Recent Acquisitions: Books

Bill Kitt: From Trail Driver to Cowboy Hall of Fame
by D.L."Jack" Nicol and Amy Thompson
Caxton Printers, 2009

This story is a biography of William Kittredge "Bill Kitt" and his mercurial rise from every day cowboy to one of the largest ranchers in the West. It also includes a history of the areas in Oregon, Nevada, and California, where he operated; and the old methods, equipment, and jargon used in raising livestock. It's a look back into the lives of many people including Cowboy Hall of Fame and Rodeo Hall of Fame inductees, a movie star, All-American football player, Congressional Medal of Honor Ace, Hollywood stuntman, U.S. and state leaders, and the tragic death of Oregon's top three officials. The book features over 500 historic Western photographs including 60 in full color.

RC2009.001.0233
DEWEY

William "Bill Kitt" Kittredge" was a 1966 Great Westerner inductee at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

The Last of the Wild West Cowgirls: A True Story
by Kay Turnbaugh
Perigo Press, 2009

Goldie Griffith was one of a kind. She boxed. She wrestled. She rode bucking broncos in the Buffalo Bill Wild West traveling tent shows, and a newspaper referred to the pretty young bronco buster as a "Heller in Skirts." She was one of the first professional female athletes. She was an actor and stunt rider for the brand-new western movies that were taking the country by storm. She was married during a Wild West at Madison Square Garden with a crowd of 8,000 in attendance. She became a rancher and owned several restaurants in the mountains of Colorado. She trained dogs for the war and applied to be the first policewoman in San Francisco. Was there anything she couldn't do? She didn't think so. This is the (amazingly) true story of Goldie Griffith's life. With over 120 photographs and images.

RC2009.001.0239
DEWEY

American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country
Photographs by Paul Mobley; Text by Katrina Fried; Preface by Willard Scott; Introduction by Michael Martin Murphey.
Welcome Books, 2008

When photographer Paul Mobley set out to capture the soul of America's farming communities, he discovered a culture defined by tradition, integrity, and hard work, and comprised of the most authentic and generous individuals he's ever encountered. Traveling across the country from Tennessee to Montana, Mobley and his camera were welcomed into the homes of over one hundred farming families, who graciously shared their personal histories along with the fruits of their labor. To spend time with them was to turn back the clock--to an era when there were no locks on doors, no urban sprawl, and no virtue more prized than common decency. Children still move across the street and not across the state when they grow up, and parents move back in with their children whern they grow old. Story after story, visit after visit, Mobley slowly came to know the independent farmer's spirit both from behind the lens and over the dinner table.

The result is a stunning series of portraits and direct quotes that collectively chronicle the life of the American farmer. Each image offers an unvarnished and intimate look inside the hardships and joys of a quickly disappearing lifestyle--one that once defined our national identity and now struggles just to keep a foothold. And even as encroaching cities threaten their livelihoods, these men and women continue to find sustenance in the same basic human values they were raised with. American Farmer is an inspirational reminder of what it means to live with simplicity and contentment, in a world that is driven by excess. This vivid portfolio is accompanied by anecdotes and memories in the farmer's own words that are both a testament to their enduring hospitatlity and a moving glimpse into their daily routines and family histories. But what you will read first, and foremost, are their faces. From Bruce Crump, a citrus farmer in Florida; to Patsy Fribley, a stockyard dealer from Montana; to Thurston Wilber, a Maine lobsterman, Mobley's intense and beautiful portraits capture the furrows of fields lining their brows, the crevices of drought creasing the corners of their mouths, and the grains of truth in their squinted eyes.

35 states included: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.

2009 Western Heritage Awards winner

S 521.5 .A2 M63 2008 FOLIO
RC2009.001.0224-1

Aurora: An American Experience in Quilt, Community, and Craft
by Jane Kirkpatrick
Waterbrook Press, 2008

A fantastic journey. A remarkable commitment. And a simple faith. Wrap yourself in a riveting American tale told in beautiful stitches and craft.  Master storyteller Jane Kirkpatrick extols the beautiful treasures, unknown to a wider public, rediscovered in the Old Aurora Colony of Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. The people and legacy of Aurora, a utopian community founded in the mid-1800s, will stir your imagination, hopes, and dreams; and remind you that every life matters–every daily task, love, aspiration, and endeavor. The book features unique and treasured quilt pattern variations, more than 100 photographs from 1850 to today, cherished stories from Aurora descendants, discoveries of fine crafts from the Colony and private collections, and an introduction by renowned American Artist John Houser.

Aurora is about the difference every ordinary life can make and a beautiful celebration of a time and place in which people expressed their most cherished beliefs through the work of their imagination and hands.

TT 835 .K524 2008
RC2009.001.0205

Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School, Basketball Champions of the World
By Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith
University of Oklahoma Press, 2008

"A find of several arrowheads on our land in western NY sparked my interest in reading Full Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School: Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. Once the authors introduced me to the players on the basketball team named world champions at the 1904 World's Fair, I found myself immersed in the players' lives as they transitioned from life on reservations and farms with their families to their coming of age at a boarding school, separated from their own cultures.

"Because different tribes had been settled in one location at the Fort Shaw Indian School, there existed the potential for conflict, but instead these girls supported one another while negotiating the illnesses that plagued them from time to time, as well as surviving the deaths of parents, siblings, and friends. Starting with a soccer ball and a basket nailed to the wall, they progressed through and over many obstacles to become the "champions of the St. Louis world's fair." Not only did they play two twenty-minute, full-court basketball halves, several times a week and sometimes twice in a day, they also performed pantomime, played musical instruments, and recited poetry as part of their "demonstration" of how Indian girls could become "civilized." They raced up and down the court and through the Northwest exhibiting their talents, recruiting new students, accepting challenges from whites who could barely score against them, showing grace and modesty each time they won.

"Even though they were exploited to gain money for their school budgets, these diligent young women put all their efforts into perfecting their performances and heroically presenting a positive view of Native Americans at a time when the whites who lived on their native lands ridiculed, criticized, and denigrated them.

"Through newspaper and magazine articles, BIA reports, letters, and oral history from their descendents, the Fort Shaw Girls' Basketball team emerges from the pages as a group of unique individuals, each with her own distinct personality. Numerous photos of the girls and extensive notes add to the details of their lives.

"The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, originally intended to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, became the showcase for Native American crafts and lifestyles that were quickly disappearing. The Fort Shaw girls represented the future with their recitations, dance, and exhibition basketball games just as the exhibits represented the past. Their biographers and descendents deserve our praise. Recommended for women's, multicultural, and regional history collections.

by Susan Andrus, for Story Circle Book Reviews.

GV 886 .P43 2008
RC2009.001.0203

Zane Grey's Western
Dell Publishing, October 1952

This issue of Zane Grey's Western features stories by Zane Grey, L.L. Foreman, George C. Appell, Dan Cushman, Kenneth Fowler, Earl Sherwan, Randy Steffen, B.M. Bower, and Harold Preece. This magazine is part of the Glenn D. Shirley Western American Collection, Pulp Magazines Series.

Location: 1708, Box: 250, Folder: 8
RC2006.068.4.04365

Ted Strong's Might; or, The Cross Against the Sword
The Young Rough Riders Weekly, No. 15
by Ned Taylor.
Street & Smith, July 30, 1904

Published by Street & Smith, this issue of Young Rough Riders Weekly features a story by Ned Taylor. This weekly dime novel is part of the Glenn D. Shirley Western American Collection, Weeklies Series.
 
Location: 1735, Box: 331, Folder: 15
RC2006.068.4.00820

History of Texarkana and Bowie and Miller Counties, Texas-Arkansas
by Barbara Overton Chandler
J. Ed Howe Publishers, 1939

F 394 .T3 C4 RARE
RC2006.068.1.02273

Who Blowed Up the Church House? And Other Ozark Folk Tales
Edited by Vance Randolph; Notes by Herbert Halpert; Illusrations by Glen Rounds
Columbia University Press, 1952

Dust jacket excerpt: "The tales in this book come from the old folk of the Ozarks. They are the wry, the droll, the ribald--stories handed down from one generation to the next, passed from one hilltop to another."

GR 110 .M77 E3
RC2006.068.1.02276

The History of Carter County; A Pictorial History of Carter County, Covering Both the Old and New
Sponsored by the Ardmore Junior Chamber of Commerce
University Supply and Equipment Co., 1957

F 702 .C2 H5 1957 RARE
RC2006.068.1.02254