Celebrating 20 Years | Instructing, Illuminating &
Inspiring, Since 1986
September 8, 2006
This
1555 edition of La
relaci—n y comentarios
by çlvar Nœ–ez Cabeza de Vaca is the cornerstone
of the Southwestern Writers Collection
On Exhibit
September 1
– December 15, 2006
TREASURES of the
southwestern writers collection
A 20th
Anniversary Exhibition from the Permanent Archives
TREASURES OF THE Southwestern Writers Collection showcases more than a
hundred artifacts from its literature, film, and music archives, and is the
second of two twentieth-anniversary tributes. This fall show complements the
spring exhibition, J. Frank Dobie: Mr. Texas, which celebrated the
CollectionÕs inaugural archive.
Treasures of the
Southwestern Writers Collection runs from September 1 through December 15,
2006, on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University-San
Marcos. The exhibit reception and program on November 9 will feature as special
guests Sarah Bird, Elizabeth Crook, and Stephen Harrigan (see below). Admission
is free to both the exhibit and event.
Founded at Texas State
in 1986 by Austin screenwriter, book publisher, and photographer Bill Wittliff
and his wife Sally, the Southwestern Writers Collection (SWWC) is a
distinguished repository focused on preserving, exhibiting, and providing
access to the papers and artifacts of the regionÕs authors, songwriters, and
screenwriters. This latest exhibition speaks to the breadth and depth of the
holdings, whose roots reach deeply through historical, academic, journalistic,
and literary ground into that of contemporary popular culture.
FROM
CABEZA DE VACA TO WILLIE NELSON
Some of the more
high-profile items on display include a rarely exhibited 1555 edition of Cabeza
de VacaÕs La relaci—n y comentarios (the first written work on what is now Texas
and the Southwest), the hand-made songbook created by Willie Nelson as an
11-year-old boy, a fiddle played by King of Western Swing Bob Wills, John
GravesÕs canoe paddle from the Brazos River trip he famously chronicled in Goodbye
to a River,
the Emmy Award won by Larry L. King for his documentary on the Texas
Legislature, The Best Little Statehouse in Texas, and a copy of the Lonesome
Dove
screenplay signed by every cast member with a speaking role.
Yet Treasures is more than a
Ògreatest hitsÓ exhibit. ÒIt also highlights an essential point in the
CollectionÕs mission by offering insights into the creative process, capturing
those catalytic moments when the writer makes a breakthrough,Ó says SWWC
Assistant Curator Steve Davis, who curated the exhibit. ÒSometimes this happens
as a result of good editorial advice, such as the letters that Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis sent to Elizabeth Crook, or the wonderful feedback that Tom
Hanks gave to Bill Broyles on an early draft of the Cast Away screenplay. And then
there are the times when the artist makes the breakthrough on his or her own.
In this exhibit youÕll see things like the changes Bill Wittliff made to his
first draft of The Perfect Storm, which shows how writers gain power through
their ability to rewrite, rather than to simply write.Ó
Curator Connie Todd
adds, ÒArchives like ours are uniquely able to apprehend these critical, and
often ephemeral, moments, because we collect not only the finished product of
the creative process—that is, the published book, the recorded story, the
produced film—but also all the documentation and iconography that led to
the productÕs creation. We can often see the artistÕs hastily jotted down or
recorded ideas as they become before our very eyes a completed work of art.
ItÕs like literary DNA.Ó
Treasures of the
Southwestern Writers Collection also presents unique items that provide insight
into major figures in Southwestern letters. The Larry McMurtry screen treatment
that became his novel, Lonesome Dove, shows the cross-genre beginnings of this
Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
The CollectionÕs
founding archive, that of J. Frank Dobie, is represented by a diary he kept
while attending Columbia University in 1913-1914. Dobie later believed he had
destroyed this diary, but it was found among the Dobie materials purchased by
Bill and Sally Wittliff in 1985.
The notebooks of
Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Sam Shepard include hundreds of pages of notes
that represent nascent ideas, some of which then become rough drafts of his
works. ShepardÕs archives are particularly important in this way, showing the
full range of the artistÕs creative arc, his process from conception to
publication.
Other pieces
that speak to the literary archives include a bust of Katherine Anne Porter
created by noted sculptor Glenna Goodacre and PorterÕs own annotated recipe for
Mole Poblana, an
IBM Selectric typewriter Rick Bass hurled against a
fireplace when it quit working in mid-sentence, one of several hundred
manuscript pages from Billy Lee BrammerÕs never-completed second novel, Fustian
Days, and letters from such legendary
literary figures as H.L. Mencken and Hunter S. Thompson illustrating
relationships with Southwest writers. (These two were corresponding with
short-story author Winifred Sanford and Rolling Stone journalist Grover Lewis, respectively.)
The
worldwide influence of regional literature is evidenced in the display of
foreign-language editions of books by Southwestern authors—in Japanese,
French, Russian, Italian, and many others.
Showcased
from the music are rare concert posters, a guitar signed by Willie Nelson,
backstage passes for Austin City Limits, memorabilia from the Texas Western
Swing Hall of Fame, interview transcripts from Joe Nick PatoskiÕs acclaimed
biographies of Selena and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jerry Jeff WalkerÕs boots and
handwritten lyrics for his song ÒCharlie Dunn.Ó
The film and television
archives are represented with scripts, artifacts, production forms, photos, and
more from director Robert Benton (Places in the Heart, NobodyÕs Fool), screenwriter William
Broyles, Jr. (Apollo 13, Cast Away), and actor/writer/director Tommy Lee Jones (The
Good Old Boys).
Also on exhibit are materials from Severo PerezÕs film adaptation of Tom‡s
RiveraÕs Éand the earth did not swallow him. Rounding out the
display are prized objects from some of Bill WittliffÕs films, including Lonesome
Dove, A Perfect Storm, Raggedy Man, and Red-Headed Stranger.
The exhibit also brings
together artifacts from recent archival acquisitions. ÒOne of the largest
pieces is a dry-erase whiteboard showing the 40-week timeline for a typical
episode of the TV series King of the Hill,Ó says Davis. ÒThis introduces a new
generation to the richness of Southwestern culture and our archival holdings,
and it also gives some sense of the complexity and teamwork involved in
creating a series.Ó
Todd
adds, ÒBy exhibiting archives from popular culture, we make our audience aware
that some—I emphasize some—of what they see on television and in
motion pictures contains deeply insightful commentaries on the Southwest,
which, at their best, transcend the regional and ascend to the universal.Ó
Treasures
of the Southwestern Writers Collection, was curated and created by Steve Davis, SWWC
Assistant Curator. Mr. Davis can be reached at sd03@txstate.edu
or (512) 245-9180.
SARAH BIRD, ELIZABETH CROOK,
STEPHEN HARRIGAN
TO BE SPECIAL GUESTS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, the Southwestern
Writers Collection will host a reception, panel discussion, and book signing,
in celebration of the 20th anniversary exhibition Treasures of the
Southwestern Writers Collection. This free evening event will begin with the
reception at 6:30 pm, with the panel at 7:30, followed by a book signing. Sarah Bird, Elizabeth Crook, and Stephen
Harrigan—three leading Texas novelists with archives in the
SWWC—will be discussing their work and signing their latest books: The
Flamenco Academy
(Bird), The Night Journal (Crook), and Challenger Park (Harrigan). Books will
be for sale at the event, courtesy of the Texas State University Bookstore.
PLEASE RSVP to southwesternwriters@txstate.edu,
or call (512) 245-2313. The SWWC is located on the seventh floor of the Alkek
Library at Texas State University-San Marcos. Access the full calendar of
events online at www.swwc.txstate.edu.
Southwestern
Writers Collection
Alkek
Library Seventh Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
Directions online: www.swwc.txstate.edu
512-245-2313
EXHIBIT HOURS (closed holidays)
Mon/Tue/Fri: 8 am to 5 pm
Wed/Thu:
8 am to 7 pm
Sat:
9 am to 5 pm
Sun:
2 pm to 6 pm
Admission is FREE
INSTRUCTING ¥ ILLUMINATING ¥ INSPIRING Part of
the Alkek Library Department of Special Collections at Texas State
University-San Marcos, the Southwestern
Writers Collection was founded in 1986 and has since become a
distinguished and steadily growing archive charged with preserving, exhibiting,
and providing access to the papers and artifacts of principal writers,
filmmakers, and musicians of the Southwest. Its resources attest to the
tremendous diversity of creative expression among southwestern artists and
contribute to an inspiring research environment within which students and
others may discover how the unique conditions and character of the region have
shaped its people and their cultural arts. Connie Todd, Curator. Steve Davis,
Assistant Curator. 512-245-2313 www.swwc.txstate.edu
Texas State University-San Marcos
A member of the Texas State University System
CONTACT: Michele M. Miller
Marketing & Promotions
Alkek
Library Special Collections
TEXAS STATE
UNIVERSITY-SAN MARCOS
512-245-2313 m.miller@txstate.edu
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