J. Frank Dobie: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964 Title: J. Frank Dobie Papers Dates: circa 1700-1988 (bulk 1910-1964) Extent: 284 document boxes, 4 index card boxes (120.12 linear feet), 8 galley folders (gf), 2 oversize folders (osf) Abstract: The papers of Texas writer, folklorist, and educator J. Frank Dobie contain numerous manuscripts for his writings, voluminous correspondence files, and extensive research materials, plus personal papers, manuscripts by others, and Dobie family letters and papers. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-1176 Language: The papers are primarily written in English with some Spanish language material also present. Note: The Ransom Center gratefully acknowledges assistance from the TexTreasures grant program—funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Texas State Library and Archives Commission under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act—which supported processing and cataloging of this collection. Access: Open for research Administrative Information Acquisition: Gifts and purchases, 1960-2001 (R5890, R5374, R7421, R7613, R8278, R8369, G1411, R9993, G2049, G2858, G11645, G11720) Processed by: Daniela Lozano and Joan Sibley, 2015 Repository: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964 Manuscript Collection MS-1176 Biographical Sketch James Frank Dobie was born on a ranch in Live Oak County, Texas on September 26, 1888. His father, Richard Jonathan Dobie, was a rancher and taught his son about the land and raising cattle; his mother, Ella Byler Dobie, was a teacher and gave him an appreciation for literature and nature. Dobie was the eldest of six children. At age sixteen, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Alice, Texas to attend high school. He then attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1910. After college, Dobie wrote for several Texas newspapers and worked as a high school teacher and principal in Alpine, Texas. In 1913, he enrolled at Columbia University and received a Master of Arts degree in 1914. He returned to Texas and that same year became a professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). While attending Southwestern, Dobie met Bertha McKee whom he married in 1916. They had had a long-distance courtship after they both left Southwestern, but after their marriage Bertha left her teaching job in Galveston to join her husband in Austin. Soon they were apart once again when, in 1917, Dobie enlisted in the U.S. Army. He became a first lieutenant in the field artillery and served abroad briefly during World War I before being discharged in 1919. After his discharge, Dobie returned to teaching English at UT but left after one year to manage the ranch of his uncle, J. M. Dobie. The ranch was about 200,000 acres and located on the Nueces River in Texas. It was there that Dobie began to take notice of Mexican folk tales, the character and talk of cowmen, and the character of the brush country. Dobie spent a year managing the ranch until his uncle could no longer afford to pay him. He returned to teaching at UT where he would remain until 1947 except for two years as the Head of the English Department at Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University (1923-1925), and two years as a visiting professor at Cambridge University (1943-1944). Dobie became secretary and editor of the Texas Folklore Society in 1922. The society was formed in 1909, but had been mostly inactive during the war years. Dobie began a publication program and in 1924 his Legends of Texas was published. He served as secretary and editor of the society until 1943 and built it into a professional organization. Dobie also began publishing his own books about Texas and the Southwest culture. The first, A Vaquero of the Brush Country was published in 1929, followed by Coronado's Children in 1931, which won the Literary Guild Award that same year. Other works include On the Open Range (1931), Tongues of the Monte (1935), The Flavor of Texas (1936), Tales of the Mustang (1936), Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1939), and The Longhorns (1941). During World War II, Dobie taught American history as a visiting professor at Cambridge University, and wrote about his experience abroad in his book, A Texan in England (1945). After the war, he lectured at Shrivenham America University in the United Kingdom and to troops in Germany and Austria. Meanwhile, back in Austin, the UT Board of Regents, critical of the university's liberal professors, fired UT President 2 Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964 Manuscript Collection MS-1176 Homer P. Rainey in November 1944. A liberal himself, Dobie was outraged and spoke out in support of Rainey. In 1947, Dobie's request for a continuation of his leave of absence after his European tour was denied and his position at UT was terminated. Free from his teaching duties, Dobie devoted his time to writing and traveling around the country giving talks to community and university groups. Works from this period include The Voice of the Coyote (1949), The Ben Lilly Legend (1950), The Mustangs (1952), Up the Trail from Texas (1955), I'll Tell You a Tale (1960) and Cow People, which was published just before his death in 1964. Bertha Dobie edited and published his almost completed Rattlesnakes in 1965, and the autobiographical Some Part of Myself in 1967. In addition to his books, Dobie wrote a Sunday column that appeared in several Texas newspapers from 1939 until his death. He was also a regular contributor to Country Gentleman and Southwest Review, and published articles in several other publications. On September 14, 1964, Dobie was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civil honor, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Dobie died just days later, on September 18, 1964, in his home in Austin. Sources: In addition to the material found within the J. Frank Dobie Papers, the following biographical sources were used: Francis E. Abernethy, "DOBIE, JAMES FRANK," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fdo02), accessed August 12, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Scope and Contents The papers of writer, folklorist, and educator J. Frank Dobie contain numerous manuscript drafts for Dobie's books, articles, and newspaper columns; voluminous correspondence to and from family, friends, writers, folklorists, educators, politicians, publishers, editors, book dealers, artists, students, and the general public; extensive subject files of research material; personal, financial, and legal papers; as well as works received from friends and students and third party correspondence. Spanning circa 1700 to 1988, the papers are arranged in two series: I. Dobie Papers, 1848-1966 and II. Later Dobie Papers Acquisitions, circa 1700-1988. The papers are primarily written in English with some Spanish language material also present. The papers in Series I. were previously described on an estimated 17,000 catalog cards (12 drawers) accessible only onsite at the Ransom Center. This finding aid replicates and replaces information previously available only through the card catalog. The Dobie works represented (1,113 titles) are primarily shorter works dating back to the 3 Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964 Manuscript Collection MS-1176 The Dobie works represented (1,113 titles) are primarily shorter works dating back to the 1920s, the bulk of which appeared in his newspaper columns. Longer works from the 1940s forward are also present including The Mustangs (1952), Tales of Old-time Texas (1955), I'll Tell You a Tale (1960), Cow People (1964), and the posthumously published autobiographical Some Part of Myself (1967). Also present are materials for unpublished works, such as an unrealized reader called "Heritage of West and Southwest" and a collection of off-color tales with the working title "Piss and Vinegar." Chief correspondents include his wife, Bertha McKee Dobie; his mother, Ella Byler Dobie; and his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. Other notable correspondents include Roy Bedichek, Maynard Dixon, Fred Gipson, John Howard Griffin, John Graves, Carl Hertzog, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Tom Lea, John A. Lomax, Alexander Phimister Proctor, Carl Sandburg, Ross Santee, Henry Nash Smith, Frank Wardlaw, Walter Prescott Webb, Herbert Faulkner West, and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Dobie also received many letters from his readers and the general public, especially fellow Texans. The correspondence spans major historical events such as the two World Wars, the Great Depression, the fight for academic freedom at The University of Texas, and the fight for civil rights in the 1940s. Series I. Dobie Papers, 1848-1966 Series I. is arranged in four subseries: A. Works, 1916-1967; B. Letters, 1903-1964; C. Recipient, 1899-1967; D. Miscellaneous, 1848-1966. Subseries A. Works The Works subseries consists of manuscript drafts, notes, and research material for Dobie's published books and newspaper columns from 1916-1967 (19 boxes). The bulk of the works are represented by typescripts and carbon typescripts, many with handwritten revisions, but handwritten manuscripts and notes are also included. The Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest is represented by a printed book with handwritten and typed pages inserted. The drafts of the autobiographical work Some Part of Myself, which was published posthumously, contain revisions and insertions by Bertha McKee Dobie. The works are arranged alphabetically by title. A complete index of titles is included in the Index of Works in this finding aid. Subseries B. Letters The Letters subseries spans 1903-1964 (24.25 boxes) and contains Dobie's outgoing correspondence to 863 colleagues, students, organizations, family members, and friends.