Current Exhibits at The Wittliff Collections
Construction of new exhibition and public spaces is in progress this summer and early fall.
Fall exhibits and event dates to be updated pending completion.
July 25 through November 2, 2008
THE LONESOME DOVE COLLECTION
First Floor Exhibit open regular library hours.
From hats to boots, the full outfits of Woodrow F. Call and Augustus “Gus” McCrae are just a few of the many “making of” materials on display from the popular miniseries based on Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. This interim exhibition from the The Wittliff’s major Lonesome Dove production archives includes numerous props and principal costumes, set designs, costume sketches, and production notes, Bill Wittliff's screenplay drafts, script pages, and photographs, plus Gus’s muslin-wrapped “remains” that Call carried all the way back to Clara’s Orchard. Tour the Lonesome Dove Collection online.
The Lonesome Dove permanent exhibition room will reopen later this fall.
Watch for exciting event updates as The Wittliff Collections prepare for the Lonesome Dove 20th Anniversary Celebration of the miniseries in October 2009.
Satellite Exhibits at The Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
July 2 – October 1, 2008
TREASURES FROM THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS
The Wittliff Collections’ fourth ABIA exhibit offers ticketed travelers a look inside some of the most popular archive collections: Austin City Limits, Cabeza de Vaca, the Molly Ivins Library, King of the Hill, Russell Lee, Lonesome Dove, Cormac McCarthy, Texas Monthly, and Willie Nelson, as well as The Wittliff’s two award-winning book series with UT Press. Images from the photography collection will also be featured.
July 31 – October 20, 2008
LITTLE HEROES
Drawn from last year’s popular Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection exhibit at The Wittliff, this selected display of images of children by some of the collection's most acclaimed photographers will be on view in the ABIA’s 40-foot window of Airside Gallery East.
The entire exhibition is also online.
Fall 2008 Exhibits at The Wittliff Collections
DATES PENDING
From the Southwestern Writers Collection
LBJ Country: Lyndon Johnson & the Texas Imagination
In conjunction with Texas State’s Common Experience commemorating the August 27 centenary of Lyndon B. Johnson’s birth, the Southwestern Writers Collection at the Wittliff Collections presents a new exhibit that interprets America’s 36th president through the eyes of those who may have understood him best—political writers from Texas. Among the materials on display are works from Billy Lee Brammer, a one-time LBJ staffer whose classic novel, The Gay Place, features an outsized character modeled on Lyndon Johnson. Larry L. King, another congressional aide-turned-writer, also observed LBJ at close quarters and penned some of the most intimate views of Johnson ever published. Additional artifacts from the Texas Monthly archives and other Texas writers round out the literary component of the exhibit. Supplementing the display are dozens of photos of Johnson from all stages of his career, as well as documents from Texas State’s University Archives, which contain insights into Johnson’s time as a college student in San Marcos, as well as the impact his presidency had on his alma mater. An exhibit reception and program are being planned.
DATES PENDING
From the Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection
A CERTAIN ALCHEMY: Photographs by Keith Carter
This exhibition coincides with the publication of Keith Carter’s tenth monograph, the newest volume in the Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection Series originating from The Wittliff Collections at Texas State. Drawing from the animal world, popular culture, folklore, and religion, Carter’s photographs attempt to reflect hidden meanings in the real world, exploring relationships that are timeless, enigmatic, and mythological. The Wittliff's Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection counts the major archive of Carter’s photographs—over 900 prints—among its largest holdings. A Certain Alchemy by Keith Carter is forthcoming this October from the University of Texas Press. An exhibit reception and program are being planned.
Fall 2008 Events at The Wittliff Collections
Readings are being scheduled with Scott Anderson, Li-Young Lee, Carmen Tafolla, and the Texas State MFA poetry and fiction students, among others.
Plans are in the works for receptions and programs related to the Molly Ivins Library, the LBJ exhibit, the Keith Carter photography show and book launch, as well as the dedication of the new gallery spaces and the Cormac McCarthy Reading Room.
For up-to-the-minute information, call (512) 245-2313 or check back often.
INSTRUCTING | ILLUMINATING | INSPIRING
THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS offer a dynamic archival, exhibition, programming, and research environment designed to further the cultural legacy of the region’s literary and photographic arts, and foster “the spirit of place” in the wider world. The Southwestern Writers Collection preserves and exhibits the literary papers and artifacts of principal writers, filmmakers, and musicians, including the major archives of Cormac McCarthy, Sam Shepard, and John Graves, as well as the production archives of Texas Monthly magazine, Fox’s animated series King of the Hill, and the CBS miniseries Lonesome Dove. The Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection includes the major holdings of work by such renowned artists as Kate Breakey, Keith Carter, and Graciela Iturbide, and houses the largest archive of modern and contemporary Mexican photography in the United States. Connie Todd, Curator.