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
22387	Wrong Time Wrong Place	FC 11 F-21	58	Ed Fields	Devil Dan	It was a rainy soggy landscape, that early autumn morn But the air was fresh and clean and you were glad that you were born
22388	Wrong Time Wrong Place	FC 11 F-21	61	Ed Fields	The Last Ride	I am old now and all used up Still, I must once more saddle up
22389	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	1	Norman Edward Rourke	Gullah Christmas Story	Way back yonder in Bethlehem, deys a man an' woman come to town. Dere names wuz Mary 'n Joseph, Dey wuzn't nuthin' but chilren demselves.
22390	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	3	Norman Edward Rourke	Chronicles of the Sisters of the Mystic Night	In the back room parlor of the hairdresser's shop, Gathered the women of the town
22391	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	4	Norman Edward Rourke	Episode I: Sister Dupree's Make Over	The Sisters were gathered at the usual time, In the back room of Francine's hairdresser shop
22392	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	5	Norman Edward Rourke	Episode II: Mary Belle's Debut	Down at Francine's at the usual time, the Sisters of the Mystic Night convened
22393	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	6	Norman Edward Rourke	Episode III: Daddy was a Colonel	Sister Ophelia was the senior member Of the Sisters of the Mystic Night
22394	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	7	Norman Edward Rourke	Emileano's Burro	In a village called San Cristobal, against the mountain wall, Lived Emileano Garza and Descarte in his stall
22395	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	8	Norman Edward Rourke	Trails	There were many that crossed the sands, And rutted hard packed ground
22396	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	9	Norman Edward Rourke	The Ghost	The old man sat on the porch, Wind blew devils in the air
22397	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	10	Norman Edward Rourke	Cooter LaFarge	Deep in the Atchafalaya, Where the swampy waters lay, A man can be lost forever, Where the alligators play.
22398	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	12	Norman Edward Rourke	The Cotton Sack	The cotton sack grew heavy as She pulled along the row, Her back was bent to the sun With all its blazing glow.
22399	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	13	Norman Edward Rourke	The Legend	The old man sat quietly in the corner of the bar, As the young men talked of exploits they had, Of rivers they'd crossed and wells gone dry, And good days fewer than bad
22400	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	14	Norman Edward Rourke	Shadows	Shadows move beyond my door, Where night curtains are lowered, Quietly they flow amidst The darkness that covers all.
22401	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	15	Norman Edward Rourke	El Capitan	On the road to Roswell, Passing spaces and dusty towns, The mountain can be seen Rising high beyond the plain,
22402	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	17	Norman Edward Rourke	The Truth of the West	He sat his horse in the Wild West show, In buckskin and beads he shone, His hat cocked rakishly to the side, This showman was at home,
22403	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	18	Norman Edward Rourke	Sodbusters	They came west where land could be had, Some soil was good, some was bad, Farming is all they knew, Farming here they would too,
22404	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	19	Norman Edward Rourke	The Stranger	There was nothing special about his life, No one noticed him at all, He lived alone t'was seldom seen, And had no friends to call.
22405	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	21	Norman Edward Rourke	Aborigine	He stood silently at the edge of the wood, This aborigine, His face was painted in hues of red and black, And eyes I could not see.
22406	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	22	Norman Edward Rourke	9-11	Sadness grips our land today, When terror found its mark, As men with base convictions, Their evil did impart.
22407	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	23	Norman Edward Rourke	Buffalo Soldiers	Their skin was dark; their hair was coarse, And proudly they wore the name: Buffalo Soldiers they were called By tribes of the Great Plains
22408	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	24	Norman Edward Rourke	Pioneer Woman	She was a beauty in her simple way, Facing tomorrow as just another day Of hard work and chores and kids to raise, She didn't get much rest; she didn't get much praise
22409	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	25	Norman Edward Rourke	Deep Woods	Beyond the field the deep woods loom, and there amidst its shade, Live the creatues of the wild, Whose sounds are quietly made.
22410	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	26	Norman Edward Rourke	The Last Time	If this were the last time I could hold you close, And share the moments we loved the most, I'd say all those things that should have been said, Instead of keeping them in my head.
22411	Wind Songs	FC 11 R-43	27	Norman Edward Rourke	Devil Dog	Long ago before most was here, I hunted bobcat, coyote and whitetail deer.