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FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection

Date of Items: 1890-present
Register Prepared by: Randy Williams and Susan Gross, April 2004
Register Updated by: Randy Williams, 23 December 2009
Excel database transfered to MYSQL and uploaded (replacing PHP data): Colin Jackson, Fall 2010
MYSQL database updated: Randy Williams, January 2012
Linear Feet:20

Historical Note & Provenance

Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of 20 linear feet of books on cowboy poetry, including press and self published works. The collection can be accessed through USU Libraries online catalog.


As well, poem titles and keywords found in each book in the collection are included in the database below. To use, type in the search term. Tip: Try and use an uncommon word from the poem to ensure less "hits." For instance, if you enter "boots" you will get many hits; but if you enter "bones" you will most liley get fewer "hits" or poems and find the item you seek faster. To return to the search page, click "home" at the bottom of the page.

Search:

Poetry table.

First Previous Next Last
IDBook TitleComposerIndexPagesAuthorPoem TitleFirst LinesKeywords
22212 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 46 Sandia Bill She Walked Alone She walked alone for many years, Too proud to seek a home-- No love for little children, She preferred to live alone.
22213 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 47 Sandia Bill Why Should We Worry? The beautiful diamonds upon a queen's ring Are exposed to the commoner as well as the king. No tyrant nor ruler can snatch from your eye The beautiful ornaments that adorn God's sky.
22214 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 48 Sandia Bill The Touch-Me-Not I'm the silliest little flower That there is upon the sod, Just a-blooming and a-sleeping To please both man and God.
22215 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 48 Sandia Bill Tears "How we hate to give you up, Dad," A youthful fellow said, While gazing through the glass In the black casket lid.
22216 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 49 Sandia Bill Lowly Little Dandelion Lowly little dandelion, Despised by 'most everyone, You're a pretty little flower, And the emblem of the sun.
22217 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 50 Sandia Bill Christmas Greetings On a dark night in Palestine, Back in the past so far, Som erustic, faithful shepherds Saw a brand-new blazing star.]
22218 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 51 Sandia Bill The Desert River At the head of a little desert river, The water spreads out o'er dry hot sand And seems to waste itself in the desert land. Though the water disappears in haste, Not a single drop of it ever goes to waste.
22219 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 52 Sandia Bill Those Week-End Trips Soon we'll leave our cozy homes At the end of each week, And drive to the country, There better things to seek.
22220 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 52 Sandia Bill A Tree On a Desert There's a spring on the desert with a tree standing by it, Where a mockingbird sings the whole night long. And there's an old man in a cabin not far away Who never fails to listen to the mockingbird's song.
22221 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 53 Sandia Bill Goodbye, Old Gray "Old Gray," my bronc, was a noble horse, Til he wore out, got old and slim. Then one winter day I led him away, 'Way out in the hills.
22222 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 54 Sandia Bill A Reminscent Mood Rush on, rush on, Wild mountain stream, While on your shore Beneath a pine, I sit and dream of things divine.
22223 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 55 Sandia Bill Our Billy-Goat We used to have a billy-goat With bare places on his knees. He'd kneel down and butt the ground, Then get up and butt the trees.
22224 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 56 Sandia Bill A Letter Dear Sis: Jim's gettin' on all right But he's got a lot yet to l'arn If he wants to be a he-man, The kin' it takes to run a farm.
22225 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 57 Sandia Bill You're Just A Little Pumpkin (To my Pup.) Puppy, all your kinfolk were pedigreed Because they were so fine. So you're just a little pumpkin, pretty pup, On a great big pumpkin vine.
22226 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 58 Sandia Bill When The Leaves Begin To Roll When autumn winds are flirting And the leaves begin to roll Away in sombre forests, Oh, how I love to stroll.
22227 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 59 Sandia Bill A Summer Night The day with all its labor Has vanished out of sight, And the scenes that still linger Have put my cares to flight.
22228 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 60 Sandia Bill The Polecat A pretty, striped polecat Built her bed beneath my cabin floor. A week or two thereafter, She had a family of four.
22229 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 61 Sandia Bill Charity, Hope, and Kindness What are those preachers trying to teach Beside, before, and behind us? What is the greatest creed of each? Why, Charity, Hope, and Kindness.
22230 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 62 Sandia Bill Black Condors Near the bones of a soldier, They found this note; They were the last lines He ever wrote.
22231 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 63 Sandia Bill Get You A Hobby Get you a hobby And have better health, Increase your wisdom And your wealth.
22232 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 63 Sandia Bill A Letter To Billy Howdy, husky Billy, how are you today? I am as I always am, full of pluck, and gray, For I'm among the hills again, where I expect to stay.
22233 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 64 Sandia Bill Sing, Little Robin The weather men falter, The moon often lies. But I know a prophet Who takes the grand prize.
22234 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 65 Sandia Bill Forebearance I do not scorn the humble tramp, For, like me, he is the son of God. I also know that lovely jewels Are often found in a humble clod.
22235 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 67 Sandia Bill Happy Girlie (Inspired by my Dearest Little Friend, Age 6.) You're like the springtime, Happy Girlie, That melts the snow and ice away; You make a man feel sort o' jolly, Oh, yes, you do, dear little Gay.
22236 Melodious Poems From the Hills FC 11 B-58 68 Sandia Bill A Letter To Buddy (From the Hills.) Hello, lively Buddy, this message I send To you, lively boy, my best junior friend: Now the mountains look dreamy--it's raining today, Yet all of my neighbors are lively and gay.