a thousand sighting of ghosts etc
http://www.myufo.com/2006/03/haunted_places_in_texas.html
Lone Star Spirits
Ghosts by city
Amarillo Austin Corpus Christi Dallas El Paso
Fort Worth Galveston Houston Lubbock San Antonio
The Beer Bytch - has a list of about 500
http://www.beer-bytch.com/txhauntedplaces.htm
Invisible Ink
http://www.invink.com/writing.html
Brief introduction to writing a book of ghost stories
http://www.sgha.net/texas_haunts.html
Texas Escapes: another long list of ghosts
http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/Texas_ghosts.htm
My UFO Blog _ with maybe a thousand sighting of ghosts etc
http://www.myufo.com/2006/03/haunted_places_in_texas.html
Lone Star Spirits
Ghosts by city
Amarillo Austin Corpus Christi Dallas El Paso
Fort Worth Galveston Houston Lubbock San Antonio
The Beer Bytch - has a list of about 500
http://www.beer-bytch.com/txhauntedplaces.htm
Invisible Ink
http://www.invink.com/writing.html
Brief introduction to writing a book of ghost stories
Texas Environment Blogs
Environment Texas Blog
http://www.environmenttexas.org/blog
Texas Campaign for the Environment
http://www.texasenvironment.org/blogs.cfm
TCE Enviro Blog: Quite simply, the blog that tracks and updates you on all info Texas Campaign for the Environment.
Texas Trash Watch: Keeping you informed on the latest concerning facts about Texas landfills.
Nature Writers of Texas
http://texasnature.blogspot.com/
El Llanero
Crows Really Are Wise
Journals of an Amateur Naturalist
B&B
milkriverblog
Circus of the Spineless
http://www.environmenttexas.org/blog
Texas Campaign for the Environment
http://www.texasenvironment.org/blogs.cfm
TCE Enviro Blog: Quite simply, the blog that tracks and updates you on all info Texas Campaign for the Environment.
Texas Trash Watch: Keeping you informed on the latest concerning facts about Texas landfills.
Nature Writers of Texas
http://texasnature.blogspot.com/
El Llanero
Crows Really Are Wise
Journals of an Amateur Naturalist
B&B
milkriverblog
Circus of the Spineless
Saturday, September 29, 2007
La Bloga: Chicano / a authors
http://labloga.blogspot.com/2006/05/man-who-could-fly.html
Chicano Literature, Chicano Writers, Chicano Fiction, Children's Literature, News, Views & Reviews. [También de Chicanas.]
Chicano Literature, Chicano Writers, Chicano Fiction, Children's Literature, News, Views & Reviews. [También de Chicanas.]
Floricanto and Tejana novels and humor
From out in California Floricanto Press, 3 items are found
http://www.floricantopress.com/
La Picardía Chicana: Latino Folk Humor. Folklore Latino Jocoso. José R. Reyna, Edited by Andrea Alessandra Cabello, University of California, Berkeley, with the Assistance of Gloria Canales. 0-915745-42-9 $35.00 Bulk sales for class use $25.00
Latina Mistress. By R.F. Sánchez 978-0-915745-91-3. 332 pgs. $24.95
La Gringa. By Pedro Martínez. ISBN: 978-0-915745-94-4. 428 pgs. $25.95
http://www.floricantopress.com/
La Picardía Chicana: Latino Folk Humor. Folklore Latino Jocoso. José R. Reyna, Edited by Andrea Alessandra Cabello, University of California, Berkeley, with the Assistance of Gloria Canales. 0-915745-42-9 $35.00 Bulk sales for class use $25.00
Latina Mistress. By R.F. Sánchez 978-0-915745-91-3. 332 pgs. $24.95
La Gringa. By Pedro Martínez. ISBN: 978-0-915745-94-4. 428 pgs. $25.95
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Tx Dept of Ag - Land Heritage Program
http://www.agr.state.tx.us/agr/program_render/0,1987,1848_5409_0_0,00.html?channel=5409
Over 4000 sites recognized, but I didn't find an online list. But it seems I saw a paper version once upon a time.
"The Family Land Heritage Program honors farms and ranches that have been in continuous agricultural operation by the same family for 100 years or more. The program is designed to recognize and chronicle the unique history of Texas agriculture and the men and women who settled this great state and continue the tradition today.
Since the program started in 1974, the Texas Department of Agriculture has recognized more than 4,200 farms and ranches in 232 counties across Texas. "
A map at Family Land Heritage Honorees By County Map 1974-2006 can help.
Over 4000 sites recognized, but I didn't find an online list. But it seems I saw a paper version once upon a time.
"The Family Land Heritage Program honors farms and ranches that have been in continuous agricultural operation by the same family for 100 years or more. The program is designed to recognize and chronicle the unique history of Texas agriculture and the men and women who settled this great state and continue the tradition today.
Since the program started in 1974, the Texas Department of Agriculture has recognized more than 4,200 farms and ranches in 232 counties across Texas. "
A map at Family Land Heritage Honorees By County Map 1974-2006 can help.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
TAMU Historic Building models for sale
http://www.aggielandmarks.net/hisbuil.html
Historic Buildings include original structures built prior to the modern age of A&M when women were enrolled and manditory Corps participation ceased.
Academic Building$20.00
Chemistry Building (1929)$20.00
Civil Engineering Building (1932)$21.00
Cushing Memorial Library$20.00
DeWare Field House$18.00
G. Rollie White Coliseum$20.00
Legett Hall (1911)$21.00
Scoates Hall$20.00
Nagle Hall$20.00
(/For those of you who always wanted to buy a college)
Historic Buildings include original structures built prior to the modern age of A&M when women were enrolled and manditory Corps participation ceased.
Academic Building$20.00
Chemistry Building (1929)$20.00
Civil Engineering Building (1932)$21.00
Cushing Memorial Library$20.00
DeWare Field House$18.00
G. Rollie White Coliseum$20.00
Legett Hall (1911)$21.00
Scoates Hall$20.00
Nagle Hall$20.00
(/For those of you who always wanted to buy a college)
American Society Mechanical Engineers - Landmarks
http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Landmarks/
Texas listing
TEXAS
#52 Saturn V Rocket (1967)
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Clear Lake City, Texas: largest rocket engines at the time of the first US lunar missions
#160 ABACUS II Integrated-Circuit Wire Bonder (1972)*
Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas: world's first practical production machine for the assembly of integrated circuits, making possible their economical production
#154 Greens Bayou Generator Plant (1949)
Houston Lighting and Power Co., Houston, Texas: first fully outdoor turbine-generator to be placed in commercial operation
#155 Milam High-rise Air Conditioned Building (1928)
Milam GP Limited, San Antonio, Texas: first US air-conditioned high-rise office building
#242 Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar Apparatus (1962)
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas: Mechanical test instrument used to measure and characterize the dynamic response of materials at high strain rates
#227 First Ram-Type Blowout Preventer (BOP) (1922)
Cameron World Headquarters, Houston, Texas: first ram-type blowout preventer, which sealed the wellhead and controlled pressure during drilling and oil production operations
#125 Pullman Sleeping Car Glengyle (1911)
Age of Steam Railroad Museum, Dallas, Texas: earliest known survivor of the fleet of heavyweight, all-steel sleepers built by the Pullman Company
#137 Texas & Pacific #610 Lima Superpower Steam Locomotive (1927)
Texas State Railroad Historical Park, Palestine, Texas: sole surviving example of the earliest form of "superpower" steam locomotives
#145 Southern Gas Association-PCRC Analog Facility (1956)
Dallas, Texas: first computer system to be applied to the design of natural-gas pipeline systems
#231 LeTourneau (1922)
Longview, TX. ASME Landmark since 2004, the Mountain Mover Earthmoving Scraper helped lead to better access to farming land and road, highway and airport building for decades after its introduction
#163 Meter-type Gas Odorizer (1937)
Peerless Manufacturing R & D Facility, Dallas, Texas: early safety device for introducing odor into natural-gas lines to make leaks apparent
#179 Newell Shredder (1969)
Newell Industries, San Antonio, Texas: second and earliest surviving automobile shredder for recycling scrap metal
#173 Burton Farmers Gin Mill (1914)
Burton, Texas: earliest known survivor of an integrated cotton ginning system widely used in the southern United States
#10 USS Texas' Reciprocating Steam Engines (1914)
San Jancinto Battleground State Park, Houston, Texas: last reciprocating marine engines installed in a naval ship
#239 Hughes Glomar Explorer
Built to lift a sunk Soviet submarine from the bottom of the Pacific. Designated as an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in Houston, Texas on July 20, 2006
#151 Victoria Dutch Windmill (1840s)
City of Victoria, Parks and Recreation Dept., Victoria, Texas: mid-19th-century wind-powered gristmill of Dutch turret-mill style
Texas listing
TEXAS
#52 Saturn V Rocket (1967)
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Clear Lake City, Texas: largest rocket engines at the time of the first US lunar missions
#160 ABACUS II Integrated-Circuit Wire Bonder (1972)*
Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas: world's first practical production machine for the assembly of integrated circuits, making possible their economical production
#154 Greens Bayou Generator Plant (1949)
Houston Lighting and Power Co., Houston, Texas: first fully outdoor turbine-generator to be placed in commercial operation
#155 Milam High-rise Air Conditioned Building (1928)
Milam GP Limited, San Antonio, Texas: first US air-conditioned high-rise office building
#242 Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar Apparatus (1962)
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas: Mechanical test instrument used to measure and characterize the dynamic response of materials at high strain rates
#227 First Ram-Type Blowout Preventer (BOP) (1922)
Cameron World Headquarters, Houston, Texas: first ram-type blowout preventer, which sealed the wellhead and controlled pressure during drilling and oil production operations
#125 Pullman Sleeping Car Glengyle (1911)
Age of Steam Railroad Museum, Dallas, Texas: earliest known survivor of the fleet of heavyweight, all-steel sleepers built by the Pullman Company
#137 Texas & Pacific #610 Lima Superpower Steam Locomotive (1927)
Texas State Railroad Historical Park, Palestine, Texas: sole surviving example of the earliest form of "superpower" steam locomotives
#145 Southern Gas Association-PCRC Analog Facility (1956)
Dallas, Texas: first computer system to be applied to the design of natural-gas pipeline systems
#231 LeTourneau (1922)
Longview, TX. ASME Landmark since 2004, the Mountain Mover Earthmoving Scraper helped lead to better access to farming land and road, highway and airport building for decades after its introduction
#163 Meter-type Gas Odorizer (1937)
Peerless Manufacturing R & D Facility, Dallas, Texas: early safety device for introducing odor into natural-gas lines to make leaks apparent
#179 Newell Shredder (1969)
Newell Industries, San Antonio, Texas: second and earliest surviving automobile shredder for recycling scrap metal
#173 Burton Farmers Gin Mill (1914)
Burton, Texas: earliest known survivor of an integrated cotton ginning system widely used in the southern United States
#10 USS Texas' Reciprocating Steam Engines (1914)
San Jancinto Battleground State Park, Houston, Texas: last reciprocating marine engines installed in a naval ship
#239 Hughes Glomar Explorer
Built to lift a sunk Soviet submarine from the bottom of the Pacific. Designated as an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in Houston, Texas on July 20, 2006
#151 Victoria Dutch Windmill (1840s)
City of Victoria, Parks and Recreation Dept., Victoria, Texas: mid-19th-century wind-powered gristmill of Dutch turret-mill style
National Parks Ser - Historic Landmarks Program
Search for Texas at
http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/
Alamo San Antonio Texas Building
Apollo Mission Control Center Houston Texas Building
Bastrop State Park Bastrop Texas District
Dealey Plaza Historic District DallasTexas District
East End Historic District GalvestonTexas District
ELISSA (Bark) Galveston Texas Structure
Espada Aqueduct San AntonioTexas Structure
Fair Park Texas Centennial Buildings DallasTexas District
Fort Belknap GrahamTexas Building
Fort Brown BrownsvilleTexas District
Fort Concho San Angelo Texas District
Fort Davis Fort DavisTexas District
Fort Richardson JacksboroTexas Building
Fort Sam Houston Fort Sam HoustonTexas District
Garner, John Nance, House UvaldeTexas Building
Governor's Mansion (Austin) AustinTexas Building
HA. 19 (Midget Submarine) Fredericksburg Texas Structure
Hangar 9, Brooks Air Force Base San AntonioTexas Building
Harrell Site South BendTexas Site
Highland Park Shopping Village Highland ParkTexas Building
J A Ranch (Goodnight Ranch) Palo DuroTexas District
Johnson, Lyndon Baines, Boyhood Home Johnson CityTexas Building
King RanchKingsville andTexas District
Landergin Mesa VegaTexas Site
Lexington, USS (Aircraft Carrier)Corpus ChristiTexas Structure
Lubbock Lake SiteLubbockTexasSite
Lucas Gusher, Spindletop Oil FieldBeaumontTexasSite
Majestic TheatreSan AntonioTexasBuilding
Mission ConcepcionSan AntonioTexasBuilding
Palmito Ranch BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasDistrict
Palo Alto BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasSite
Plainview SitePlainviewTexasSite
Porter FarmTerrellTexasSite
Presidio Nuestra Senora De Loreto De La BahiaGoliadTexasBuilding
Randolph Field Historic DistrictSan AntonioTexasDistrict
Rayburn, Samuel T,. HouseBonhamTexasBuilding
Resaca De La Palma BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasSite
Roma Historic DistrictRomaTexasDistrict
San Jacinto BattlefieldHoustonTexasSite
Space Environment Simulation Laboratory, Chambers A and B HoustonTexasStructure
Spanish Governor's Palace San AntonioTexasBuilding
Strand Historic District GalvestonTexasDistrict
TEXAS (USS) HoustonTexasStructure
Texas State Capitol AustinTexasBuilding
Trevino-Uribe Rancho San YgnacioTexasBuilding
Woodland HuntsvilleTexasBuilding
http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/
Alamo San Antonio Texas Building
Apollo Mission Control Center Houston Texas Building
Bastrop State Park Bastrop Texas District
Dealey Plaza Historic District DallasTexas District
East End Historic District GalvestonTexas District
ELISSA (Bark) Galveston Texas Structure
Espada Aqueduct San AntonioTexas Structure
Fair Park Texas Centennial Buildings DallasTexas District
Fort Belknap GrahamTexas Building
Fort Brown BrownsvilleTexas District
Fort Concho San Angelo Texas District
Fort Davis Fort DavisTexas District
Fort Richardson JacksboroTexas Building
Fort Sam Houston Fort Sam HoustonTexas District
Garner, John Nance, House UvaldeTexas Building
Governor's Mansion (Austin) AustinTexas Building
HA. 19 (Midget Submarine) Fredericksburg Texas Structure
Hangar 9, Brooks Air Force Base San AntonioTexas Building
Harrell Site South BendTexas Site
Highland Park Shopping Village Highland ParkTexas Building
J A Ranch (Goodnight Ranch) Palo DuroTexas District
Johnson, Lyndon Baines, Boyhood Home Johnson CityTexas Building
King RanchKingsville andTexas District
Landergin Mesa VegaTexas Site
Lexington, USS (Aircraft Carrier)Corpus ChristiTexas Structure
Lubbock Lake SiteLubbockTexasSite
Lucas Gusher, Spindletop Oil FieldBeaumontTexasSite
Majestic TheatreSan AntonioTexasBuilding
Mission ConcepcionSan AntonioTexasBuilding
Palmito Ranch BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasDistrict
Palo Alto BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasSite
Plainview SitePlainviewTexasSite
Porter FarmTerrellTexasSite
Presidio Nuestra Senora De Loreto De La BahiaGoliadTexasBuilding
Randolph Field Historic DistrictSan AntonioTexasDistrict
Rayburn, Samuel T,. HouseBonhamTexasBuilding
Resaca De La Palma BattlefieldBrownsvilleTexasSite
Roma Historic DistrictRomaTexasDistrict
San Jacinto BattlefieldHoustonTexasSite
Space Environment Simulation Laboratory, Chambers A and B HoustonTexasStructure
Spanish Governor's Palace San AntonioTexasBuilding
Strand Historic District GalvestonTexasDistrict
TEXAS (USS) HoustonTexasStructure
Texas State Capitol AustinTexasBuilding
Trevino-Uribe Rancho San YgnacioTexasBuilding
Woodland HuntsvilleTexasBuilding
Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks in Wikipedia
Our built environment is a major portion of our preserved history and culture.
Wikipedia has some interesting offerings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_civil_engineering_landmarks#Texas
Brooks AFB, Old Hangar 9, San Antonio
San Antonio River Walk & Flood Control System, San Antonio
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising, Galveston
Acequias of San Antonio, San Antonio
El Camino Real (The Royal Road) Eastern Branch, San Antonio
Denison Dam, Denison
Texas Commerce Bank (formerly Gulf, now Chase) Building, Houston
San Jacinto Monument, Houston
International Boundary Marker #1, El Paso
Houston Ship Channel, Houston
http://www.texasce.org/docs/PastLandmarks.cfm
HISTORIC CIVIL ENGINEERING LANDMARKS OF TEXAS SECTION-ASCE
with years of dedication (Click on a project name that is in red to see more information about it.)
National CE Landmarks in Texas
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising Galveston 2001
Hangar 9, Brooks AFB San Antonio 1998
Gulf Building (Texas Commerce Bank, now Chase Bank) Houston 1997
San Antonio's River Walk San Antonio 1996
Denison Dam (with Oklahoma Section) Red River 1993
The San Jacinto Monument East Harris County 1992
Houston Ship Channel Houston 1987
El Camino Real, Eastern Branch San Antonio 1986
International Boundary Marker No. 1 (with New Mexico and Mexico Sections) El Paso 1976
Acequias of San Antonio San Antonio 1968
Texas CE Landmarks
Bataan Memorial Trainway El Paso 2003
Hays Street Bridge San Antonio 2001
Highland Chain of Lakes Texas Hill Country 2000
Holly Pump Station and North Holly Water Treatment Plant Fort Worth 1992
Medina Dam Lake Medina 1991
Buchanan Dam Lake Buchanan 1990
Original Dallas Floodway Dallas 1989
Houston Street Viaduct Dallas 1989
Corpus Christi Seawall Corpus Christi 1988
El Camino Real, Central Branch El Paso 1988
Mills Building El Paso 1981
Paddock Viaduct Fort Worth 1976
Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Works(San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens) San Antonio 1976
Franklin Canal El Paso 1976
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising Galveston 1975
Waco Suspension Bridge Waco 1971
Historic Markers with Other Sections
International Boundary Marker No. 1 (with New Mexico and Mexico Sections) El Paso 1976
International Boundary Markerbetween the Republic of Texas andthe U.S. (with Louisiana Section) Logansport, LA 1980
Denison Dam (with Oklahoma Section) Red River 1993
Other sources:
Texas Almanac
see also: http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/landmarks/
Texas CE
http://www.austinasce.org/hh.htm (Austin Branch, Texas Section - History and Heritage Committee)
http://www.texasce.org/docs/AwardsNational.cfm (for national awards)
Consider adding to these lists or using them to augment your communites awareness of their history through civil engineering
Wikipedia has some interesting offerings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_civil_engineering_landmarks#Texas
Brooks AFB, Old Hangar 9, San Antonio
San Antonio River Walk & Flood Control System, San Antonio
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising, Galveston
Acequias of San Antonio, San Antonio
El Camino Real (The Royal Road) Eastern Branch, San Antonio
Denison Dam, Denison
Texas Commerce Bank (formerly Gulf, now Chase) Building, Houston
San Jacinto Monument, Houston
International Boundary Marker #1, El Paso
Houston Ship Channel, Houston
http://www.texasce.org/docs/PastLandmarks.cfm
HISTORIC CIVIL ENGINEERING LANDMARKS OF TEXAS SECTION-ASCE
with years of dedication (Click on a project name that is in red to see more information about it.)
National CE Landmarks in Texas
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising Galveston 2001
Hangar 9, Brooks AFB San Antonio 1998
Gulf Building (Texas Commerce Bank, now Chase Bank) Houston 1997
San Antonio's River Walk San Antonio 1996
Denison Dam (with Oklahoma Section) Red River 1993
The San Jacinto Monument East Harris County 1992
Houston Ship Channel Houston 1987
El Camino Real, Eastern Branch San Antonio 1986
International Boundary Marker No. 1 (with New Mexico and Mexico Sections) El Paso 1976
Acequias of San Antonio San Antonio 1968
Texas CE Landmarks
Bataan Memorial Trainway El Paso 2003
Hays Street Bridge San Antonio 2001
Highland Chain of Lakes Texas Hill Country 2000
Holly Pump Station and North Holly Water Treatment Plant Fort Worth 1992
Medina Dam Lake Medina 1991
Buchanan Dam Lake Buchanan 1990
Original Dallas Floodway Dallas 1989
Houston Street Viaduct Dallas 1989
Corpus Christi Seawall Corpus Christi 1988
El Camino Real, Central Branch El Paso 1988
Mills Building El Paso 1981
Paddock Viaduct Fort Worth 1976
Alamo Portland and Roman Cement Works(San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens) San Antonio 1976
Franklin Canal El Paso 1976
Galveston Seawall and Grade Raising Galveston 1975
Waco Suspension Bridge Waco 1971
Historic Markers with Other Sections
International Boundary Marker No. 1 (with New Mexico and Mexico Sections) El Paso 1976
International Boundary Markerbetween the Republic of Texas andthe U.S. (with Louisiana Section) Logansport, LA 1980
Denison Dam (with Oklahoma Section) Red River 1993
Other sources:
Texas Almanac
see also: http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/landmarks/
Texas CE
http://www.austinasce.org/hh.htm (Austin Branch, Texas Section - History and Heritage Committee)
http://www.texasce.org/docs/AwardsNational.cfm (for national awards)
Consider adding to these lists or using them to augment your communites awareness of their history through civil engineering
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Ed Blackburn and the Texana Review
At http://www.texanareview.com/ Ed Blackburn has confected a warm and attractive pod cast, The Texana Review. And, well, it's useful also for those interested in history, literature, and the land, not a bad trifecta. Ed skillfully produces about a cast a week on the average. For example, he interviews Elmer Kelton (in 5 parts) and Joachim Jackson the Texas Ranger (the star and gun type not the ball hurlers). He considers a number of land and energy questions. But I guess my favorite is his early morning video of his neighbor's house being demolished because as you watch and listen all sorts of wonderment falls forth.
Texas and Global Warming - very briefly
http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Texas.pdf
http://www.citizen.org/texas/global_warmi/
http://www.tamug.edu/labb/Global_Warming_Info.htm
http://texas.sierraclub.org/conservation/20070416.asp
http://www.environmenttexas.org/news-releases/global-warming
http://www.texaspolicy.com/pdf/2007-04-RR08-globalwarming.pdf
http://www.citizen.org/texas/Global_Warmi/Consequences/
http://dmcsystems.org/dmccp/dhkjsh78y98dkj/dmc/content/pages/instance1.php?id=Marston:+Global+Warming
http://www.esi.utexas.edu/spotlights/gwConference.html
http://www.citizen.org/texas/global_warmi/
http://www.tamug.edu/labb/Global_Warming_Info.htm
http://texas.sierraclub.org/conservation/20070416.asp
http://www.environmenttexas.org/news-releases/global-warming
http://www.texaspolicy.com/pdf/2007-04-RR08-globalwarming.pdf
http://www.citizen.org/texas/Global_Warmi/Consequences/
http://dmcsystems.org/dmccp/dhkjsh78y98dkj/dmc/content/pages/instance1.php?id=Marston:+Global+Warming
http://www.esi.utexas.edu/spotlights/gwConference.html
Houston Chronicle Houston History blog
Despite the assumption that Houston is built JUST SO somebody can igore yesterday, the venerable rag takes up the cause
http://www.blogs.chron.com/bayoucity-history
http://www.blogs.chron.com/bayoucity-history
North Texas Regional Library System blog, podcast
Good for professionals to glance at from time to time. A full description of the Dobie grants for small Texas libraries is there. There's also a note of a children's bookstore closing. Other more technical material serving librarians is chocked here.
Oh! There's a desciption of their podcasting project "Librarian Live," http://librarianlive.pbwiki.com/
Oh! There's a desciption of their podcasting project "Librarian Live," http://librarianlive.pbwiki.com/
Honeygrove Tx: setting of One Tree Hill tv show
Yes hear the sounds and music as OTH shoots in Honeygrove
http://www.othpodcast.com/media/Suffering_Version_FINAL_FINAL3.mov
http://www.othpodcast.com/media/Suffering_Version_FINAL_FINAL3.mov
Gunsmoke as radio before tv
Some folks have captured early radio shows like "Gunsmoke" before James Arness.
This episode features "Texas Cowboys"
http://calfkillerotrpodcast.blogspot.com/2007/06/texas-cowboys-gunsmoke.html
This episode features "Texas Cowboys"
http://calfkillerotrpodcast.blogspot.com/2007/06/texas-cowboys-gunsmoke.html
Passport to Texas via Parks & Wildlife Dept podcast
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has distributed radio show via its Passport to Texas. A variety of the are also posted as audios here.
http://passporttotexas.org/listen/
http://passporttotexas.org/listen/
Texas Observer blog
For a view from the left side of the river, try the Texas Observer's blog
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/
Dallas New Books Blog
The Dallas Morning News ( a Belo production) has a book blog that often has Texana notes there within.
http://books.beloblog.com/
http://books.beloblog.com/
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Current Bibliographies of Texas Texana 2006
Will's Texana Annual: 2006 (issued March 2007) will contain a trio of current bibliographies of Texas.
The "Current Trade" bibliography contains about 800 citations of material about Texas published during 2006. The citations are spare, just author, title, place of publication, publisher, and date. The list includes non-fiction, fiction, children's, poetry, pictorials, etc. Some Spanish language material is included. Often the fiction and juvenile material is so labelled.
The "Current State Government" bibliography includes about 400 selections from the listings provided by the Texas State Library and Archives Commissions Clearinghouse program. Monograph and serials are included.
The "Current Dissertations & Theses" listing contains about 200 titles of more general interest, less technical.
The ANNUAL also includes a retrospection cumulation of the Monthly, and a directory of Texana depositories in Texas.
And a few other items.
The "Current Trade" bibliography contains about 800 citations of material about Texas published during 2006. The citations are spare, just author, title, place of publication, publisher, and date. The list includes non-fiction, fiction, children's, poetry, pictorials, etc. Some Spanish language material is included. Often the fiction and juvenile material is so labelled.
The "Current State Government" bibliography includes about 400 selections from the listings provided by the Texas State Library and Archives Commissions Clearinghouse program. Monograph and serials are included.
The "Current Dissertations & Theses" listing contains about 200 titles of more general interest, less technical.
The ANNUAL also includes a retrospection cumulation of the Monthly, and a directory of Texana depositories in Texas.
And a few other items.
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