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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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. |