– Written by Wittliff curatorial intern Kaitlin Arocho. Originally going into this internship, I had my own idea for the new exhibit in the Tesoros gallery. So, when I met with Wittliff photo-archivist Carla Ellard at the beginning of the semester and she explained that we were going to be doing something completely different, I …
Continue reading "Discovering Moya"
By Archivist Susannah Broyles Abel Fenwick, a graduate student from the University of Arkansas by way of the UK, didn’t expect to fall in love with the American West in a New Jersey hotel room. But after watching the Lonesome Dove miniseries, she was hooked and soon immersed in Larry McMurtry’s novels and the mythology …
Continue reading "From the UK to the American West: Abel Fenwick on Lonesome Dove and the Changing Myth of the Cowboy "
By Digitization and Curation Assistant, Abigail Moon During these past few months, I curated an exhibit about the origins of Texas folk music at a small coffeehouse in Dallas in the early 1960s. It was called the Rubaiyat, which can be found in the Avenida gallery. The source materials for the exhibit are from the …
Continue reading "Remembering the Rubaiyat: Texas Folk Music, Archival Memory, and Youth Culture"
By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin. The newest collection available online features photographs of musicians from the rock and punk scenes in the San Antonio and Austin areas. Donated by Clyde Kimsey, this collection spans the years 1978–1982 and includes backstage shots, headshots, and live performance photos. Many of these images appeared in the indie music …
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By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin The Soap Creek Saloon calendars created by artist Kerry Awn are now available online to researchers at The Wittliff Collections website. These calendars were used to promote the music venue that served as an unofficial hub of Austin’s counterculture and progressive country music scene from 1974 until its closure in …
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By part-time photo archive assistant Zade Williamson. When I was asked to return to the Wittliff this Summer for a project, the answer was an immediate yes. I had previously interned at the Wittliff as a student and was excited to return for the task of rehousing and creating a preliminary inventory of archival materials …
Continue reading "From Personal Effects to Public Archive"
This post is by guest researcher and Texas State University Alumni Hector Aguayo. A year ago, I embarked on a long-awaited road trip through Texas, retracing the footsteps of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer whose survival story stands apart from the conventional narratives of European conquest. As a proud graduate of Texas …
Continue reading "We Matter, We’ve Always Been Here: How a 500-Year-Old Manuscript Helped Me Find Closure"
By Wittliff archivist Hannah Martin Before the musical influence of Motown, there was Duke-Peacock, a Black-owned record label located in Houston, Texas, that recorded some of the biggest names in blues, funk, and gospel music. Part of the Doug Hanners collection, these publicity photographs feature incredible artists, including Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Willie Mae “Big Mama” …
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The Wittliff Collections have acquired the archive of literary legend Charles Portis, whose personal papers were discovered in a hidden cache two years after the author’s death. The self-effacing Portis, an Arkansas native who died in 2020 at age 86, avoided publicity and kept a low profile during his lifetime. Yet his five acclaimed novels, …
Continue reading "Surprise discovery brings “True Grit” Author’s Archive to The Wittliff Collections"
Light seemed to follow Connie Todd everywhere. She had a natural stage presence, a gift she’d cultivated from an early age. Connie was only fourteen when she joined a prominent Austin orchestra as its lead vocalist in the 1950s. Her voice remained unforgettable to all who knew her. It flowed like a crystalline Hill Country …
Continue reading "The Remarkable Connie Todd (1941-2024) Wittliff Director 1997-2010"