From Slave to Statesman: The Legacy of Joshua Houston, Servant to Sam Houston (open access)

From Slave to Statesman: The Legacy of Joshua Houston, Servant to Sam Houston

This biography discusses the life of Joshua Houston starting at around twelve years of age until his death in 1902. The text includes commentary on the historical context of his life and anecdotal accounts. Index starts on page 259.
Date: 1993
Creator: Prather, Patricia Smith, 1943- & Monday, Jane Clements, 1941-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Houston Blue: The Story of the Houston Police Department

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Houston Blue offers the first comprehensive history of one of the nation’s largest police forces, the Houston Police Department. Through extensive archival research and more than one hundred interviews with prominent Houston police figures, politicians, news reporters, attorneys, and others, authors Mitchel P. Roth and Tom Kennedy chronicle the development of policing in the Bayou City from its days as a grimy trading post in the 1830s to its current status as the nation’s fourth largest city. Prominent historical figures who have brushed shoulders with Houston’s Finest over the past 175 years include Houdini, Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, O. Henry, former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, hatchet wielding temperance leader Carrie Nation, the Hilton Siamese Twins, blues musician Leadbelly, oilman Silver Dollar Jim West, and many others. The Houston Police Department was one of the first cities in the South to adopt fingerprinting as an identification system and use the polygraph test, and under the leadership of its first African American police chief, Lee Brown, put the theory of neighborhood oriented policing into practice in the 1980s. The force has been embroiled in controversy and high profile criminal cases as well. Among the cases chronicled in the book are …
Date: November 15, 2012
Creator: Roth, Mitchel P.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Star of Destiny: The Private Life of Sam and Margaret Houston (open access)

Star of Destiny: The Private Life of Sam and Margaret Houston

This biography of Sam and Margaret Houston draws on surviving personal letters and writings to describe their lives together. The book roughly covers the time from their meeting to their deaths in 1863 and 1867, respectively. Index starts on page 419.
Date: 1993
Creator: Roberts, Madge Thornall, 1929-
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Myth, Magic, and Farce: Four Multicultural Plays

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Sterling Houston is an innovative African American writer whose plays are known for biting social commentary combined with eye-popping theatricality. Despite many successful productions, his work has never before been widely available in print. The four plays in this collection represent Houston’s full range of themes and styles. High Yello Rose deflates the Alamo myth by casting the heroes’ parts entirely with women. Isis in Nubia is a love story that sets the Isis/Osiris myth in West Africa. Black Lily and White Lily is a realistic domestic drama exploring racial tensions. Miranda Rites returns to Houston’s broadly farcical style, enacting Martha Mitchell’s last days in a hospital, where she hallucinates about Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Dandridge, and is escorted to the underworld by Carmen Miranda. “It is up to the artists to be the healers, the visionaries, to retell our stories so that they resurrect us. This is what Sterling does when he collects the lives fallen and forgotten between the cracks. What a marvelous gift Sterling has given to American culture by remembering, and not remembering as some do with retribution, but with wisdom, humor, generosity, and heart. For his labor and research, for his lifework and lovework, I …
Date: February 15, 2005
Creator: Houston, Sterling
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 2: 1846-1848 (open access)

The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 2: 1846-1848

This book is the second in a series of four volumes and contains collected correspondence to and from Sam Houston, primarily between Houston and his wife. The letters include footnotes that give clarification and context. The volume also has a bibliography and index (which starts on page 391).
Date: 1998
Creator: Roberts, Madge Thornall
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 1: 1839-1845 (open access)

The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 1: 1839-1845

This book is the first in a series of four volumes and contains collected correspondence to and from Sam Houston. According to information on the inside front cover, it includes letters "between Sam Houston and his wife, and their letters to other family members, family physicians, and close personal friends." The letters include footnotes that give clarification and context. The volume also has a bibliography, appendix, and index (which starts on page 377).
Date: 1996
Creator: Roberts, Madge Thornall
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 4: 1852-1863 (open access)

The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 4: 1852-1863

This book is the fourth in a series of four volumes and contains collected correspondence to and from Sam Houston. The letters include footnotes that give clarification and context. The volume also has an appendix, addenda, bibliography, and an index (which starts on page 523).
Date: 2001
Creator: Roberts, Madge Thornall
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 3: 1848-1852 (open access)

The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Volume 3: 1848-1852

This book is the third in a series of four volumes and contains collected correspondence to and from Sam Houston. The letters include footnotes that give clarification and context. The volume also has appendices, a bibliography, and an index (which starts on page 493).
Date: 1999
Creator: Roberts, Madge Thornall
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

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

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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
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Whistle in the Piney Woods: Paul Bremond and the Houston, East and West Texas Railway (open access)

Whistle in the Piney Woods: Paul Bremond and the Houston, East and West Texas Railway

The story of the founding of the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad by Paul Bremond, the company's relationship with the lumber industry, and its role in the development of East Texas. The book also discusses Paul Bremond's personal background. Index starts on page 119.
Date: 1998
Creator: Maxwell, Robert S.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The LH7 Ranch in Houston's Shadow: The E.H. Marks' Legacy From Longhorns to the Salt Grass Trail (open access)

The LH7 Ranch in Houston's Shadow: The E.H. Marks' Legacy From Longhorns to the Salt Grass Trail

This book gives an overview of the history of the LH7 ranch, near Houston, Texas starting with the father of Emil Henry Marks, who founded the ranch. The chapters include biographical information of people in the Marks family and other people connected to the ranch as well as historical aspects of the ranch and the community. Index starts on page 217.
Date: 1991
Creator: Sizemore, Deborah Lightfoot
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

A Sniper in the Tower: the Charles Whitman Murders

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On August 1, 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman ascended the University of Texas Tower and committed what was then the largest simultaneous mass murder in American history. He gunned down forty-five people inside and around the Tower before he was killed by two Austin police officers. During the previous evening he had killed his wife and mother, bringing the total to sixteen people dead and at least thirty-one wounded. The murders spawned debates over issues which still plague America today: domestic violence, child abuse, drug abuse, military indoctrination, the insanity defense, and the delicate balance between civil liberties and public safety. "An outstanding job of chronicling one of the most significant cases in the annals of American crime. . . . Lavergne skillfully researched, documented, and analyzed a case that in many ways defined the concept of ‘mass murder’ . . . will likely become a classic in anyone’s library of true crime editions."--James Alan Fox, Dean of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, and an authority on mass murder
Date: March 15, 1997
Creator: Lavergne, Gary M.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The 56th Evac Hospital: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor (open access)

The 56th Evac Hospital: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor

A collection of letters by army Dr. L. D. Collins from his tour of duty in World War II with the 56th Evacuation Hospital, chronicling his experiences and general history of WWII. He includes letters from his time stationed in Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, and Anzio Beach.
Date: 1995
Creator: Collins, Lawrence D.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Golden Log (open access)

The Golden Log

This volume of the Publications of the Texas Folklore Society contains popular Texas folklore, including information about unusual Texas place names, folktales about spiders, folktales about witchcraft, ghosts and superstitions, and information about early petroleum geologists. The index begins on page 167.
Date: 1962
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Diamond Bessie & The Shepherds (open access)

Diamond Bessie & The Shepherds

This volume contains popular folklore of Texas, including folk dramas, myths, folk music, stories about farming and agriculture, religious folk stories, and information about folk customs, dances and folk art. The index begins on page 157.
Date: 1972
Creator: Hudson, Wilson M.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Golden Log (open access)

The Golden Log

Volume of popular Texas folklore, including information about unusual Texas place names, folktales about spiders, folktales about witchcraft, ghosts and superstitions, and information about early petroleum geologists. The index begins on page 167.
Date: 2017
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Diamond Bessie & The Shepherds (open access)

Diamond Bessie & The Shepherds

This volume contains popular folklore of Texas, including folk dramas, myths, folk music, stories about farming and agriculture, religious folk stories, and information about folk customs, dances and folk art. The index begins on page 157.
Date: 2017
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore (open access)

Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore

Volume of essays about African-American folklore, including reminiscences of African-American folk culture in Texas, studies of specific genres of folklore, information about Texas-African food-ways, studies of specific performers, information about songs and other folklore. The index begins on page 353.
Date: 1996
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Best American Newspaper Narratives, Volume 5

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Anthology of writing by the ten winners of the 2016 Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference. The pieces are published in order of places awarded: McCoy, “It Was an Accident, Baby” (1st place); Dreier, “A Child’s Scraped Knee” (2nd place); Baker, “The Power of Will” (3rd place), and runners up, Cox, “A Marine’s Conviction”; Goffard, “Framed”; Thompson, “The Long Way Home”; Kleinfield, “Fraying at the Edges”; Kuchment and Thompson, “Seismic Denial”; Caruba, “55 Minutes”; and Wangsness, “In Search of Sanctuary.”
Date: June 2018
Creator: Reaves, Gayle
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore (open access)

Juneteenth Texas: Essays in African-American Folklore

Volume of essays about African-American folklore, including reminiscences of African-American folk culture in Texas, studies of specific genres of folklore, information about Texas-African food-ways, studies of specific performers, information about songs and other folklore. The index begins on page 353.
Date: 2017
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

War in East Texas: Regulators vs. Moderators

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From 1840 through 1844 East Texas was wracked by murderous violence between Regulator and Moderator factions. More than thirty men were killed in assassinations, lynchings, ambushes, street fights, and pitched battles. The sheriff of Harrison County was murdered, and so was the founder of Marshall, as well as a former district judge. Senator Robert Potter, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was slain by Regulators near his Caddo Lake home. Courts ceased to operate and anarchy reigned in Shelby County, Panola District, and Harrison County. Only the personal intervention of President Sam Houston and an invasion of the militia of the Republic of Texas halted the bloodletting. The Regulator-Moderator War was the first and largest of the many blood feuds of Texas. Bill O'Neal includes rosters of names of the Regulator and Moderator factions arranged by the counties in which the individuals were associated, along with a roster of the victims of the war.
Date: July 2018
Creator: O'Neal, Bill
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Single Star of the West: The Republic of Texas, 1836-1845

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Does Texas’s experience as a republic make it unique among the other states? In many ways, Texas was an “accidental republic” for nearly ten years, until Texans voted overwhelmingly in favor of annexation to the United States after winning independence from Mexico. Single Star of the West begins with the Texas Revolution and examines the emergence of a Texas identity. Next, several contributors discuss how the Republic was defended by its army, navy, and the Texas Rangers. Individual chapters focus on the early founders of Texas—Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, and Anson Jones. Texas’s efforts at diplomacy, and persistence and transformation in its economy, also receive careful analysis. Finally, social and cultural aspects of the Texas Republic receive coverage, with discussions of women, American Indians, African Americans, Tejanos, and religion.
Date: March 2017
Creator: Howell, Kenneth Wayne & Swanlund, Charles
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Eavesdropping on Texas History

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Mary L. Scheer has assembled fifteen contributors to explore special moments in Texas history. The contributors assembled for this anthology represent many of the “all stars” among Texas historians: two State Historians of Texas, two past presidents of TSHA, four current or past presidents of ETHA, two past presidents of WTHA, nine fellows of historical associations, two Fulbright Scholars, and seven award-winning authors. Each is an expert in his or her field and provided in some fashion an answer to the question: At what moment in Texas history would you have liked to have been a “fly on the wall” and why? The choice of a moment and the answers were both personal and individual, ranging from familiar topics to less well-known subjects. One wanted to be at the Alamo. Another chose to explore when Sam Houston refused to take a loyalty oath to the Confederacy. One chapter follows the first twenty-four hours of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s presidency after Kennedy’s assassination. Others write about the Dust Bowl coming to Texas, or when Texas Southern University was created.
Date: February 2017
Creator: Scheer, Mary L.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Legends and Life in Texas: Folklore from the Lone Star State, in Stories and Song

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Collection of Texas folklore and historical anecdotes split into three main sections: "Legendary" Texans; Texas Folk Song and Dance; and Life in Texas -- As We Remember It. Index starts on page 311.
Date: December 2017
Creator: Untiedt, Kenneth L.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library