J. Frank Dobie Papers
1898 -1988
Bulk dates: 1914-1964
Note: Additional J. Frank Dobie archives have been received since this on-line inventory was compiled. Contact the archivist for the latest information on our holdings.
Click here for complete inventory
Acquisition:
Donated since 1988 by Bill and Sally Wittliff.
Access: Direct
inquiries to the Archivist, Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas State
University, San Marcos, Texas
78666-4604
Processed by: Gwyneth Cannan, May 1994; Inventory revised by
Brandy Harris, 2005.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
J. Frank Dobie, teacher,
storyteller, folklorist, historian, and author, was born September 18, 1888 on
a ranch in the South Texas brush country of Live Oak County. Raised in the toughening, physically
bracing traditions of a remote ranching region, Dobie nonetheless developed an
early love for language and literature.
His mother encouraged reading, providing her children with mail-ordered
books, and his father developed the boy's narrative sense with nightly readings
of the King James version of the bible.
Dobie's mother saw to it that he and his siblings were sent away to
relatives in the small town of Alice so that they could obtain the requisite
schooling to pursue higher education.
Dobie received his BA from
Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. There, under the influence of Professor Albert Shipp Pegues,
he became enthralled by the English romantic poets. There too he met the poetry-loving Bertha McKee, who would
become his wife, lifelong companion, adviser, booster and critic. After Dobie received his degree in
1910, he taught at a high school in Alpine, Texas and worked summers as a
newspaper reporter. Deciding he
wished to teach poetry at a more advanced level than high school, Dobie pursued
a Masters at Columbia University.
He later admitted to being only a lackluster student who learned more
from New York and the New York theater than he did from the university.
Returning to Texas, Dobie joined
the English Department of the University of Texas at Austin. In his first year there, he officed
with Stith Thompson who introduced him to the organization with which he became
so closely identified, the Texas Folklore Society World War I soon wrested Dobie from the classroom and
he was sent overseas shortly before the armistice. While he missed the fighting, he took the opportunity to
acquaint himself with Europe.
Dobie returned to the University of
Texas English Department after his discharge from the army. Still ambivalent about his life's
direction, he left UT in 1920 to run an uncle's ranch. The ranching stint was unsuccessful and
he returned to teaching, writing his wife that "in the university I am a
wild man; in the wilds I am a scholar and a poet" (Tinkle 102). He began to settle on a scholarly
pursuit that could make use of both environments. Dobie had enjoyed listening to the stories of one of his
uncle's vaqueros, Santos Cortez.
"It came to me that I would collect and tell the legendary tales of
Texas as Lomax had collected the old-time songs and ballads of Texas and the
frontier. I thought that the
stories of the range were as interesting as the songs. I considered that if they could be put
down so as to show the background out of which they have come they might have
high value" (Tinkle 102).
From that point, Dobie actively pursued the folk legends of the
Southwest in his travels, readings, and writings.
Dobie became editor of the Texas
Folklore Society in 1921. He took
a strong hand in the independent direction of the organization, which still
follows the standards he set. Under
Dobie, the Texas Folklore Society broke from the practices of the American
Folklore Society. The national
branch examined the subject from an objective scholarly viewpoint while Dobie
and his followers instead collected and presented folklore as a living,
breathing, participatory endeavor.
Dobie's second book, Coronado's
Children, received national attention and
broadened substantially the Texas writer's audience. In 1932, Dobie ventured into broadcasting with the radio
program "Longhorn Luke and his Cowboys." He also published articles in magazines and continued to put
out his folklore books. He
frequently traveled in search of material for his books, and he became a
popular speaker on the lecture circuit.
In 1939, he began his syndicated newspaper column "My
Texas." Successful in each
medium, Dobie came to symbolize the essence of Texas in the popular mind.
Through all this activity, Dobie
remained based at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1930, he introduced his course Life and Literature of the
Southwest, and it became the most popular offering on campus. Its curriculum was copied in
universities across the state.
Dobie had always had a prickly
relationship with the University of Texas based partly on his refusal to seek a
PhD and partly on his belief that the Southwest was a sufficient scholarly
focus in its own right. In 1943,
Dobie left UT to serve a two-year stint as lecturer on American History in
Cambridge, England. Upon his
return, Dobie jumped right into a heated controversy when he spoke out in
defense of Homer Price Rainey, president of the University of Texas, in the
fight with the Board of Regents.
In 1947, when then University president Theophilus Painter refused to
grant Dobie another leave, Dobie resigned with the administration's
acquiescence. He remained at his
home in the University area and was always associated with the University of
Texas though his formal days as a teacher were over.
Dobie endeared himself to the
public both through his personality and his brand of tale telling. He boldly used his popularity to speak
out on social issues and other causes that captured his attention. An ardent individualist, he constantly
railed against censorship, demagogic religiosity, and those who would impede
freedom of thought. "I have
come to value liberated minds as the supreme good of life on earth" (Some
Part of Myself 6). He championed black voting rights in
1945 and supported organized labor's right to strike. He considered certain college departments unsatisfactory as
programs of learning. Journalism,
he said, was the unctuous elaboration of the obvious. Of education-trained teachers he commented, "I have
never encountered one possessed of a first class mind, though I have
encountered a few fairly good ones.
Many are dull well-meanders, cunning climbers, exponents of the paltry,
and, worst of all, duelers of eager searching intelligence--especially of
intelligence lodged in teachers not willing to knuckle" (Tinkle 170).
After Dobie's death in September of
1964, his wife Bertha, who had worked so closely with him throughout their life
together, saw to the publication of two books under Dobie's name based on his
notes. The Dobies had no children
of their own but were particularly fond of Bertha's nephew, Edgar Kincaid. Kincaid moved in with the Dobies when
he became a student at the University of Texas, and he remained in their Austin
house on 26th Street to tend to them in their old age. Kincaid was an avid ornithologist and
editor of The Bird Life of Texas (1974).
The Dobie name today is often
spoken in the same breath with that of his two University of Texas
contemporaries, the historian Walter Prescott Webb and the naturalist Roy
Bedichek. The three friends have
been titled Texas' intellectual triumvirate and are considered the forerunners
to Texas literature. "[They]
were living proof that serious persons could do independent cultural work in
Texas" (Texas Observer 18).
Joe Frantz remarked that Dobie was
"Texas' first liberated mind to achieve a wide audience and the first
truly professional writer produced by the state" (Third Coast 1983). Many Texas writers openly credit Dobie with giving them the
inspiration not only to be a writer but also to feel comfortable using their
home state as a subject. Billy Lee
Brammer admitted, "It never occurred to me--ever--until I read Frank
Dobie, that I could be a writer.
There simply were no writers in Texas" (Texas Observer 21).
Fred Gipson confided that he had never realized it was possible to live
in Texas and be a writer until Dobie set the example (Austin American
Statesman B5). Publisher and screenwriter Bill Wittliff wrote Bertha on
Dobie's death that "Dobie was the prime moving force of my
life." Bertha and friends
established a most fitting memorial to Dobie in light of his contribution to
Texas letters, the Dobie-Paisano fellowship. The award provides money for writers and artists to work on
their projects during a six month stay on Dobie's Paisano ranch in the hill
country outside of Austin.
Bibliography:
Dobie, J. Frank.
Some Part of Myself. Boston:
Little, Brown & Co., 1967.
Dugger, Ronnie, "Dobie, Bedichek, Webb: Workers in the
Culture," The Texas
Observer 19 Aug. 1983: 18.
Frantz, Joe,
"The Forty Acre Follies,Ó The Third Coast, Dec. 1983: 100.
Porterfield,
Billy, "Dobie's Roots Helped Texas Writers Blossom" The Austin
American-Statesman, 24 Sep. 1990: B1.
Tinkle, Lon. An
American Original. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1978.
For further information on Dobie and his work see:
Dugger, Ronnie,
ed. Three Men in Texas.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.
McVicker, Mary
Louise. The Writings of J.
Frank Dobie: A Bibliography.
Lawton, Ok: Museum of the Great Plains, 1968.
Stone, Paul
Clois. "J. Frank Dobie and the American Folklore Movement." Diss.
Yale University, 1995.
For a history
of the disposition of Dobie's manuscripts see:
Holland,
Richard. "A Corner Forever Texas." Corners of Texas. Ed. Francis Edward Abernethy. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS NOTE
The bulk of this archive was
acquired through Bill and Sally Wittliff, who purchased the material in an
estate sale in 1985. (See Richard
Holland's article in Corners of Texas
cited above for a fuller description of the acquisition.) Dobie had already donated much of his
library and papers to the University of Texas at Austin. The material at Texas State was what
remained in his Austin house at the time of his death in 1964. It is divided into five series: Works,
Personal, Bertha McKee Dobie and Edgar Kincaid Papers, Artifacts, and Newspaper
Clippings. The series contain
drafts of Dobie's posthumous books, research material, drafts of newspaper
columns, magazine articles, lectures, transcriptions of radio broadcasts,
correspondence, photographs of family and friends, property deeds, income tax
records, personal items (pipes, clothes, a favorite chair), wills, and
clippings about Dobie as well as articles, clippings and photographs that had
belonged to Bertha McKee Dobie and/or Edgar Kincaid.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Series I: Works, 1914-1982, n.d., Bulk
Dates 1922-1964
Boxes 1-12, 25
The first subseries, Books, contains drafts, galleys,
research notes and clippings, photographs, correspondence, captions,
typescripts and a record album of Dobie's books. Also included are files on posthumous books compiled by
Dobie's wife Bertha.
The second subseries is entitled Research Material. The research files include
correspondence, bibliographical notes, articles, clippings, pictures, and
quotes on the Southwestern themes Dobie explored. Subjects covered are animals, Southwestern customs, Texas
heroes, Southwestern characters, hunting, tall tales, cooking and treasure
hunting. Files of old maps and
guidebooks document research trips made to Mexico including the 1933 trip to
Saltillo with Henry Nash Smith.
Fellow University of Texas English professor Stith Thompson
invited Dobie to join the Texas Folklore Society in 1915. The third subseries contains documents
relating to his involvement in the organization. Dobie claimed he had never heard of the word folklore
before. "If Stith Thompson
hadn't said folklore to me . . . I don't
know where in the devil I'd be today. (Tinkle 37) Dobie succeeded Thompson in 1922 as secretary-editor of the
society's publications. He revitalized
the society after it had become moribund during World War I, and he pushed it
in a direction independent of the American Folklore Society. Dobie resigned as editor in 1943, when
he left Texas to teach a year in Cambridge, England, but he continued as a
participant in the society and his influence remains strong to this date.
The fourth subseries is entitled Newspaper Columns. Dobie first worked for a newspaper, the
San Antonio Express, the summer after
graduation from Southwestern in 1910.
In 1914, he reported for the Galveston Tribune to earn extra money during a summer break from
teaching at the University of Texas.
In September 1939, Dobie began a syndicated newspaper column which he
continued writing until the year of his death. His columns touched on a wide range of areas from current
events and postwar Europe to folk tales and Texas characters. This subseries contains drafts of these
columns. It also contains his file
on the Alamo memorial sculpture controversy, which includes articles,
interviews and correspondence. In
1937, the sculptor Pompeo Coppini was commissioned to create a monument to the
fighters at the Alamo. Dobie
vehemently took issue with the choice and expressed his views publicly by radio
and newspaper.
The next subseries, Magazine Articles, includes the
typescript of Dobie's first nationally published article for The Country
Gentleman. The subsequent magazine articles cover various topics of
interest to Dobie--cowboy life, Mexico, herbs, animals, reading, literature,
etc.
Dobie became a popular lecturer as his books and articles on
Southwestern ways gained national attention. The sixth subseries, Lectures and Speeches, includes notes
on his speaking itinerary and covers his lectures on folklore, the Southwest
and his experience as a Texan in England.
The final subseries has been titled Radio and
Television. Dobie began
broadcasting from the radio in 1932 with five-minute talks on the program
"Longhorn Luke and His Cowboys." His radio programs and later television appearances covered
the same subjects as his books and articles but the audio/visual aspects of the
technologies allowed him to enhance the tales with live narration. The files contain a letter from his
original radio sponsor, fan letters, and scripts.
Series II: Personal, 1898-1988, n.d., Bulk
Dates 1914-1964
Boxes 13-23
The first subseries within this group of records, Family,
contains a family photo album of mostly 19th century photographs of the Dobie
and Byler families. Also included
are the family bible from which Dobie's father read nightly and two of Dobie's
own bibles given to him as gifts:
one in 1905 from W. H. Butler and the other from his family in 1908.
The next set of files, entitled Graduate Education, contains
class notes, the Masters thesis, theater programs and newspaper clippings from
Dobie's Columbia University days.
Despite Dobie's statement in Some Part of Myself that he destroyed a "kind of diary" he
kept at the time because he "was so disgusted with the sentimentality in
it" (185), there is a diary herein which for the most part describes his
reactions to the New York theater.
In the third subseries, World War I Service, is found
Dobie's army uniform, his shipping trunk, and military documents. Dobie enlisted in the Army May 17, 1917
but was not shipped to Europe until October of 1918 shortly before the
armistice of November 11. He never
saw action but was able to use the opportunity to see something of Europe.
The next subseries, Teaching, contains grade books, teaching
notes, lectures and diaries. It
includes the notes from the lectures Dobie gave at Cambridge University in
1943.
Household Records and Personal Effects, the fifth subseries,
contains property deeds, income tax records, invoices, mementos, personal
items, addresses, wills, and notes.
There is information on Dobie's homes, lifestyle and interests. The file named Workfiles and mementos
contains miscellaneous envelopes, empty files, clippings and articles including
Walter Prescott Webb's "The Search for William E. Hinds."
The next subseries contains correspondence. The majority of these letters are from
Dobie to Bertha detailing his experiences in the army. Other letters to Bertha were written
during various separations and discuss family, personal matters and Dobie's
writings. They also mention
Dobie's work with the Texas Folklore Society and his various research
interests. The other major
correspondence in this subseries is the letters of Roy Bedichek. Bedichek was director of the University
of Texas Interscholastic League by profession but a student of nature by
predilection. Bedichek often met
with Dobie and historian Walter Prescott Webb for barbecue or at Barton Springs
swimming pool in Austin to argue and philosophize. Prodded by Dobie and Webb, Bedichek became a writer of
lyrical books on nature at the advanced age of 70. His letters discuss animal stories, politics (especially
Texas politics), and mutual friends--University of Texas president Homer
Rainey, Folksong collector John Lomax, political commentator John Henry Faulk,
Western historian Henry Nash Smith, Walter Prescott Webb and Texas Folklore
Society editors Mody Boatright and Wilson Hudson. Also included here are some letters from Isabel Gaddis, a
friend who collaborated with Dobie on I'll Tell You A Tale, published in 1960.
Dobie died on September 18, 1964. The seventh subseries, DobieÕs Death, contains the many
telegrams and condolence cards sent to his widow along with funeral
arrangements, the memorial record book and newspaper clippings about Dobie's
accomplishments.
The eighth subseries, Writings about Dobie, is a collection
of clippings, articles and papers on J. Frank Dobie gathered by his wife Bertha
and his nephew, Edgar Kincaid. A
few of the clippings concern Roy Bedichek or Edgar Kincaid. There also is a file on the Paisano
Fellowship, the grant set up as a memorial to Dobie. His beloved ranch west of Austin was deeded to the
University of Texas, which, along with the Texas Institute of Letters, manages
a fellowship for selected Texas writers and artists. The award enables the writer or artist to spend six months
on the ranch with a stipend in order to work on projects free from
distraction. The first fellowship
was granted in 1967 to Billy Porterfield.
Photographs, the final subseries contains photographs of
Dobie, his wife Bertha, and their family and friends. There are publicity photos, photos taken on Dobie's research
trips, and pictures clipped for research.
Included are photos of Dobie and Bertha on their ranch or entertaining
friends.
Series III: Bertha McKee Dobie and Edgar Kincaid Papers,
1926-1974, n.d.
Boxes 23-25
This series contains family letters to Bertha. The bulk of the correspondence is from
her mother and mentions Dobie, his work, and his trips to Mexico. The letters also discuss Bertha's
family, health and gardening.
Included too are Bertha's gardening columns, and various sundry
clippings, pamphlets and articles that she collected about Dobie and other
matters of interest to her. Edgar
Kincaid's family records and photographs of Kincaid at a book signing for The
Bird Life of Texas are also present.
Series IV: Artifacts, n.d.
Boxes 26-27
This series contains personal items that belonged to J.
Frank Dobie, including clothing, toiletries, a ceramic roadrunner figurine,
pipes, a typewriter, and a Dictaphone machine.
Series V: Newspaper Clippings, n.d.
Box 28
This series is housed in one oversized box and contains unprocessed original newspaper clippings collected by J. Frank Dobie.
Click here for complete inventory
Return to the Southwestern Writers Collection