Living in the Shadow of a Hell Ship: The Survival Story of U.S. Marine George Burlage, a WWII Prisoner-of-War of the Japanese

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
U.S. Marine George Burlage was part of the largest surrender in American history at Bataan and Corregidor in the spring of 1942, where the Japanese captured more than 85,000 troops. More than forty percent would not survive World War II. His prisoner-of-war ordeal began at Cabanatuan near Manila, where the death rate in the early months of World War II was fifty men a day. Sensing that Cabanatuan was a death trap, he managed to get transferred to the isolated island of Palawan to help build an airfield for his captors. Malaria and other tropical diseases caused him to be sent to Manila for treatment in 1943 (a year later, 139 of his fellow POWs were massacred on Palawan). After another year of building airfields, Burlage survived a 38-day voyage in the hull of a Japanese hell ship and ended the war as a miner for Mitsubishi in northern Japan. By sheer luck, strength, and a bit of sabotage, he survived and was freed in September 1945 after the Japanese surrendered. He had endured starvation and torture and lost half of his prewar weight, but no one had killed him. After the war Burlage became a journalist and wrote about …
Date: September 15, 2020
Creator: Burlage, Georgianne
System: The UNT Digital Library

Obstinate Heroism: The Confederate Surrenders After Appomattox

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Book describes the three surrenders by Confederate armies that occurred after Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. They included Joseph Johnston's to William Tecumseh Sherman; Richard Taylor's to Edward Canby; and the dissolution of the Trans-Mississippi Department under Edmund Kirby-Smith.
Date: March 2020
Creator: Ramold, Steven J.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Firearms of the Texas Rangers: From the Frontier Era to the Modern Age

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
From their founding in the 1820s up to the modern age, the Texas Rangers have shown the ability to adapt and survive. Part of that survival depended on their use of firearms. The evolving technology of these weapons often determined the effectiveness of these early day Rangers. John Coffee “Jack” Hays and Samuel Walker would leave their mark on the Rangers by incorporating new technology which allowed them to alter tactics when confronting their adversaries. The Frontier Battalion was created at about the same time as the Colt Peacemaker and the Winchester 73—these were the guns that “won the West.” Firearms of the Texas Rangers, with more than 180 photographs, tells the history of the Texas Rangers primarily through the use of their firearms. Author Doug Dukes narrates famous episodes in Ranger history, including Jack Hays and the Paterson, the Walker Colt, the McCulloch Colt Revolver (smuggled through the Union blockade during the Civil War), and the Frontier Battalion and their use of the Colt Peacemaker and Winchester and Sharps carbines. Readers will delight in learning of Frank Hamer’s marksmanship with his Colt Single Action Army and his Remington, along with Captain J.W. McCormick and his two .45 Colt pistols, …
Date: August 15, 2020
Creator: Dukes, Doug
System: The UNT Digital Library

Bob Bilyeu Camblin: An Iconoclast in Houston's Emerging Art Scene

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Bob Camblin (1928-2010) was an artist, first and foremost. He earned his BFA and MFA degrees from the Kansas City Art Institute. His studies were followed by a Fulbright Fellowship that allowed him a year’s stay in Italy. Returning to the USA, he held teaching positions at the Ringling Museum, the University of Illinois, Detroit Mercy, and the University of Utah before moving to Houston in 1967 to teach at Rice’s new art department. He was active in Houston during the late 1960s through the 1980s, collaborating with Earl Staley and Joe Tate on many projects, including “happenings” on the beach in Galveston. His career led him to creative undertakings all over the world. Throughout his lifetime he constantly experimented with various art media. He remained open to new ideas and new techniques until his death in Louisiana in 2010. Camblin was a central figure in the period of artistic fermentation in Houston that is now beginning to receive increasing critical attention. He chose Rowland to be his historian while still at Rice, and her insights into him are based on many personal letters and conversations. In addition, she is a trained art historian and …
Date: April 2020
Creator: Rowland, Sandra Jensen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transactions of the Regional Archeological Symposium for Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas: 2019 (open access)

Transactions of the Regional Archeological Symposium for Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas: 2019

Proceedings of the 55th regional archeological symposium including the text of papers presented during the conference.
Date: 2020
Creator: Lowder, Jack T.
System: The Portal to Texas History

Texas Ranger Lee Hall: From the Red River to the Rio Grande

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Book is a biography of Texas Ranger Lee Hall, born in North Carolina in 1849 and died in Texas in 1911. His career ranged all over Texas but mainly in South Texas and the Panhandle.
Date: February 2020
Creator: Parson, Chuck
System: The UNT Digital Library

Snapshots and Short Notes: Images and Messages of Early Twentieth-Century Photo Postcards

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Book contains about 400 images of the fronts and backs of real photo postcards from about 1900-1920. These were postcards created by ordinary people from their own photographs and mailed with their messages on the back. Book also describes history of photography that resulted in people being able to create their own photos without a dark room, and explains known information about the specific cards, including who sent and received them and what they depict
Date: June 2020
Creator: Wilson, Kenneth
System: The UNT Digital Library

Scouting with the Buffalo Soldiers: Lieutenant Powhatan Clarke, Frederic Remington, and the Tenth U.S. Cavalry in the Southwest

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
On a hot summer’s day in Montana, a daring frontier cavalry officer, Powhatan Henry Clarke, died at the height of his promising career. A member of the U.S. Military Academy’s Class of 1884, Clarke graduated dead last, and while short on academic application, he was long on charm and bravado. Clarke obtained a commission with the black troops of the Tenth Cavalry, earning his spurs with these “Buffalo Soldiers.” He evolved into a fearless field commander at the troop level, gaining glory and first-hand knowledge of what it took to campaign in the West. During his brief, action-packed career, Clarke saved a black trooper’s life while under Apache fire and was awarded the Medal of Honor. A chance meeting brought Clarke together with artist Frederic Remington, who brought national attention to Clarke when he illustrated the exploit for an 1886 Harper’s Weekly. The officer and artist became friends, and Clarke served as a model and consultant for future artwork by Remington. Remington’s many depictions of Clarke added greatly to the cavalryman’s luster. In turn, the artist gained fame and fortune in part from drawing on Clarke as his muse. The story of these two unlikely comrades tells much about the …
Date: October 15, 2020
Creator: Langellier, John P. (John Phillip)
System: The UNT Digital Library

Country Cop: True Tales from a Texas Deputy Sheriff

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Book is author's memoir about his years as a Deputy Sheriff in Parker County, Texas. He served as a patrol officer, public relations officer, and as a member of the Crimes Against Children division, among other duties.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Goodson, Barry
System: The UNT Digital Library

Hope for Justice and Power: Broad-based Community Organizing in the Texas Industrial Areas Foundation

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Book is a history of the Industrial Areas Foundation branch in Texas. The Industrial Areas Foundation was founded by Saul Alinsky in Chicago in 1940 and is currently an international advocacy group. The Texas branch has many affiliates throughout the state. This book describes the evolution of those affiliates and their cooperative activities with other advocacy groups.
Date: March 2020
Creator: Staudt, Kathleen
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Best American Newspaper Narratives, Volume 7

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This anthology collects the winners of the 2019 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at UNT’s Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. First place winner: Eli Saslow, “It Was My Job, and I Didn’t Find Him” (The Washington Post), narrates the life of a former officer at the Parkland high school shooting. Second place: Elizabeth Bruenig, “What Do We Owe Her Now?” (The Washington Post), is the story of a high school rape victim who received no justice. Third place: Hannah Dreier, “The Disappeared” (ProPublica), follows a mother who lost her teenage son to gang violence. Runners-up include Jamie Thompson, “Standoff” (The Dallas Morning News); Lane DeGregory, “Lincoln’s Shot” (Tampa Bay Times); Jenna Russell, “The World, the Stage, the Way Ahead” (The Boston Globe); Evan Allen, “Under a Dark Sky, a Baby is Born” (The Boston Globe); Lisa Gartner, “She’s Taught at the Parkland High School for 14 Years. Can She Go Back?” (Tampa Bay Times); Claire McNeill, “So You Remember the Student Who Was Shot at FSU? He’s Pretty Sure We’ve All Moved On” (Tampa Bay Times); and Bethany Barnes, “Targeted” (The Oregonian).
Date: June 2020
Creator: Reaves, Gayle
System: The UNT Digital Library