James Frank Dobie was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folkloristFolkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
,
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
columnistA columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
during the days of the
open rangeOpen range may refer to: vast areas of grassy land that is owned by the federal government.*Rangeland, vast natural landscapes*Open Range, the 2003 Western movie co-starring, co-produced, and directed by Kevin Costner...
. As a public figure, he was known in his lifetime for his outspoken
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
views against Texas state politics, and for his long personal war against what he saw as bragging Texans, religious prejudice, restraints on individual liberty, and the assault of the mechanized world on the human spirit. He was instrumental in the saving of the
Texas LonghornThe Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...
breed of
cattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
from extinction.
Early years
Dobie was born on a ranch in
Live Oak County, Texas, and was the eldest of six children. When he was young, his father, Richard, read to him from the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
while his mother, Ella, read to him from stories such as
IvanhoeIvanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
and
Pilgrim's Progress. At 16, Dobie moved to
AliceAt the 2000 census, there were 19,010 people, 6,400 households and 4,915 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,597.4 per square mile . There were 6,998 housing units at an average density of 588.0 per square mile...
, the seat of
Jim Wells CountyAt the 2000 census, there were 39,326 people, 12,961 households and 10,096 families residing in the county. The population density was 46 per square mile . There were 14,819 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile...
, Texas, where he lived with his grandparents and finished high school. In 1906, he enrolled in
Southwestern UniversitySouthwestern University is a private, four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Georgetown, Texas, USA. Founded in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas. The school is affiliated with the United Methodist Church although the curriculum is nonsectarian...
in
GeorgetownGeorgetown is a city and also the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States with a population of 47,400 at the 2010 census. Southwestern University, founded in 1840, is the oldest university in Texas and is located in Georgetown, about 1/2 mile east of the historic square...
, Texas, where he was introduced to
English poetryThe history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in Western culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is...
by a professor, who urged him to become a writer. While in college he also met "the ever loyal" Bertha McKee (1890-1974), whom he married in 1916.
After he graduated in 1910, Dobie worked briefly for newspapers in
San AntonioSan Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
and
GalvestonGalveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, before gaining his first teaching job at a high school in
AlpineAlpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,786 people at the 2000 census, and had increased to 5,905 by 2010.-History:...
in southwestern Texas. In 1911, he returned to Georgetown to teach at the Southwestern Preparatory School, and in 1913, he went to
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to work on a master's degree. In 1914, he returned to Texas to join the faculty of the
University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. He also became affiliated with the
Texas Folklore SocietyThe Texas Folklore Society is a non-profit organization formed in 1909. John Avery Lomax and Leonidas Warren Payne, Jr., conceived the idea for the Society and served as its first officers....
. In 1917, he left the university to serve in the field
artilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
in
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He was briefly sent overseas at the end of the war and was discharged in 1919.
Early writing career
Dobie began to publish his first articles in 1919. In 1920 he wrote articles mostly about Longhorn cattle and life in the southwest. Dobie left the faculty at the University of Texas to work his uncle's ranch in
La Salle County, north of
LaredoLaredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, where he discovered a desire to put the rich experience of Texas ranch life and southwestern folklore into words.
After a year on the ranch, he returned to the University of Texas and began to use its library and the resources of the Texas Folklore Society to write articles about the vanishing way of life on rural Texas ranches. In 1922, he became secretary of the Texas Folklore Society and began a program for publication. He held the post of secretary-editor of the society for twenty-one years. In 1923, unable to get a promotion without a
Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, Dobie accepted a job at Oklahoma A&M University as the chair of the English department. While in Oklahoma, he wrote for the
Country Gentleman. He returned to Austin in 1925 after receiving a token promotion with the help of his friends.
After returning to Austin, he published his first book,
A Vaquero of the Brush Country in 1929, which helped establish him as a voice about Texas and southwestern culture. In the title, Dobie claimed that the book was based "partly on the reminiscences of John Young." However, the entire book, except one chapter, "The Bloody Border," was actually written by John Young. The matter of the authorship of "A Vaquero of the Brush Country" was ultimately resolved in litigation between Young's descendants and the Estate of J. Frank Dobie and the University of Texas, holders of interests in the copyright. The outcome of the litigation established John Young and J. Frank Dobie as joint authors of "A Vaquero of the Brush Country." John Young was an open-range
vaqueroA cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
who had fought against the encroachment of
barbed wireBarbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
.
In 1930, Dobie published
Coronado's ChildrenCoronado's Children was the second book written by J. Frank Dobie, published by The Southwest Press in 1930. It deals with lore of lost mines and lost treasures in the American Southwest, for the most part in Texas....
, a collection of folklore about lost mines and lost treasures. This was followed by a series of books in the 1930s, leading up to the publication in 1941 of
The Longhorns, which is considered one of the best descriptions of the traditions of the
Texas LonghornThe Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...
cattle breed during the 19th century. In 1937, Dobie was visiting a friend in
El PasoEl Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, prominent attorney,
Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr.Thomas Calloway Lea, Jr. , was a prominent American attorney from El Paso, Texas, and mayor of that city from 1915 to 1917.-Biography:Lea was born in Independence, Missouri, to Thomas Calloway and Amanda Rose Lea....
, and after seeing the art work of Lea's son,
Tom LeaThomas Calloway "Tom" Lea, III was a noted American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian....
, asked him to illustrate the book that he was working on then,
Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver. Tom Lea would also do the illustrations for
The Longhorns and a book on John C. Duval (Texas pioneer). Dobie and Lea would be good friends for the rest of Dobie's life.
In 1939, Dobie began publishing a Sunday newspaper column in which he routinely poked fun at Texas politics. A liberal
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, he often found an easy target for his words in state politicians. Regarding state politics, he once wrote, "When I get ready to explain homemade fascism in America, I can take my example from the state capitol of Texas."
Later writing career
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he taught American history at
Cambridge UniversityThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and returned to
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
after the war to teach in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. He later wrote of his experiences at Cambridge in his book
A Texan in England.
In 1944, after a fellow professor was fired from the University of Texas for his liberal views, Dobie became outraged, leading to a statement by Texas
GovernorThe governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
Coke Stevenson that Dobie should also be dismissed. Dobie's subsequent request for an extension of his leave-of-absence was rejected, and he was dismissed from UT.
After his dismissal from the University of Texas, Dobie published another series of books and anthologies of stories about the open range. On September 14, 1964,
President Lyndon JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, a long-time Texas political rival of Coke Stevenson, awarded him the
Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
. Dobie died four days later on September 18. His funeral was held in Hogg Auditorium on the University of Texas Campus and he is interred at the
Texas State CemeteryThe Texas State Cemetery is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, the capital of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revolutionary general and Vice-President of the Republic of Texas, it was expanded into a Confederate cemetery during the Civil War...
in Austin.
Dobie Paisano Fellowship
In 1959, after a severe illness, Dobie sold his ranch in
Marble FallsMarble Falls is a city in Burnet County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,959 at the 2000 census.Marble Falls is about northwest of Austin and north of San Antonio...
and bought a ranch fourteen miles southwest of Austin, which he named "Paisano." He used the ranch as a writer's retreat until his death in 1964. A movement to preserve the ranch was started shortly after, and, by 1966, the deed was handed over to the University of Texas.
Its mission was stated as "Paisano will be operated by the University as a permanent memorial to J. Frank Dobie, and the primary use will be to encourage creative artistic effort in all fields, particularly in writing. It will be kept in its present more or less natural state and the ranch house will be kept in simple style, very much as it was when Frank Dobie occupied it." Two fellowships of six months each are awarded by a committee chosen by the presidents of the University of Texas at Austin and the
Texas Institute of LettersThe Texas Institute of Letters is an organization devoted to the promotion of literature and literacy in Texas.Founded in 1936, the TIL offers awards to outstanding books written by Texas authors, or dealing with Texas subjects. The TIL also co-administrates the Dobie Paisano Fellowship, which...
. The applicants must be native Texans, or Texas residents for at least two years, or persons whose writing is substantially identified with the state. He was also known for creating the Texas Longhorn colors.
Buildings named in his honor
- J. Frank Dobie High School
J. Frank Dobie High School is a public secondary school located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1968, it is named after the Texas writer of the same name. It follows a standard high school model serving grades 9 through 12 and is the largest school in the Pasadena Independent School District...
in HoustonHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
- J. Frank Dobie Junior High School in Cibolo
Cibolo is a city in Guadalupe County in the U.S. state of Texas.-Schools:The City of Cibolo is served by the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District .Maxine and Lutrell Watts ElementaryO.G. Wiederstein Elementary...
- J. Frank Dobie Middle School in Austin
- J. Frank Dobie Elementary School in Dallas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
- Dobie Center
Dobie Center, named after J. Frank Dobie, is a privately owned twenty-seven story residence hall located adjacent to the University of Texas at Austin campus. In addition to being a private residence for students, Dobie also contains a two-story mall, a movie theatre, restaurants, and specialty...
in Austin
- J. Frank Dobie Museum in George West
George West is a city in Live Oak County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,524 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Live Oak County. George West was named the "storytelling capital of Texas" in 2005 by the Texas Senate; and it hosts the George West Storyfest, a festival that...
in Live Oak Countyh
In 2009, Dobie was posthumously honored by
Frontier Times MuseumFrontier Times Museum is a museum of the American West located in Bandera in the Texas Hill Country. The facility was opened to the public in 1933 by the author, historian, and printer John Marvin Hunter .-Museum exhibits:...
in
BanderaBandera is the county seat of Bandera County, Texas, United States,in the Texas Hill Country, which is part of the Edwards Plateau. The population was 957 at the 2000 census, and according to a 2009 estimate, the population had jumped up to 1,216 people...
as one of its first inductees into the Texas Heroes Hall of Honor. Other inductees were museum founder
J. Marvin HunterJohn Marvin Hunter was an author, historian, journalist, and printer who founded the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, Texas...
, publisher of
Frontier Times magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, and
marksmanA marksman is a person who is skilled in precision, or a sharpshooter shooting, using projectile weapons, such as with a rifle but most commonly with a sniper rifle, to shoot at long range targets...
Joe BowmanJoe Bowman, born Joseph Lee Bowman , was a Houston bootmaker and marksman called "The Straight Shooter", considered to have been a guardian of Texas and western frontier culture. Shortly after his death, Bowman was inducted posthumously into the Texas Heroes Hall of Honor at the Frontier Times...
.
List of works
- Weather Wisdom of the Texas-Mexican Border. 1923 Ebook
- A Vaquero of the Brush Country. Dallas: The Southwest Press. 1929.
- Coronado's Children
Coronado's Children was the second book written by J. Frank Dobie, published by The Southwest Press in 1930. It deals with lore of lost mines and lost treasures in the American Southwest, for the most part in Texas....
. Dallas: The Southwest Press. 1930.
- On the Open Range. Dallas: The Southwest Press. 1931.
- Tongues of the Monte. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. 1935.
- The Flavor of Texas. Dallas: Dealey and Lowe. 1936.
- Tales of the Mustang. Dallas: Rein Co. for The Book Club of Texas. 1936.
- Apache Gold & Yaqui Silver. Boston: Little, Brown. 1939.
- John C. Duval. First Texas Man of Letters. Dallas: Southwest Review. 1939.
- The Roadrunner in Fact and Folk-lore. 1939
- The Longhorns. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1941.
- Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest. Austin: U.T. Press. 1943.
- A Texan in England. Boston: Little, Brown. 1945.
- The Seven Mustangs. Address delivered at the unveiling of the monument, May 31, 1948, University of Texas, Austin. The Adams Publications, Austin, Texas,1948.
- The Voice of the Coyote. Boston: Little, Brown. 1949.
- The Ben Lilly Legend. Boston: Little, Brown. 1950.
- The Mustangs. Boston: Little, Brown. 1952.
- Tales of Old Time Texas. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1955.
- Up the Trail From Texas. N.Y.: Random House. 1955.
- I'll Tell You a Tale. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1960.
- Cow People. Boston: Little, Brown. 1964.
- Some Part of Myself. Boston: Little, Brown. 1967.
- Rattlesnakes. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1965.
- Out of the Old Rock. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1972.
- Prefaces. Boston: Little, Brown. 1975.
- Wild and Wily Range Animals. Flagstaff: Northland Press. 1980.
Many of Dobie's works are featured in Ramon Adams'
Six-Guns and Saddle Leather and
The Rampaging Herd, two well respected bibliographic works on the history of the American West and the cattle industry.
Media
- A one-act play by Steve Moore
Steve Moore is a playwright born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Chicago where he majored in Classics, and recently received an MFA in Playwrighting from the University of Texas at Austin...
, Nightswim, about Roy BedichekRoy Bedichek was a Texan writer, naturalist and educator.-Early life and education:Roy Bedichek was born on June 27, 1878 in Cass County, Illinois to parents James Madison Bedichek and Lucretia Ellen Craven. The family relocated to Falls County, Texas in 1884...
, J. Frank DobieJames Frank Dobie was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range...
and Walter Prescott WebbWalter Prescott Webb was a 20th century U.S. historian and author noted for his groundbreaking historical work on the American West. As president of the Texas State Historical Association, he launched the project that produced the Handbook of Texas...
was first produced in Austin in Fall, 2004. Their friendship is narrated in the book Three Friends: Roy Bedichek, J. Frank Dobie, Walter Prescott Webb by William A. Owens, published in 1969.
External links