Alkek Library 7th
Floor | Texas State University-San
Marcos | (512) 245-2313 | thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu
For
Immediate Release March 4, 2009
JIM HIGHTOWER
DONATES ARCHIVES
TO THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS
Photograph by Pier Carlo
Abate
SAN
MARCOS, TX — National radio commentator, syndicated political columnist,
public speaker, and New York Times
best-selling author Jim Hightower
has donated his archives to the Wittliff Collections at Texas State
University-San Marcos.
Branded
ÒAmericaÕs #1 Populist,Ó Hightower believes the true political spectrum is not
right-to-left but bottom-to-top, and he is dedicated to battling the
powers-that-be on behalf of—in his words—the
Òpowers-that-ought-to-beÓ:
consumers, working families, farmers, environmentalists, small business
owners, and Òjust plain folks.Ó
HightowerÕs
daily radio commentaries—in their seventeenth
year of broadcasting—are now carried by more than 150 commercial and
public stations, on the web, and on Radio for Peace International. His weekly column is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate,
his columns appear in over 120 newspapers, and his blogs are accessible on Alternet, Huffington Post, and many popular websites.
Launched in 1999,
his monthly populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown, is the fastest-growing
political publication in America, with more than 135,000 subscribers across the
country. The hard-hitting Lowdown, which
celebrated its tenth anniversary in print this February, has received both the
Alternative Press Award and the Independent Press Association Award for best
national newsletter. A sought-after public speaker, the sharp-witted Hightower delivers about 100 speeches a year, and he
is a frequent guest on television and radio programs.
Hightower has
written seven books including, Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our
Country and ItÕs Time to Take It Back; If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote
They Would Have Given Us Candidates; There's Nothing in the Middle of
the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos; and his most recent, Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish
Can Go with the Flow, co-authored with his longtime Òco-conspirator,Ó Susan
DeMarco.
Hightower was raised
in Denison, Texas, in a family of independent business people, tenant farmers,
and working stiffs. After graduating from the University of North Texas, he served
in Washington, D.C., as legislative aide to Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas.
He then co-founded the Agribusiness Accountability Project, a public-interest
project focused on corporate power in the food economy, and he was national
coordinator of the 1976 ÒFred Harris for PresidentÓ campaign. Harris, a former
Democratic Senator from Oklahoma, largely targeted the partyÕs activist base
with his liberal/populist positions on campaign issues.
In 1976, Hightower
returned to his home state, where he became editor of the biweekly Texas
Observer succeeding Molly Ivins, whose personal
library also resides at the Wittliff Collections. Hightower served as director
of the Texas Consumer Association before running for statewide office and being
elected to two terms as Texas Agriculture Commissioner (1983-1991) where he
became involved in the Farm Aid effort, working with Willie Nelson and
screenwriter-photographer Bill Wittliff, founder of the Collections. In the
1990s Hightower hosted two radio talk shows and began developing his radio
commentaries, writing books, and giving speeches, which he has been doing ever
since alongside publishing the Lowdown.
ÓThe
Wittliff Collections fit me like a comfortable old boot,Ó Hightower says, Òfor the
archives are populist in nature. Not only do they depict our regionÕs broad
sweep of grassroots voices, but the Wittliff team also knows how to present its
treasure trove of materials in ways that appeal to ordinary folks as well as
scholars. ItÕs an honor to join the team.Ó
THE
HIGHTOWER ARCHIVES
Wittliff
Collections curator Connie Todd, together with assistant curator Steve Davis
and lead archivist Katie Salzmann, recently picked up over 100 boxes from
Hightower at his office in Austin, Texas. The Hightower Papers document every
aspect of his long and prolific career, including the many inimitable
ÒHightowerismsÓ (such as ÒThe water wonÕt clear up Õtil we get the hogs out of
the creekÓ) for which heÕs become famous. Materials are expected to reach
approximately 200 linear feet once everything is re-housed in archival boxes
and the inventory process is complete.
Items
have been well organized by Hightower and his assistant, Melody Byrd, and
separated into categories such as Commentary Files, Show Files, Show Tapes,
Book Files, Lowdowns,
Promotional Items, Speeches, Videos, and Travel. Various posters and
memorabilia from his populist ventures are also included.
Each of the radio commentaries, for example, is filed
by year and date, and each file includes HightowerÕs handwritten first draft and
edits, backup research plus fact checks for each commentary, the final script, and
a cue sheet for the broadcast. His syndicated column features the text from
these ÒCommon Sense Commentaries.Ó The audiotapes themselves are preserved on
reels, cassettes, and CDs.
HightowerÕs
roots in populism are documented in boxes of materials from YarboroughÕs,
HarrisÕs, and HightowerÕs political campaigns.
Also
of note are approximately 600 photographs his staff is currently digitizing.
Among these are shots of Hightower speaking, politicking, and attending various
events, as well as pictures with such luminaries as Cesar Chavez, Willie Nelson,
Robert Redford, Ann Richards, Molly Ivins, Granny D,
Ted Kennedy, and others. Photographs of Hightower with Dan Rather, for example,
capture them in discussion during the filming of his 60 Minutes interview in the 1980s. The originals, plus the
digitized files, will be
housed with his archives at the Wittliff Collections.
One
of the earliest pieces among the papers is a small document from 1964: a Certificate of Exemption From Poll
Tax issued to a 21-year-old Hightower, then a junior at the University of North Texas, because he was a
first-time voter. Finally abolished in Texas in 1966 as unconstitutional, the
poll tax was designed to deter poor people, especially blacks and
Latino-Americans, from voting, an issue in the Civil Rights Movement that
inspired the young Hightower to set out on a political path.
ÒWe here at the Wittliff Collections are
thrilled to have such a comprehensive archive covering Jim HightowerÕs
distinguished and eventful career,Ó says Wittliff curator Connie Todd. ÒJ.
Frank Dobie said on many occasions that good writing transcends its region but
never ignores its native soil. JimÕs work fully embodies this idea, and in
these times of dynamic political activity, we look forward to showcasing his
materials and his conversation as a voice distinctively southwestern and
globally significant.Ó
Hightower
has designated the Wittliff Collections as the official repository for his
legacy and will continue to gift materials as his career progresses. His weekly
columns, radio commentaries, excerpts from the Lowdown, and other Hightower information can be accessed on his
website, www.jimhightower.com.
##
INSTRUCTING | ILLUMINATING
|
INSPIRING
THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS offer a dynamic archival,
exhibition, programming, and research environment designed to further the
cultural legacy of the regionÕs literary and photographic arts, and foster Òthe
spirit of placeÓ 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 such noted authors as Cormac
McCarthy, Sam Shepard, and John Graves, as well as
the production archives of Texas Monthly
magazine, FoxÕs 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.
Texas State University-San Marcos, founded 1899,
is a member of The Texas State University System
[ÒTexas StateÓ is the preferred second
reference for Texas State University-San Marcos (not ÒTSU,Ó which begs
confusion with Texas Southern University and Tarleton State University), or, if
an abbreviation is absolutely necessary, ÒTxStÓ is acceptable.]
Contacts
MICHELE M. MILLER
Media Relations & Publications
THE WITTLIFF COLLECTIONS at the Alkek
Library
Texas State University-San Marcos
512.245.2313 | m.miller@txstate.edu
LAURA
EHRLICH
Director
of Research & Communications
JIM
HIGHTOWERÕS OFFICE
512.477.5588
| laura@jimhightower.com
DIGITAL
IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST