Alkek Library News

Internet Archive and The Librarian

I haven't been to the Internet Archive website for a while and didn't realize how much has been added in the past years. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is still an interesting tool to see the evolution of websites, some as far back as 1996. Alkek Library's evolution goes back to 2003 under the Texas State name, and under SWT.edu you can see our very first website. Usually the pages aren't complete due to images no longer existing and the links sometimes don't work, but it is interesting to see what has changed and what is still the same. Enter a URL into the search box to be taken back to the archived internet pages.

What brought me to the Internet Archive most recently is a colleague sent a link to the video that's included in this post. The Internet Archive is actally a digital library and since it began in 2002 has grown to include moving images (147,000+ movies), live music archives (over 62,000 with a Grateful Dead Collection), audio (322,480 recordings) and texts (well over a million texts including many historical and literary favorites.)

The National Film Registry Picks includes favorites such as the Fall of the House of Usher (1928), The Phantom of the Opera(1925) and many more.

The Librarian is part of The Prelinger Archives which includes many educational, advertising and industrial films. I loved The Librarian which was a vocational guidance film. It shows the work of library personnel circa 1947. Its amazing how so much has changed, yet so much is the same.

Texas Music at the Library: Reading & Live Music (Tuesday, April 22)

TUESDAY, APRIL 22  The History of Texas Music by Gary Hartman 3:30 – 5:00 pm

The Southwestern Writers Collection presents Texas State professor Gary Hartman discussing The History of Texas Music, with a book signing to follow. The event also celebrates The John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music, which is co-sponsored by the Center for Texas Music History and Texas A&M University Press.

Don’t miss live music by the popular band Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones! Admission is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Books will be for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.

Southwestern Writers Collection
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library, Seventh Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/
(512) 245-2313

About The History of Texas Music

Texans aren’t the only ones passionate about the music of their home state. In fact, Texas music is popular throughout the world. Despite this, many fans don’t fully understand the history behind Texas music, or why the Lone Star State has such a rich and colorful musical heritage.

Looking to change that, Gary Hartman, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State, has just released a new book, The History of Texas Music, which explores in detail the many social, cultural, and historical factors that have helped define the music of the American Southwest. A musician himself, Hartman draws on both academic and non-academic sources to give a more complete understanding of the state's remarkable musical heritage. He looks at influential musical figures who have come from the region, and the list is long and impressive: Scott Joplin, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lead Belly, Sippie Wallace, Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Bob Wills, Gene Autry, Dale Evans, Tex Ritter, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Barbara Mandrell, Kris Kristofferson, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Van Cliburn, Charlie Christian, Ornette Coleman, Lydia Mendoza, Flaco Jiménez, Selena Quintanilla, Emilio Navaira, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, ZZ Top, Stephen Stills, and Don Henley.

The History of Texas Music incorporates a selection of well-chosen photographs of many of these prominent and lesser-known artists, and describes not only the ethnic origins of much of Texas music but also the cross-pollination among various genres that have mixed and mingled throughout the state, creating vibrant new hybrids that have reshaped the American musical landscape. Today, the music of Texas—which includes Native American music, gospel, blues, ragtime, swing, jazz, rhythm and blues, conjunto, Tejano, cajun, zydeco, western swing, honky tonk, polkas, schottisches, rock & roll, rap, hip hop, and more—reflects the unique cultural dynamics of the Southwest.

More from TAMU Press:
http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2008/hartman.htm

Labels: live music, southwestern writers

Mystery Writers & Live Music at the Library (February 23, Saturday)

LONE STAR SLEUTHS DAY Meet & Greet with Fifteen Texas Mystery Writers plus Acoustic Noir Songs Performed Live

FEBRUARY 23, Saturday
2:00 to 5:00 pm

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED to LONE STAR SLEUTHS DAY celebrating the new Texas crime fiction anthology in the Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series with UT Press. Fifteen of the contributing mystery writers and the three editors, Bill Cunningham, Steven L. Davis, and Rollo K. Newsom, will be on hand to talk with guests and sign books.

SCHEDULED AUTHORS
Susan Wittig Albert, Neal Barrett, Jr., Paula Boyd, Susan Rogers Cooper, Bill Crider, A.W. Gray, Rolando Hinojosa, Joe R. Lansdale, David Lindsey, Ben Rehder, Rick Riordan, Jim Sanderson, Jesse Sublett, Doug J. Swanson, Mary Willis Walker

LIVE MUSIC
Author/musician Jesse Sublett and country singer Kasey Lansdale will perform acoustic noir songs.

Catered refreshments will be served.
Books by all attending authors will be for sale.

Free and open to the public.

ATTENDEES, PLEASE RSVP
to [email protected] or (512) 245-2313.

THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS
Southwestern Writers Collection
Alkek Library Seventh Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
(512) 245-2313
http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/

Read more about Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction from UT Press
http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/cunlop.html