Always for the Underdog: Leather Britches Smith and the Grabow War

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Louisiana’s Neutral Strip, an area of pine forests, squats between the Calcasieu and Sabine Rivers on the border of East Texas. Originally a lawless buffer zone between Spain and the United States, its hardy residents formed tight-knit communities for protection and developed a reliance on self, kin, and neighbor. In the early 1900s, the timber boom sliced through the forests and disrupted these dense communities. Mill towns sprang up, and the promise of money lured land speculators, timber workers, unionists, and a host of other characters, such as the outlaw Leather Britches Smith. That moment continues to shape the place’s cultural consciousness, and people today fashion a lore connected to this time. In a fascinating exploration of the region, Keagan LeJeune unveils the legend of Leather Britches, paralleling the stages of the outlaw’s life to the Neutral Strip’s formation. LeJeune retells each stage of Smith’s life: his notorious past, his audacious deeds of robbery and even generosity, his rumored connection to a local union strike—the Grabow War—significant in the annals of labor history, and his eventual death. As the outlaw’s life vividly unfolds, Always for the Underdog also reveals the area’s history and cultural landscape. Often using the particulars of …
Date: December 15, 2010
Creator: LeJeune, Keagan
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Archeological Testing at Fort St. Leon, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (open access)

Archeological Testing at Fort St. Leon, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana

This report describes archaeological testing at a site known as Fort St. Leon in Louisiana. Studies were made of levee building, geomorphology, and comparison of archival maps and aerial photographs, which contribute to the understanding of human activity as well as geological processes at the site.
Date: May 1983
Creator: Gilmore, Kathleen & Noble, Vergil
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Barbara Jordan - Margaret Brent Award Acceptance - American Bar Association - Commission on Women in the Profession (open access)

Barbara Jordan - Margaret Brent Award Acceptance - American Bar Association - Commission on Women in the Profession

Text of acceptance speech given by Barbara C. Jordan for the Margaret Brent Award, given by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession, about the advancement of women in the field of law.
Date: August 7, 1994
Creator: Jordan, Barbara C.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Barriers to Wholeness (open access)

Barriers to Wholeness

Speech given by Barbara C. Jordan at the United Church of Christ in New Orleans, Louisiana, about how the church may assist in eliminating barriers to wholeness in America.
Date: March 14, 1987
Creator: Jordan, Barbara C.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
BRAC Analysis - Notes and Research (open access)

BRAC Analysis - Notes and Research

Contains notes and research form Navy Team Analysts Joe Barrett and Brian McDaniel regarding NSA New Orleans, LA
Date: January 5, 2006
Creator: United States. Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 38, 1967 (open access)

Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 38, 1967

Annual journal of the Texas Archeological Society documenting research and findings of members as well as activities of the organization.
Date: 1968
Creator: Texas Archeological Society
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 63, 1992 (open access)

Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 63, 1992

Annual journal of the Texas Archeological Society documenting research and findings of members as well as activities of the organization.
Date: 1992
Creator: Texas Archeological Society
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Clyde Champion Barrow Wanted Report, 04/28/1933 - Dallas, Texas Police Department] (open access)

[Clyde Champion Barrow Wanted Report, 04/28/1933 - Dallas, Texas Police Department]

Wanted report for Clyde Barrow and his accomplice, Raymond Hamilton on the charges of kidnapping a man and a woman from Ruston, Louisiana and releasing them at Waldo, Arkansas, but taking the man's 1933 Ford Sedan on 4-23-1933. Handwritten note at the bottom states that the car was eventually found at Coleman, Texas two days later. This is a copy report from Ruston, Louisiana that was filed in Dallas, Texas.
Date: unknown
Creator: Dallas (Tex.). Police Department.
Object Type: Legal Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #1] (open access)

[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #1]

Two issues of The Dan Smoot Report which were published in December of 1963. These newsletters are devoted to a discussion of the Kennedy assassination, particularly Lee Harvey Oswald's motivations and childhood.
Date: December 1963
Creator: Dallas (Tex.). Police Department.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #2] (open access)

[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #2]

Issue of The Dan Smoot Report published in December of 1963. The newsletter is devoted to a discussion of the Kennedy assassination, particularly Lee Harvey Oswald's motivations and childhood.
Date: December 1963
Creator: Dallas (Tex.). Police Department.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #3] (open access)

[The Dan Smoot Report, Volume 9, December 1963 #3]

Issue of The Dan Smoot Report which was published in December of 1963. The newsletter is devoted to a discussion of the Kennedy assassination, particularly Lee Harvey Oswald's motivations and childhood.
Date: December 9, 1963
Creator: Dallas (Tex.). Police Department.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
An Eighteenth-Century Ballast Pile Site, Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana (open access)

An Eighteenth-Century Ballast Pile Site, Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

This is the study of a ship wreck from the eighteenth-century off the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana.
Date: December 1989
Creator: Garrison, Ervan G.; Giammona, Charles P.; Jobling, James; Tripp, Anthony R.; Weinstein, Eri N. & Wolff, Gary A.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elections in States Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (open access)

Elections in States Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

None
Date: October 17, 2006
Creator: Coleman, Kevin J. & Fischer, Eric A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elections in States Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (open access)

Elections in States Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

None
Date: May 26, 2006
Creator: Coleman, Kevin J. & Fischer, Eric A.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
[Envelope addressed to Lizzie Johnson] (open access)

[Envelope addressed to Lizzie Johnson]

Envelope addressed to Lizzie Johnson, Austin, Travis Co., Texas from unknown correspondent in Big Bend, Louisiana.
Date: 18uu
Creator: unknown
Object Type: Letter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ernst Hermann Altgelt: Founder of Comfort, Texas (open access)

Ernst Hermann Altgelt: Founder of Comfort, Texas

Book about Ernst Hermann Altgelt, the founder of Comfort, Texas. It includes information about Altgelt and his family, and information about the establishment of the city.
Date: 2010
Creator: Stewart, Anne & Stewart, Mike
Object Type: Book
System: The Portal to Texas History
Examining a Key Witness in the Killings of JFK, Oswald, and Ruby captions transcript

Examining a Key Witness in the Killings of JFK, Oswald, and Ruby

Video of an overview of topics related to the investigation into the assassination of JFK, with a mock-trial-style presentation interviewing Judyth Baker about her personal experiences in New Orleans with Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and others who were related to the investigation.
Date: October 24, 2023
Creator: University of North Texas. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
Object Type: Video
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Disaster Assistance after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Gustav, and Ike (open access)

Federal Disaster Assistance after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Gustav, and Ike

Report that provides information on federal financial assistance provided to the Gulf States after major disasters were declared in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas in response to the widespread destruction that resulted from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005 and Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. This includes a brief summary of each hurricane and a discussion concerning federal to state cost-shares.
Date: July 5, 2013
Creator: Lindsay, Bruce R. & Nagel, Jared Conrad
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Evacuation Policy: Issues for Congress (open access)

Federal Evacuation Policy: Issues for Congress

This report discusses federal evacuation policy and analyzes potential lessons learned from the evacuations of individuals in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. It also highlights several issue areas that might arise concerning potential lawmaking and oversight on evacuation policy.
Date: April 29, 2010
Creator: Lindsay, Bruce R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Follow de Drinkin' Gou'd (open access)

Follow de Drinkin' Gou'd

This volume includes information about the play-party in Oklahoma, folklore of Texas birds, tall tales, folk anecdotes, Texas folk songs and ballads, and other folklore (back cover). The index begins on page 185.
Date: 2000
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gib Morgan, Minstrel of the Oil Fields (open access)

Gib Morgan, Minstrel of the Oil Fields

This volume includes stories about the life of a West Texas oil driller named Gib Morgan and other folk stories about the oil industry.
Date: 1965
Creator: Boatright, Mody Coggin
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
Growing up in Texas (open access)

Growing up in Texas

Memoir written by Annie Margaret Rankin Warner and Virginia "Jenny" Louise Rankin Marshall of stories on growing up in West Texas from 1866-1995.
Date: 2016
Creator: Rankin Warner, Annie Margaret & Marshall, Virginia R.
Object Type: Book
System: The Portal to Texas History
Happy Hunting Ground (open access)

Happy Hunting Ground

Collection of popular folklore from Central and South America, including Mexican ballads, primitive art, cowboy dances, reptile myths, superstitions, Indian pictographs, and other folktales. The index begins on page 127.
Date: 1925
Creator: Texas Folklore Society & Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library