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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4877 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 76 | Samuel Harkness | James Bagby | Jim spent fifty years in the hills prospecting. | prospector, mining, poverty, welfare, coffin, mine, gold | |
4878 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 79 | Samuel Harkness | Stewart Martin | The first intimation that "Curly" was crooked came from Tip Benton. | thief, mine, mining, salting a mine, ore, gold, rustler, arm, blood poisoning, amputation, amputee, death, kill, shoot, shot | |
4879 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 81 | Samuel Harkness | Taps | The dishcloth I hung up is already dry. | wind, winter, cabin, stove, flatiron, warmth, snow | |
4880 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 82 | Samuel Harkness | Rebecca Chubb | Aunt Beck had dyspepsia for twenty-seven years. | alcohol, medicine, husband, wife, illness, stepdaughter, stepmother, actress, Hollywood, hag, | |
4881 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 85 | Samuel Harkness | Henry Clay Clark | Henry Clark had a face like a coyote. | beard, whiskers, fire, stove, spit | |
4882 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 87 | Samuel Harkness | Shadows | Dark fat clouds travel the sky. | mountains, nakedness, shadow, writing, poetry, nature, mist | |
4883 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 88 | Samuel Harkness | Isaac Watts Ford | Well, Sir, I guess I'm the only man in Colorado. | mine, mining stock, poet, poetry, writing, game warden, hunting, venison, deer, food, welfare | |
4884 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 90 | Samuel Harkness | John Wesley Miller | Greasy Miller was tunnel foreman at the Sphinx. | thrift, saving, bachelor, pension, gingersnaps, death, funeral, wreath, flowers | |
4885 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 92 | Samuel Harkness | To a Star | You are the brightest star in the sky. | Bethlehem, Christmas, Christ, Jesus, Judea, snow, life, birth, death, goodness | |
4886 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 93 | Samuel Harkness | Simeon Butts | Simeon Butts was a drummer and called on Ike Ford monthly. | salesman, selling, envy, service, orders, garage | |
4887 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 95 | Samuel Harkness | Andrew Butts | Let every man follow his own hunch. | civilization, people, character, hunch, luck, mine, mining, prospecting, Carrie Nation, drink, alcohol, gold | |
4888 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 97 | Samuel Harkness | Wood Box | Halfway station to the stove. | wood, fire, firewood, work | |
4889 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 98 | Samuel Harkness | Jacob Spicer | There is complaint about this little world. | teamster, wagon, mules, truck, progress, livery stable, team, hauling | |
4890 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 100 | Samuel Harkness | Timothy Cullens | Tim Cullens was the gravedigger of Horse-Thief Gulch. | grave digger, death, freeze, winter, soil, earth, dynamite | |
4891 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 101 | Samuel Harkness | To a Mountain Spring | Do you like to kiss the fawn. | nature, water | |
4892 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 102 | Samuel Harkness | John Trent, M.D. | So you've been up in Horse-Thief Gulch, eh? | amputation, doctor, operation, medicine, town, piano, surgeon, club foot, writing | |
4893 | Horse-Thief Gulch | FC 11 H-07 | 105 | Samuel Harkness | L' Envoi | The stage of Horse-Thief Gulch is set. | dreams, ghosts, past, history | |
4894 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 1 | John Sterling Harris | First Spring Ride | The air still chills. | horse, spring, sweat, thighs, riding, bareback | |
4895 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 4 | John Sterling Harris | Adaptation | The cactus shields. | desert, water | |
4896 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 7 | John Sterling Harris | Watering Turn | The irrigation stream. | water, dam, sustenance | |
4897 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 8 | John Sterling Harris | Rock Pile | On the summit of a western mountain peak. | cairn, rocks, stones, lichen, monument, marker | |
4898 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 11 | John Sterling Harris | Hawk | The reaching redtail hawk. | hunt, hunting, bird, nature, wildlife, rabbit | |
4899 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 13 | John Sterling Harris | Progress | The old church is down. | reuse, building materials, brick, beam, service station | |
4900 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 15 | John Sterling Harris | Polly Sleeps | My Polly sleeps in her little bed. | child, children, daughter, father, growing up, adult, adulthood, childhood, sleep, rest, peace, knowledge | |
4901 | Barbed Wire | FC 11 H-08 | 17 | John Sterling Harris | Hay Derrick | You can see the derrick there. | work, farming, haying, hay stack, death, accident, child, son |