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 LastID | Book Title | Composer | Index | Pages | Author | Poem Title | First Lines | Keywords |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
22187 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 21 | Sandia Bill | Blue Skies and Green Mountains | Blue skies and green mountains In the land of the west, And a home with a true friend That you love and treat best. | ||
22188 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 22 | Sandia Bill | In Memory of the Best Loved Man | In Bethlehem's suburbs In a humble man's barn, in an old rustic manger Among fodder and corn, On a calm starry night, A baby was born. | ||
22189 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 24 | Sandia Bill | Two Kinds of Wealth | My best friend is progressive, He owns many things that are rare; He's a busy prince of finance, He's a multi-millionaire. | ||
22190 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 25 | Sandia Bill | The Old Miner | Up among the gloomy pines Beside a mountain stream A miner one day in a weird way Disturbed another's dream. | ||
22191 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 26 | Sandia Bill | The Pioneers | The pioneer and his wife had only Some flour, two horses, a wagon and a cow. But they were determined to go west, So they started anyhow. | ||
22192 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 27 | Sandia Bill | Old Santa Fe | Santa Fe, how old, how old, How nobly you lie Beneath a field of silver starts That adorn a turquoise sky. | ||
22193 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 28 | Sandia Bill | The Ghost Town | There's a ghost town on the mesa That was made of clay and stones, Where, now, men like greedy coyotes Search for human bones. | ||
22194 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 29 | Sandia Bill | Remembering The Franciscan Fathers | Before them lay a great strange land That was full of grim dangers, But the Franciscan Fathers passed right on With the pluck of Texas Rangers. | ||
22195 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 30 | Sandia Bill | We | We are the livelihood of creation, We inhabit the clouds and deserts of the sky; We are the controlling influence of all suns and planets. | ||
22196 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 30 | Sandia Bill | Resurrection | In gardens, fields, and on the range, There is coming now that pleasant change, Making death seem not so strange. | ||
22197 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 31 | Sandia Bill | If All Men Should Die Today | If all men should die today There would still be day and night, For the lower things at least, Such as bird, bee, and beast. | ||
22198 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 32 | Sandia Bill | The Rogue's Grave | They cursed the rogue, even as he lay dead, As angry men will often do. Then they buried him in a lonely grave Where only weeds and cactus grew. | ||
22199 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 34 | Sandia Bill | The Shepherd's Tragedy | The shepherd tossed upon his pallet, The hour was late, but he could not sleep, For a storm was raging on the desert, And his mind was on his master's sheep. | ||
22200 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 35 | Sandia Bill | The Eternal Question | They say there's a God. Is it so? My answer is, I do not know. Where must I go when I leave here? My answer is, I do not care. | ||
22201 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 36 | Sandia Bill | The Rewards of Industrious Men | Out on a wild and lonely desert In sunny New Mexico A hundred hombres pitched their tents Fifty years ago. | ||
22202 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 39 | Sandia Bills | A Rose and A Kiss | She plucked a rose and kissted it, Then pinned it to my vest, But within an hour I missed it. | ||
22203 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 39 | Sandia Bill | As We Think Of Them | While from grim death He could have fled, Christ used fortitude and faith instead. Firm He was, and He still firmly stood Thus to unite the world in noble brotherhood. | ||
22204 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 40 | Sandia Bill | A Thought | Do you know that mortal man Would grow as hard and cold As an iceburg in Arctic regions A thousand winters old. | ||
22205 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 40 | Sandia Bill | The Thought I Like Best | Of all the grand thoughts this one I like best: There is nothing existent exactly at rest. That old God called "Nature," so enduring and strong, Says to all of his subjects, "Keep moving along." | ||
22206 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 41 | Sandia Bill | Peace | I searched for peace But found it not, Till I found love In a little cot. | ||
22207 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 41 | Sandia Bill | The Egos Called "We" | Why should I take myself so serious? I'm only an atom in our great universe. And there are others, the sages say, Millions and millions of light years away. | ||
22208 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 42 | Sandia Bill | The Gray-Haired Captain | His shoulders were stooped and his hair was gray, But he was one of the bravest of his day. For sixty long years he had sailed the sea. Well, I will tell you the story as it was told to me. | ||
22209 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 43 | Sandia Bill | Straight-Shootin' Joe | The boss hired a cowhand 'bout two years ago, And we cowboys nicknamed him "Straight-Shootin' Joe," 'Cause in fights with hoss-thieves, so thick in the hills, "Straight-Shootin' Joe" furnished the most of the thrills. | ||
22210 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 44 | Sandia Bill | My Pal | We were havin' a cowman's picnic, Back in them wild and woolly days, On the lovely plains of Texas Where the long-horns used to graze. | ||
22211 | Melodious Poems From the Hills | FC 11 B-58 | 46 | Sandia Bill | A Little Sermonette | Tell yourself, "There's a thing divine, And part of it was made for me, And that part of it shall be mine." Dream, have faith, work and play, See the things that others don't. |