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| ID | Book Title | Composer | Index | Pages | Author | Poem Title | First Lines | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22955 | The Ballad of Gutless Ditch | FC 11 L-36 | 23 | Katie Lee | Danielle (Fall 1879) | Matt had total recall about his meeting with Danielle. She came to Gutless in the fall of '79, at the age of twenty-three. | ||
| 22956 | The Ballad of Gutless Ditch | FC 11 L-36 | 37 | Katie Lee | Sangre Glade (Winter 1879-Spring 1880) | That Christmas in the desert night, Matthew and the French schoolmarm rode out on the hills of darkness 'neath the crescent light of a waning moon. | ||
| 22957 | The Ballad of Gutless Ditch | FC 11 L-36 | 53 | Katie Lee | Satan's Gut (Summer 1888) | As Matalot and new-found father, Matt Kinkade emerged astride Portero from the Glade, Matt told his son to point the horse Toward the gape of Satan's Gut. | ||
| 22958 | The Ballad of Gutless Ditch | FC 11 L-36 | 65 | Katie Lee | Kinkade & Sons (Summer 1908) | Twenty years have slipped way, yet none in Gutless, to this day nor in the miles of country 'round, can say Why Satan's gut caved in its walls. | ||
| 22959 | Cow Tracks on the Land | FC 11 B-66 | 139 | Lona Tankersley Burkhart | Christmas Prayer From the Mountian Country | Dear God, who made these mountians, to which, in reverence we thrill. You, who filled the midnite sky with stars, please, make us to understand Your Will. | ||
| 22960 | Cow Tracks on the Land | FC 11 B-66 | 140 | Lona Tankersley Burkhart | Cow Country Christmas Thoughts | The price of hay sure gone sky high. The water trough has sprung a leak. The price of cows makes you sigh. Now that mud holes belly deep. | ||
| 22961 | Cow Tracks on the Land | FC 11 B-66 | 142 | Lona Tankersley Burkhart | We are not Alone | Love thy God, thy Father, and for thy sins atone. Love thy neighbor, you shall not be alone. As He suffered upon the cross, from our sins, us to save. | ||
| 22962 | Cow Tracks on the Land | FC 11 B-66 | 145 | Lona Tankersley Burkhart | No Regrets | I've loved my life, as I've loved the land, when it was open, free and grand. No matter what others might say, I would not trade for yesterday, | ||
| 22964 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 1 | Frank Thornburgh | A Frog's View | Prose: Patricia and I were sitting at a window table in our favorite resteraunt located on a busy downtown intersection. We were both studying the people-zoo passing by outside. | ||
| 22965 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 2 | Frank Thornburgh | Gatherin Strays | Ambers said, "We've got two strays to catch. In the morning we'll start before light. I'll meet you at dad's with my horse | ||
| 22966 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 4 | Frank Thornburgh | Cow Pies | Prose: A few years back I went to Elko, Nevada cowboy poetry gathering. It is traditionally held late January or February when ranch life slows down a bit. | ||
| 22967 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 6 | Frank Thornburgh | Howling at the Moon | It was a full moon night all was snowy white. Sitting in the outhouse with open door for light. Breath floating on air as stars I did stare. | ||
| 22968 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 7 | Frank Thornburgh | Shooting House Flies | Prose: Our old farmhouse sat way back off the road down a long driveway. There was clear visibility a quarter mile both directions down the road. | ||
| 22969 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 8 | Frank Thornburgh | Hemorrhoids | Prose: While I was a police officer in 1961 working for the city of Garden Grove, my hemorrhoids became so bad I had to visit the doctor assigned by our department. | ||
| 22970 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 10 | Frank Thornburgh | Bent Handcuffs | Prose: Andy and I were dispatched to check out a person lying on the sidewalk acting crazy. We found a big young man, 20 years old, 250 lbs, 6'4" plus | ||
| 22971 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 13 | Frank Thornburgh | Cockroach | Prose: Because I was broke, I decided one day to eat in the army mess hall. After going through the chow line, I sat down and dug into a big pile of cooked fresh spinach. | ||
| 22972 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 14 | Frank Thornburgh | Randy | Prose: During the mid- 1980's, I worked in the department of public safety for a large private senior citizen community of several thousand residents. | ||
| 22973 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 16 | Frank Thornburgh | This Hat | This hat you see on my white hair Once had grace and form Weather, sweat and years Made it look well worn | ||
| 22974 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 18 | Frank Thornburgh | Carbide Gas | Prose: Calcium Carbide pellets were sold by rural hardware stores in the 1940's and 50's. The pellets looked like grey gravel about the size of pinto beans and came packaged in a silvery-painted one-pound can. | ||
| 22975 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 21 | Frank Thornburgh | A View of the Outhouse | Prose: Our outhouse as 25 yards behind the main house and slightly off to the side next to the fence of one of our fields. | ||
| 22976 | Frank's Sampler | FC 11 T-15 | 24 | Frank Thornburgh | Cowboy Wisdom | Never miss a chance to rest your horse If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around. | ||
| 22977 | Cowboy Poetry: Real Ole Down Home Stuff | FC 11 T-06 | 1 | Dolores Tozer | Giving it Up | The old man sat down in the easy chair Said, "Calvin these heifers gets in my hair" Who is there to tell me, what kind of bull | ||
| 22978 | Cowboy Poetry: Real Ole Down Home Stuff | FC 11 T-06 | 3 | Dolores Tozer | Old Whitey | Lots of cowboys have had their favorite horses. They said they could do everything except talk Spanish, but they understood it. | ||
| 22979 | Cowboy Poetry: Real Ole Down Home Stuff | FC 11 T-06 | 5 | Dolores Tozer | The Market Trend | The buyers kept telling me, year after year, I'll give you more money, if you'll put on some "ear", The feed lots prefer them, they gain weight real fast. | ||
| 22980 | Cowboy Poetry: Real Ole Down Home Stuff | FC 11 T-06 | 6 | Dolores Tozer | Calvin Time | I been calvin these two year old heifers, It's at the point where I can't even laugh, Except for one big rangy Brahma, I've pulled everyone of them's calf. |