Join us on Thursday, November 2nd for a dance performance in collaboration with Director Christopher Ham and students at the Owen Arts Center, “Moving Memorials / Dignidad / The Javeline Project” from 4pm–4:50pm followed by a reception and lecture at Bridwell Library beginning at 6pm. RSVP Dance Performance at the Gene and Jerry Jones Grand…Continue Reading Nov 2nd: Dance Performance & Lecture by María Verónica San Martín
October and early November is chili cookoff season. The first cookoff took place at the State Fair of Texas in October 1952, where Mrs. F.G. Ventura was declared the winner. That same year one of the most essential books on chili was published. Joe E. Cooper’s With or Without Beans includes a recipe from E.L….Continue Reading Chili Cookoff
Summer is a good time for library housekeeping projects due to the short downtime between busy semester schedules. In August the Broadside File Box location and Miniature books were rehoused in uniform boxes and relocated to another part of the library. At the DeGolyer Library, miniature books are 10 cm and smaller. Early miniatures…Continue Reading Miniature books
Fans of American western culture are celebrating the 162nd birthday of author Owen Wister on July 14th. In 1902 Wister published The Virginian: a horseman of the plains, which is considered the basis for the modern western novel and film genres. The Virginian is the story of an unnamed ranch hand in Wyoming called…Continue Reading The Virginian: 120th anniversary of a cowboy classic
Larry McMurtry was an author and bookseller from Archer City, Texas who wrote about Texas and the American West to worldwide acclaim. His best known works include Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Brokeback Mountain. In 1969 his novel,…Continue Reading Remembering Larry McMurtry, Texas author and bookseller
Nela Río was born in Córdoba, Argentina in 1938 and was a writer from an early age. She studied literature in college in Argentina, at Emory University in Georgia, and finally earned a graduate degree from the University of New Brunswick in Canada. The political environment in Mendoza, Argentina and her first husband’s teaching career…Continue Reading Nela Río, Argentine-Canadian artist and educator
“I’ll be home for Christmas,” promised Bing Crosby in 1943 in one of that year’s top hits. “I’ve been here all year anyway,” quips one of the myriad of memes trending on social media at the end of 2020. Both allude to situations in which protagonists long to be reunited with their loved ones for…Continue Reading (Not) home for the holidays
It’s not hard to figure out why Turkey, and its preceding political entities, the former Ottoman Empire, Byzantine Empire, and Eastern Roman Empire, have been written about at length by western European diplomats, historians, and travelers. The region which encompasses some of the earliest sites of permeant human settlement, is positioned at a critical geographic…Continue Reading Turkey Season
Melvin C. Shaffer World War II Photographs housed at the DeGolyer Library depict local populations and conditions of North Africa, Italy, Southern France, and Germany from the years 1943 to 1945. Included are images of war-torn Europe with shattered buildings, wounded soldiers, army hospitals and bases, and even Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 1944. Melvin…Continue Reading Melvin C. Shaffer World War II Photographs
It’s been 184 years since the battle of the Alamo was fought between February 23 and March 6, 1836 in San Antonio, Texas. Stephen Hardin’s Handbook of Texas article explains the context of these thirteen days that eventually led to Texas’ independence from Mexico. Lon Tinkle’s papers contain manuscripts for his 1958 book, 13 Days…Continue Reading Remember the Alamo