Alkek Library News

Dagoberto Gilb to read at the Wittliff Collections on March 6

The third author reading and book signing hosted this semester by the Wittliff will be a very special appearance by Dagoberto Gilb on Tuesday, March 6, 2012.

Dagoberto Gilb, a donor to the Wittliff’s Southwestern Writers Collection and former Texas State professor of creative writing, is considered by many to be one of the leading voices from the American Southwest. Through humble beginnings, he has become a critically acclaimed and award-winning author. In the 1970s, he made a living in the construction industry as a laborer, stonemason, and carpenter. While he worked in many areas of construction, his specialty was high-rise buildings.

Even though Gilb labored on building giant structures, his most impressive construction is the career he built for himself as a writer, crafting together stories that led him to amazing success in the literary world. He won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 1993, the Texas Book Festival Bookend Award for Ongoing Literary Achievement in 2007, the PEN Southwest Book Award in 2008, and several other honors. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in many magazines, most recently Harper’s, The New Yorker, and Callaloo, and his work is reprinted widely. Gilb is also editor of Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature published as part of the Wittliff's Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series. He is currently artist-in-residence and executive director of the Center for Mexican American Literature and Culture at the University of Houston-Victoria.

Gilb will be reading from his most recent book, Before the End, After the Beginning, a collection of ten stark and gritty stories dealing with the trials and tribulations of several different characters—many of who live throughout the Southwest. These stories were created in the wake of a stroke Gilb suffered at his home in Austin, Texas, in 2009—the majority of them written during his many months of recovery. The result is a magnificent insight into the powerful yet fragile spirit of humanity.

The Wittliff’s March 6 program, held on the library’s seventh floor, will include a 3:30 p.m. reception and 4:00 reading by Gilb followed by a book signing. Books will be available for purchase by the University Bookstore. Admission is free. For more details, see the Wittliff Collections events page at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu, or call 512.245.2313.

-—Courtesy of Albert Mendiola

School of Art & Design Host Visiting Artist Harrell Fletcher, Tour & Lecture, 9/13 & 9/14

Faculty Erina Duganne and Jason Reed, from the School of Art & Design, are hosting visiting artist Harrell Fletcher next week on Tuesday September 13th and Wednesday September 14th.

10 selected Art & Design students have arranged a tour of places on campus or within the San Marcos community as part of a social practice assignment given to them in advance by Fletcher. For each location on the tour, the students found someone who works there who will give a short talk about the site and the work that she/he does there.    

The places on the tour, the person talking, and the times are listed on the image to the right. The image below the list is a map of the places on the tour Tuesday, 9/13.

 

The places on the tour are also listed here:  

1. The Wittllff Collections
   9:00AM - 7th FLoor Alkek Library
   with Alberto Mendiola 
2. Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos 
   9:45AM - 211 Lee Street
   with Gloria Salazar
3. San Marcos Bike Project/Wreck Center
   10:15AM - 155 South LBJ
   with Grady Roper
4. The Calaboose
   The Johnnie Armstead African American History Museum
   11:15AM - 200 Martin Luther King
   with Albert Armstead
5. Hill Country Humidor
   11:45AM - 122 N LBJ Dr.
   with Rob Robinson

Fletcher's lecture about his socially engaged collaborative art making projects in Professor Erina Duganne's History of Photography class, will take place on Wednesday, 9/14 in JCM 2121 from 11-12:20pm.

You can read Harrell Fletcher's bio on his website.

Please let others on campus or in the San Marcos community know about these events if you think they would be interested. Anyone is welcome to attend!

If you have any questions, you can contact Erina Duganne

If you are one of the students involved in this project, please comment here and let us know more about what you did!

Texas State honors legendary country songwriter Freddy Powers

The Wittliff Collections and the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University- San Marcos are pleased to celebrate the life and career of award-winning singer/songwriter Freddy Powers with a public reception for his fans and friends.

The event will be Wednesday evening, April 27, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Wittliff Collections, located on the seventh floor of Texas State’s Alkek Library. Admission is free and all are welcome. Attendees are asked to RSVP to [email protected].

Directions and parking information is online:

http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/about/visit/directions.html.

In addition to five solo albums, Powers has written and co-written hits for Merle Haggard, George Jones, Ray Price, Big & Rich, and numerous other prominent artists. An accomplished vocalist and jazz guitarist, Powers also played guitar in country legend Merle Haggard’s band for many years. Many of Powers’ songs have been recorded by Haggard, and his career includes BMI #1 Song awards for “I Always Get Lucky With You,” “Let’s Chase Each Other Around The Room Tonight,” “Friend in California,” and “A Place To Fall Apart.”

In 2006, Powers was honored by the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association, which noted in his Hall of Fame award: “Freddy Powers may not be as famous as his powerful pals Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Willie Nelson, but his award-winning hit songs and production work are behind-the-scenes testaments to his talent and success.”

In 2009, working in collaboration with the Center for Texas Music History, Powers donated a substantial archive to the Wittliff Collections as part of the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association Collection.

“We’re so honored to be the home for the archive of this talented and influential Texas musician,” said Wittliff Collections curator Steve Davis. “Through our partnership with Dr. Gary Hartman and the Center for Texas Music History we are preserving these important records of our cultural heritage. We hope everyone can join us as we applaud Freddy Powers and his exceptional contributions to country music.”

For more information about this event, contact Dr. Gary Hartman, director of Texas State University’s Center for Texas Music History, at [email protected] or (512) 245-3749.

Sandra Cisneros at the Wittliff Collections, October 12th

We hope you can join us today as Texas State’s Department of English and the Wittliff Collections co-host one of our nation’s literary treasures:
SANDRA CISNEROS
Reading + Q&A + Book Signing
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Alkek Library Seventh Floor
3:30 PM

Drawing heavily upon her childhood experiences and ethnic heritage as the daughter of a Mexican father and Chicana mother, Sandra Cisneros addresses poverty, cultural suppression, self-identity, and gender roles in her fiction and poetry. She is the founder of the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, the Elvira Cisneros Award, and the Macondo Foundation, all of which work on behalf of creative writers. Recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur, Cisneros is an author and poet whose publications include two novels, her widely acclaimed The House on Mango Street and Caramelo, the short story collection titled Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, and two poetry collections, My Wicked Wicked Ways and Loose Woman. She is currently at work on several projects, including a collection of fiction titled Infinito, an illustrated book for adults, Have You Seen Marie?, with artist Ester Hernandez, a children’s book, Bravo, Bruno, and a book of essays, Writing in My Pajamas. Sandra Cisneros makes her home in San Antonio, Texas, where she is writer-in-residence at Our Lady of the Lake University.
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s Department of English and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore and refreshments will be served.

Admission is FREE.
The Q&A will immediately follow the reading and is open to everyone.
More about Sandra:: http://www.sandracisneros.com/bio.php

From “ You Bring Out the Mexican in Me”
You bring out the Mexican in me.
The hunkered thick dark spiral.
The core of a heart howl.
The bitter bile.
The tequila lágrimas on Saturday all
through next weekend Sunday.
You are the one I’d let go the other loves for,
surrender my one-woman house.
Allow you red wine in bed,
even with my vintage lace linens.
Maybe. Maybe.
Read the poem here:
http://iamthelizardqueen.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/hump-day-poetry-part-one-sandra-cisneros/

Wittliff Collections offer public history students hands-on experience

Thanks to graduate students in Texas State’s Public History program, three important archives at the Wittliff Collections are now fully processed and open for research. Last fall, the students completed arranging and inventorying these holdings, under the guidance of Lead Archivist Katie Salzmann, as part of their coursework in archives management. Working in groups of four, they applied what they learned in readings and in class to make the Robert Benton, Ron Querry, and Jack Jackson collections available to anyone interested in the creative processes of these literary artists.

The Robert Benton Papers document the career of the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director from Texas. Projects represented by scripts, production and publicity materials, photographs, and set designs include Kramer vs. Kramer, Still of the Night, Places in the Heart, Billy Bathgate, and Nobody’s Fool.

Choctaw Nation member Ron Querry is the acclaimed author of the novels The Death of Bernadette Lefthand and Bad Medicine, which depict the intersection of white and native worlds. Of Querry’s writing, Tony Hillerman said, “The Death of Bernadette Lefthand should rank among the classics of American fiction.” Querry’s papers include notes, drafts, and other materials relating to these novels and his other writings, as well as Querry’s personal correspondence, photographs, and subject files.

Jack Jackson, also known as Jaxon, is widely considered the author of the first underground comic to be sold, called “God Nose.” Later in his career, he found success as an illustrator and author of historical fiction. That work forms the bulk of this collection and includes research material, drafts, and illustrations for his titles, including Columbus, Imaginary Kingdom: Texas As Seen by the Rivera & Rubi Military Expeditions, and Shooting the Sun: Cartographic Results of Military Activities in Texas.

The inventories, or “finding aids” for these and all of the Wittliff's processed archives in the Southwestern Writers Collection are available through the A-Z Guide in the Research section of the website, www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu. Need help identifying a research topic within these or any other of the Wittliff resources? Explore some suggestions at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/research/a-z/researchtopics.html, or call the Wittliff Collections at 245.3861 for one-on-one assistance.

Michele M. Miller, Wittliff Collections

Neal Barrett Jr's Archive held at Texas State

Neal Barrett, Jr. named Author Emeritus at this year’s Nebula Awards® WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS HOLD MAJOR ARCHIVE OF TEXAS WRITER SAN MARCOS, TEXAS—Texas-born Neal Barrett, Jr., author of The Hereafter Gang, lauded by the Washington Post as “one of the great American novels,” was recently named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) at the 2010 Nebula Awards® Weekend in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

“Neal Barrett, Jr. is one of the great science fiction/fantasy writers in America, and he approaches his work with a unique Texas sensibility,” said Steve Davis, interim director of the Alkek Library’s Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos, where Barrett’s literary papers are held. “We are so pleased that Neal has been recognized in this major way.” The author has been donating his materials to the Wittliff Colllections since 1992, and his archive contains fifty years of choice material from his writing career, including manuscripts, reviews, and correspondence. The finding aid is online at http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/research/a-z/barrettjr.html.

Neal Barrett, Jr. is a fourth-generation Texan born in San Antonio in 1929. He was raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and acquired a degree from OU’s Professional Writing Program. Barrett began as a corporate writer in public relations but turned to freelancing when his works began to sell. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Barrett is known in the science fiction and fantasy world for works such as Interstate Dreams, recognized as an award-winner by the Texas Institute of Letters, Through Darkest America, Dawn’s Uncertain Light and Prince of Christler-Coke, as well as a number of outstanding short story collections, including Perpetuity Blues, Slightly Off Center and A Different Vintage. Barrett has produced more than 50 novels and published 70-plus shorter works in major magazines such as Asimov’s Science Fiction, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and OMNI since his first sales to Galaxy and Amazing Stories in 1959.

“I have a great respect for many of the editors and publishers I’ve worked with,” Barrett said. “And I’d like to say how much I admire the contributions of the small press, houses such as Subterranean Press and Golden Gryphon. I’m proud to say that a lot of what I feel is my best work is due to the editors of these presses.

“Like many professional writers, I’ve written westerns, mystery-suspense, horror, noir, air war stories, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, novelizations such as Judge Dredd, Barb Wire and Dungeons & Dragons,” he continued. “One of my all-time favorite jobs is writing comic books—I think I’ve turned out over a thousand pages by now. That’s what writers do, you know—they often do what needs to be done. And I’ve found that a real pro puts everything he or she has into whatever project comes along. You name it. I can’t tell you how many names besides mine are out there over the work I’ve done for a series or special projects.”
The 2010 Nebula Awards® Weekend was held in Coco Beach, Florida, May 13-16, 2010. The date was chosen to coincide with the scheduled launching of the Shuttle Atlantis on Friday, May 14. For more information, visit http://www.nebulaawards.com.

ABOUT SFWA
Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world. Since its inception, SFWA has grown in numbers and influence until it is now widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers’ organizations in existence, boasting a membership of approximately 1,500 science fiction and fantasy writers as well as artists, editors and allied professionals. Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.

Jim Hightower and Live Music at Wittliff Collections on May 1

The Wittliff Collections present:
 
The LIVING SPIRIT of TEXAS POPULISM in our POLITICS, in our CULTURE

With JIM HIGHTOWER, SPECIAL GUESTS & LIVE MUSIC
by Jimmy LaFave, Carolyn Wonderland with Shelley King, and the Austin Lounge Lizards

Saturday, May 1, from 1:00 to 7:00 pm
Alkek Library, Seventh Floor
________________________________________
This event is FREE and open to the public, but SPACE IS LIMITED. To secure admission attendees are asked to RSVP to 512.245.2313 or [email protected].
________________________________________
Radio commentator, syndicated political columnist, best-selling author, and sought-after public speaker JIM HIGHTOWER is the featured guest for this day of festivities celebrating the gift of his archive to the Wittliff Collections and the exhibition, Swim Against the Current. 
 
1:00–2:30 pm
Jimmy LaFave will open the first of two panel discussions with some live music. “Populism in Texas Politics” will feature former Senator Fred Harris, Jim Cullen, editor of the national newspaper Progressive Populist, Linda Chavez-Thompson, former executive VP of the national AFL-CIO, and Bob Moser, editor of the Texas Observer, who will serve as moderator. 
 
3:00–4:30 pm
Discussing “Populism in Texas Culture” will be Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid, editorial cartoonist Ben Sargent, photographer Alan Pogue, and Tom Pittman, lead man for the Austin Lounge Lizards and host of KUT’s “Folkways.” The moderator will be Dr. Bill Stouffer, Texas State professor of Political Science.
 
4:30–5:30 pm
Reception and viewing of exhibition: Swim Against the Current:
Highlights from the Jim Hightower Archive.

5:30–6:00 pm
Talk by Jim Hightower.

6:00–7:00 pm
Live performances by Carolyn Wonderland with Shelley King, and the Austin Lounge Lizards.
 
There will be local food and drink throughout the day, sponsored in part by St. Arnold’s Brewery and the Cool Mint Café, whose staff works to support area growers whenever possible. The Wittliff Collections are located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos.
 
Read more online at
http://thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/swwc/press/hightowermayday.htm

In Search of the Blues with Bill Minutaglio, on Tuesday, April 27

The Wittliff Collections present their next series book:

IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES:
A JOURNEY TO THE SOUL OF BLACK TEXAS

Reading & Book Signing with BILL MINUTAGLIO
4:00 pm, Tuesday, April 27
The Wittliff Collections, Alkek Library, Seventh Floor

Admission is FREE.
STUDENTS are especially encouraged to attend.
Books will be for sale (paperback: $24.95) at the event by the University Bookstore.
Refreshments will be served.

Reading Bill Minutaglio is like listening to one of the great Texas blues legends. His reporting brings forth stories of suffering and resilience, while at the same time his dazzling writing evokes the brilliantly effusive guitar solos of masters like T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins.  

— Steven L. Davis, Series Editor, Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series from the Wittliff Collections

The rich, complex lives of African Americans in Texas were often neglected by the mainstream media, which historically seldom ventured into Houston's Fourth Ward, San Antonio's East Side, South Dallas, or the black neighborhoods in smaller cities. When Bill Minutaglio began writing for Texas newspapers in the 1970s, few large publications had more than a token number of African American journalists, and they barely acknowledged the things of lasting importance to the African American community. Though hardly the most likely reporter for the black Texas beat—a white, Italian American transplant from New York City—Minutaglio was drawn to the African American heritage, seeking its soul in churches, on front porches, at juke joints, and anywhere else that people would allow him into their lives.

Minutaglio's stories offer an understanding of the sweeping evolution of music, race, and justice in Texas. He profiles individuals both unknown and famous, including blues legends Lightnin’ Hopkins, Amos Milburn, Robert Shaw, and Dr. Hepcat. He looks at neglected, even intentionally hidden, communities. And he wades into the musical undercurrent that touches on African Americans’ joys, longings, and frustrations, and the passing of generations. Moved forward by the musical heartbeat of the blues and defined by the long shadow of racism, the stories measure how far Texas has come . . . or still has to go.

Dick J. Reavis Reading and Book Signing on Tuesday, April 13

4:00 pm
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library, 7th floor

Reavis will be reading from his latest book, Catching Out: The Secret World of Day Laborers. In the tradition of Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, Catching Out describes how Dick J.  Reavis reported to a labor hall each morning, hoping to “catch out,” or get job assignments. Reavis, the author of The Ashes of Waco and Without Documents joined day laborers at manual jobs in an effort to supplement his retirement income. Written with the flair of a gifted portraitist and storyteller, Catching Out describes Reavis’s jobs as a construction worker, landscaper, road crew flagman, and other gritty and dangerous occupations available to those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. Publishers Weekly praised Catching Out, noting: “Reavis allows his colleagues—hard drinkers like Real Deal, shirkers like Tommy, softies like Office Skills, and hard workers like Sung—to take center stage in his tales, which run the gamut from humorous to heartrending. This ability to bring the small successes, daily struggles, and measured dreams of these ‘down-at-heels’ working stiffs makes the book’s final chapter, in which Reavis outlines the legal and economic reforms needed to help day laborers get fair wages and treatment, overwhelmingly persuasive.” Reavis's major papers are held in the Wittliff's Southwestern Writers Collection. Books will be for sale at the event by the University Bookstore.

Oscar-winning screenwriter’s collection now open for research

Academy Award-winning director/writer/producer Robert Benton donated his papers to the Alkek Library’s Southwestern Writers Collection at the Wittliff Collections in 2001. Known for such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart, and Nobody’s Fool, Benton’s collection includes 45 boxes of original manuscripts, annotated screenplays, photographs, storyboards, and publicity material. The Benton Papers are a welcome addition to the extensive film and television archives at the Wittliff Collections, which include the Lonesome Dove television miniseries archive, the King of the Hill production archive, and the papers of screenwriter Bill Broyles. The Benton collection was processed during last year’s fall semester by students in Texas State’s Public History graduate program and is now open for research.

Born in Waxahachie, Texas, in 1932, Robert Benton has had an illustrious career in film. His most acclaimed work is the film Kramer vs. Kramer, an Oscar-winning drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. Benton took home the award for Best Director and Best Screenplay while Hoffman and Streep both won Oscars for their performances. The Benton Papers in the Wittliff Collections contain several annotated drafts of the film’s screenplay, showing its development. Screenplays such as this offer students and researchers an opportunity to follow the creative process of writing (and re-writing) a film script. The collection contains screenplays from other Benton films, such as Billy Bathgate, in addition to over 2000 photographs of cast members, production notes, film posters, and press clippings from around the world.

Students and researchers are encouraged to visit the Wittliff Collections and explore the papers of this legendary Texas filmmaker. To make an appointment to view the Robert Benton papers, please contact archivist Katie Salzmann. For more information on the Wittliff Collections, go to www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu or stop by the galleries and information desk on the seventh floor of the library.

—Courtesy of Alan Schaefer
Wittliff Collections Graduate Assistant for Public Services