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Women in Civil War Texas: Diversity and Dissidence in the Trans-Mississippi

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Women in Civil War Texas is the first book dedicated to the unique experiences of Texas women during this time. It connects Texas women’s lives to southern women’s history and shares the diversity of experiences of women in Texas during the Civil War. Contributors explore Texas women and their vocal support for secession, coping with their husbands’ wartime absences, the importance of letter-writing, and how pro-Union sentiment caused serious difficulties for women. They also analyze the effects of ethnicity, focusing on African American, German, and Tejana women’s experiences. Finally, two essays examine the problem of refugee women in east Texas and the dangers facing western frontier women. The contents include: "Everyone has the war fever" / Vicki Betts -- Caroline Sedberry, politician's wife / Dorothy Ewing -- He said, she said / Beverly Rowe -- Finding joy through hard times / Brittany Bounds -- Black Texas women and the freedom war / Bruce A. Glasrud -- Black women and Supreme Court decisions during the Civil War era / Linda S. Hudson -- Mexican-Texan women in the Civil War / Jerry Thompson and Elizabeth Mata -- Courage on a Texas frontier / Judith Dykes-Hoffman -- "In favor of our fathers' country …
Date: October 2016
Creator: Liles, Deborah M. & Boswell, Angela
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Convict Cowboys: The Untold History of the Texas Prison Rodeo

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Convict Cowboys is the first book on the nation’s first prison rodeo, which ran from 1931 to 1986. At its apogee the Texas Prison Rodeo drew 30,000 spectators on October Sundays. Mitchel P. Roth portrays the Texas Prison Rodeo against a backdrop of Texas history, covering the history of rodeo, the prison system, and convict leasing, as well as important figures in Texas penology including Marshall Lee Simmons, O.B. Ellis, and George J. Beto, and the changing prison demimonde. Over the years the rodeo arena not only boasted death-defying entertainment that would make professional cowboys think twice, but featured a virtual who’s who of American popular culture. Readers will be treated to stories about numerous American and Texas folk heroes, including Western film stars ranging from Tom Mix to John Wayne, and music legends such as Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Through extensive archival research Roth introduces readers to the convict cowboys in both the rodeo arena and behind prison walls, giving voice to a legion of previously forgotten inmate cowboys who risked life and limb for a few dollars and the applause of free-world crowds. The contents include: Texas prisons: a pattern of neglect -- A cowboy's a man …
Date: July 2016
Creator: Roth, Mitchel P.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell: The Stafford-Townsend Feud of Colorado County, Texas, 1871-1911

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Two family names have come to be associated with the violence that plagued Colorado County, Texas, for decades after the end of the Civil War: the Townsends and the Staffords. Both prominent families amassed wealth and achieved status, but it was their resolve to hold on to both, by whatever means necessary, including extra-legal means, that sparked the feud. Elected office was one of the paths to success, but more important was control of the sheriff’s office, which gave one a decided advantage should the threat of gun violence arise. No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell concentrates on those individual acts of private justice associated with the Stafford and Townsend families. It began with an 1871 shootout in Columbus, followed by the deaths of the Stafford brothers in 1890. The second phase blossomed after 1898 with the assassination of Larkin Hope, and concluded in 1911 with the violent deaths of Marion Hope, Jim Townsend, and Will Clements, all in the space of one month. The contents include: The murders of Bob and John Stafford at the hands of Larkin and Marion Hope -- The seven Townsend brothers (and one sister) of Texas -- Robert Earl Stafford -- The …
Date: September 2016
Creator: Kearney, James C.; Stein, Bill & Smallwood, James
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Texan identities: moving beyond myth, memory, and fallacy in Texas history

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Texan Identities rests on the assumption that Texas has distinctive identities that define “what it means to be Texan,” and that these identities flow from myth and memory. What constitutes a Texas identity and how may such change over time? What myths, memories, and fallacies contribute to making a Texas identity? Are all the myths and memories that define Texas identity true or are some of them fallacious? Is there more than one Texas identity? The discussion begins with the idealized narrative and icons revolving around the Texas Revolution, most especially the Alamo. The Texas Rangers in myth and memory are also explored. Other essays expand on traditional and increasingly outdated interpretations of the Anglo-American myth of Texas by considering little known roles played by women, racial minorities, and specific stereotypes such as the cattleman. The contents include: Texan identities / Light Townsend Cummins and Mary L. Scheer -- Line in the sand, lines on the soul / Stephen L. Hardin -- Unequal citizens / Mary L. Scheer -- The Texas Rangers in myth and memory / Jody Edward Ginn -- On becoming Texans / Kay Goldman -- Ethel Tunstall Drought / Light Townsend Cummins -- W. W. Jones of …
Date: September 2016
Creator: Cummins, Light Townsend & Scheer, Mary L.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Proof: Photographs from Four Generations of a Texas Family

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"The Byrd Williams Collection at the University of North Texas contains more than 10,000 prints and 300,000 negatives, accumulated by four generations of Texas photographers, all named Byrd Moore Williams. Beginning in the 1880s in Gainesville, the four Byrds photographed customers in their studios, urban landscapes, crime scenes, Pancho Villa's soldiers, televangelists, and whatever aroused their unpredictable and wide-ranging curiosity. When Byrd IV sat down to choose a selection from this dizzying array, he came face to face with the nature of mortality and memory, his own and his family's. In some cases these photos are the only evidence remaining that someone lived and breathed on this earth"--Amazon. The contents include: Foreword : One bright thread / Roy Flukinger -- Photographs : The family album -- Landscape -- Postcard -- The Great Depression -- Studio -- People -- Non-people -- Violence and religion in Texas -- Night -- Afterword : Palimpsest / Anne Wilkes Tucker.
Date: November 2016
Creator: Williams, Byrd M., IV
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Graham Barnett: A Dangerous Man

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Graham Barnett was killed in Rankin, Texas, on December 6, 1931. His death brought an end to a storied career, but not an end to the legends that claimed he was a gunman, a hired pistolero on both sides of the border, a Texas Ranger known for questionable shootings in Company B under Captain Fox, a deputy sheriff, a bootlegger, and a possible “fixer” for both law enforcement and outlaw organizations. In real life he was a good cowboy, who provided for his family the best way he could, and who did so by slipping seamlessly between the law enforcement community and the world of illegal liquor traffickers. Stories say he killed unnumbered men on the border, but he stood trial only twice and was acquitted both times. Barnett lived in the twentieth century but carried with him many of the attitudes of old frontier Texas. Among those beliefs was that if there were problems, a man dealt with them directly and forcefully—with a gun. His penchant to settle a score with gunplay brought him into confrontation with Sheriff W. C. Fowler, a former friend, who shot Barnett with the latter’s own submachine gun on loan. One contemporary summed it …
Date: May 2017
Creator: Coffey, James L.; Drake, Russell M. & Barnett, John T.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Ornament

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In this debut collection, Anna Lena Phillips Bell explores the foothills of the Eastern U.S., and the old-time Appalachian tunes and Piedmont blues she was raised to love. With formal dexterity—in ballads and sonnets, Sapphics and amphibrachs—the poems in Ornament traverse the permeable boundary between the body and the natural world. The contents include: Midafternoon -- Qualifications for one to be climbed by a vine -- Trillium -- Ornament -- Piedmont -- Pears -- Fall swim -- Trifoliate orange -- Unhomemaking -- Mapping -- Girl at the state line -- I'm going back to North Carolina -- Unfinished story -- Limax maximus -- Knot -- The waxweed girl -- Wand -- Proem -- Strapless -- Dishwashing -- Shade -- Crosses -- Bonaparte crossing the Rhine -- Strike -- Green man -- And not look back -- Girl at the state line -- Stitch -- To do in the new year -- The royal typewriter company delivers by parachute, 1927 -- Sunday -- Nesting -- When the fire comes down from heaven -- Honeysuckle -- Early blackberries -- Roustabout -- Overture -- June swim -- Sprout wings and fly -- Hush.
Date: April 2017
Creator: Bell, Anna Lena Phillips
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

Sutherland Springs, Texas: Saratoga on the Cibolo

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In Sutherland Springs, Texas, Richard B. McCaslin explores the rise and fall of this rural community near San Antonio primarily through the lens of its aspirations to become a resort spa town, because of its mineral water springs, around the turn of the twentieth century. Texas real estate developers, initially more interested in oil, brought Sutherland Springs to its peak as a resort in the early twentieth century, but failed to transform the farming settlement into a resort town. The decline in water tables during the late twentieth century reduced the mineral water flows, and the town faded. Sutherland Springs’s history thus provides great insights into the importance of water in shaping settlement. Beyond the story of resort spa aspirations lies a history of the community and its people itself. McCaslin provides a complete history of Sutherland Springs from early settlement through Civil War and into the twentieth century, its agricultural and oil-drilling exploits alongside its mineral water appeal, as well as a complete community history of the various settlers and owners of the springs/hotel. The contents include: Setting a pattern -- Losing a generation -- Another start uphill -- Building new Sutherland Springs -- Century of decline -- Endnotes.
Date: February 2017
Creator: McCaslin, Richard B.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library

All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music

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Historical account of musicians in Texas, grouped by region, describing "underappreciated" artists as well as some famous artists. Each chapter provides anecdotes and biographical information about an artist or musical group. Index starts on page 299.
Date: May 2017
Creator: Corcoran, Michael
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

Changing the Tune: The Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival, 1978-1985

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Even though the potential passage of the Equal Rights Amendment had cracked glass ceilings across the country, in 1978 jazz remained a boys’ club. Two Kansas City women, Carol Comer and Dianne Gregg, challenged that inequitable standard. With the support of jazz luminaries Marian McPartland and Leonard Feather, inaugural performances by Betty Carter, Mary Lou Williams, an unprecedented All-Star band of women, Toshiko Akiyoshi’s band, plus dozens of Kansas City musicians and volunteers, a casual conversation between two friends evolved into the annual Kansas City Women’s Jazz Festival (WJF). But with success came controversy. Anxious to satisfy fans of all jazz styles, WJF alienated some purists. The inclusion of male sidemen brought on protests. The egos of established, seasoned players unexpectedly clashed with those of newcomers. Undaunted, Comer, Gregg, and WJF’s ensemble of supporters continued the cause for eight years. They fought for equality not with speeches but with swing, without protest signs but with bebop. For the first book about this groundbreaking festival, Carolyn Glenn Brewer interviewed dozens of people and dove deeply into the archives. This book is an important testament to the ability of two friends to emphatically prove jazz genderless, thereby changing the course of jazz …
Date: March 2017
Creator: Brewer, Carolyn Glenn
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fresh Ink: Behind the Scenes at a Major Metropolitan Newspaper (open access)

Fresh Ink: Behind the Scenes at a Major Metropolitan Newspaper

This book describes the work done at the Dallas Morning News newspaper office by taking a "behind-the-scenes" approach to discuss story selection, journalistic decisions, staff contributions, and community reactions. Although the text focuses on the week from November 4-10, 1991, it also looks at the history of the Dallas Morning News and major accomplishments of the newspaper.
Date: 1995
Creator: Gelsanliter, David
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
Hecho en Tejas: Texas-Mexican Folk Arts and Crafts (open access)

Hecho en Tejas: Texas-Mexican Folk Arts and Crafts

Book about Texas and Mexican folk arts and crafts, including paper crafts, quilting, weaving, sculpture, yard art, saddle-making, and other folk crafts. The index begins on page 349.
Date: 1991
Creator: Graham, Joe S.
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hoein' the Short Rows (open access)

Hoein' the Short Rows

Volume of Texas folklore, including folk arts and crafts, lime production, oil and petroleum, information about cockfighting, folk poetry, mysticism and other stories. The index begins on page 231.
Date: 1987
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
And Horns on the Toads (open access)

And Horns on the Toads

Volume of folk stories and tall tales about the horned toad and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 235.
Date: 1959
Creator: Boatright, Mody Coggin
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics (open access)

Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics

Volume of Texan and Mexican folklore, including stories about hunting, folk medicine, ballads, religion and other folklore. The index begins on page 169.
Date: 1971
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
In the Shadow of History (open access)

In the Shadow of History

Collection of Texan and Mexican folklore, including stories about the Navajo Indians, the Alamo, Jim Bowie, various folk characters, tortilla making, and other humorous anecdotes. The index begins on page 181.
Date: 1980
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
Legendary Ladies of Texas (open access)

Legendary Ladies of Texas

Collection of historical anecdotes providing "a study of Texas women and the conflicting images and myths that have grown up about them" (back cover). The index begins on page 225.
Date: 1994
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Madstones and Twisters (open access)

Madstones and Twisters

Collection information about weather, plant and animal lore in Texas and Mexico. It also discusses folk remedies, folktales about tornadoes, information about prairie dogs, and ghost stories.
Date: 1958
Creator: Boatright, Mody Coggin
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mesquite and Willow (open access)

Mesquite and Willow

Collection of Texas, Spanish and Mexican folklore, including legends, child ballads, folk tales, folk songs, tall tales, information about home remedies, and other folklore.
Date: 1957
Creator: Boatright, Mody Coggin
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Paisanos: A Folklore Miscellany (open access)

Paisanos: A Folklore Miscellany

Collection of Texas and Mexican folklore, including "folk tales, folklore in journalism, reflections on the lore of the past, and some analyses of folklore generally" (inside of the front cover).
Date: 1978
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Some Still Do: Essays on Texas Customs (open access)

Some Still Do: Essays on Texas Customs

Collection of essays about Texas folklore and customs, including information about cooking, woodworking, farming, festivals, folk music and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 151.
Date: 1975
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library