Special Collections and Archives

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	Index	Pages	Author	Poem Title	First Lines
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.