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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4852 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 26 | Samuel Harkness | Tip Benton | There was something of the snake about Tip Benton. | character, life, marriage, husband, wife, mail order bride, death, crook, proposal, opportunist | |
4853 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 29 | Samuel Harkness | Ella Bowen | Ella Bowen does not look exactly human. | character, woman, female, harlot, prostitute, insanity, sanitarium, crazy, life, ugliness | |
4854 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 32 | Samuel Harkness | Shorty | Shorty has no formal name; gulch gossip ascribes him. | character, gossip, cripple, crippled, crutch, handicap | |
4855 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 34 | Samuel Harkness | Rock Slide | Gray treachery to ancient height. | rocks, stones, mountain, nature, avalanche | |
4856 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 35 | Samuel Harkness | Jean Batiste Lecort | The log schoolhouse. | school, student, monument, war, WWI, WW I, death, hero, medals, France, character | |
4857 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 38 | Samuel Harkness | Pierre Lecort | Frenchy Pete came from Picardy in `75. | child, immigrant, son, miner, prospector, mining, Frenchman, custody, gold, alcohol, drink, loss, character | |
4858 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 41 | Samuel Harkness | Imprecation | Come, fire of God! | nature, gentians, flowers, meadow, indigo | |
4859 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 42 | Samuel Harkness | Angus Mackenzie | Angus Mackenzie never stood on the fringe of interest. | character, donkey, venison, banker, bankers, food, mill, money | |
4860 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 46 | Samuel Harkness | Rainbow | Last word of storm and first of sun. | nature, God, belief | |
4861 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 47 | Samuel Harkness | Answers | Angus Mackenzie, owner of the Sphinx and believer in fairies. | character, mine, question, questions, life, friendship, discussion, conversation, life | |
4862 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 50 | Samuel Harkness | Sunset | Day dies suddenly. | thoughts, thought, memories | |
4863 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 51 | Samuel Harkness | Martha Polk | The ticket read, "Boston to Parlin, Colorado." | teacher, school, education, community, health, giving, friendship, kindness, learning | |
4864 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 55 | Samuel Harkness | Cascade | Tail of silver stallion. | nature | |
4865 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 56 | Samuel Harkness | Apocrypha | Amy Franklin is eighty-two years old. | character, memory, storytelling, blind, blindness, | |
4866 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 58 | Samuel Harkness | Boulder Creek | Your channel is a loom. | river, water | |
4867 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 59 | Samuel Harkness | Albert Tupper | It was a long distance from London gutters to Horse-Thief Gulch. | character, ancestry, bloodlines | |
4868 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 61 | Samuel Harkness | Homer Spink | When Shorty hauls my month's supplies from the county seat. | character, Sousa, band music, fame, trumpet | |
4869 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 63 | Samuel Harkness | Wardrobe | Lake Boulder is a wanton without a wedding ring. | lake, water, nature, Colorado, change | |
4870 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 64 | Samuel Harkness | Rob McDowell | Rob McDowell lived at the head of Horse-Thief Gulch. | character, molybdenum, metal, mineral, steel, friendship | |
4871 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 66 | Samuel Harkness | Rim Rock | Protruding bones. | rimrock, nature | |
4872 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 67 | Samuel Harkness | Hetty Dill | Hetty Dill made analogy and golden doughnuts. | cup, kerosene, aging, old age, memories, loneliness | |
4873 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 69 | Samuel Harkness | Campfire | Red wound in the black skin of night. | campfire | |
4874 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 70 | Samuel Harkness | Reverend Ernest Teagarden | Brother Teagarden was a mild little man. | character, church, missionary, preacher, people, congregation, alcohol, drink, smallpox | |
4875 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 73 | Samuel Harkness | Gabriel Fenstermacher | When Gabriel Fenstermacher painted. | character, minister, second coming, Jesus, belief, Christ, dream, paint | |
4876 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 75 | Samuel Harkness | Snow Patch | Rag from Winter's cloak. | snow, winter, spring, violets, flowers, water |