FOLK COLLECTION 11: The Skaggs Foundation Cowboy Poetry Collection
Folk Coll 11 is Utah State University's cowboy poetry collection. The collection, originally created
by a generation donation by the L. J. and Mary Skaggs Foundation, includes books gathered
during a fieldwork project in the early 1980s to document cowboy poetry in the U.S. west (see Folk
Coll 11f). From this important fieldwork project came the impetus for the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in
January 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Since that time, each January, the Fife Folklore Archives staff take the collection
and Access database (that details each book, poem, author, first line and key words), to the National Cowboy Poetry
Gathering for offsite use. Through University purchases and generation donations from poets and collectors, this collection continues to grow.
Book Title
Composer
Call #
Pages
Author
Poem Title
First Lines
Keywords
Cowboys, Cowgirls and the Golden West
FC 11 F-11
20
Jewel Finley
The Wild Doe Deer
She was my friend the wild doe deer.
deer, wildlife, doe, song, singing, hunting, game
Song of the Cowboys
N. Howard Thorp
FC 11 T-11
62
H. Clemons
The Dying Cowboy
"Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie"
JB The Circle
Duward Campbell and Chuck Milner
FC 11 A-17
41
Dale Burson
In everyone's life there are many aquaintances, some become friends, others become good friends, and if you are blessed there might be a true friend or two.
tribute to J.B. Allen
Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp
John A. Lomax
FC 11 L-13
88
A Cowboy's Son
Whar y'u from, little stranger, little boy?
The Adventures of Ole and Andy
FOLK COLL 11 A-26
45
Clarence "Andy" Anderson
We Find the Lost Gold Mine
Ole was showing me some souveniers he had collected on his many journeys. "Here is some fool's gold? It looks like real gold," I replied.
gold, yukon, rainbow, mine
Tails of the West
FC 11 M-44
5
Frank "Two Jump" Morris
Would You Like to Buy a Bridge?
No effort was spared, it was like nobody cared.
Western Poems
FC 11 R-02
1
Col. Charles D. Randolph "Buckskin Bill"
Iowa
This poem that I write today.
Songs of the Outlands: Ballads of the Hoboes and Other Verse
FC 11 K-07
47
Henry Herbert Knibbs
Ballade of the Boes
We are the true nobility!
Bell-Bottoms to Boots
FC 11 W-07
115
Joe "Blackie" Wilson
Judge Not Too Quickly
It takes more than boots to make a ranger--
West of East
FC 11 H-17
121
Harry Elmore Hurd
I Am Lonely
O, I am lonely as a tree is lonely on a solitary hill.
companionship, loneliness, alone, female
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
396
author unknown
Stone the Women, Let the Man Go Free
Yes, stone the women, let the man go free!
Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-03
42
Bob Johnston
As Others See Me
This man, in an overweight body that gives no hint of the young athlete that challenged the world with his bronc riding ability in the 1940's & 50's, comes across as a somewhat severe person.
Poems from the Alamo Saloon
FOLK COLL 11 L-45
157
Paul Thomas Lillard
Short Rounds
Michelangelo painted the Chapel lying on his back. I read it once in a book. It must be a fact.
facts, history, random
West River Waltz: Western Poetry
FC 11 G-31
101
D. W. Groethe
Little Katy Rose
Welcome to the prairie little Katy Rose
A Montana Cowboy's Book
FC 11 A-05
6
Don "Cheese" Akerlow
This Cowboy is a Steak and Potatoes Man
I am a steak and potatoes man; So I want you to understand; No matter where I travel in this land.
food
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
7
Baxter Black
Inaugural Column - not a poem
Poems of American Cowboys & Nature
FC 11 C-04
58
Bob A. Carson
The Trailer
I have a bed, and Horsie too.
New Cowboy Poetry: A Contemporary Gathering
Hal Cannon
FC 11 C-30
21
Kay Kelley
A What??!!
The honeymoon was in full swing.
wedding, honeymoon, cowgirl, "Man of the West", love, marriage, courting, ranch, wrench, plumber, cowboys, John Wayne, partner, best friend, con, sheep-herding, eternity
Cowboy Poetry Matters: From Abilene to the Mainstream: Contemporary Cowboy Writ.
Robert McDowell
FC 11 M-54
203
Nancy McLelland
Borderlands: Cowboy Poetry and The Literary Canon
essay
Cactus Center Poems
FC 11 C-06
71
Arthur Chapman
The Sheepman's Story
There's a nester at the water hole.
nesters, homesteader, sheepmen, Wall Street, watering hole
Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering
Hal Cannon
FC 11 C-14
183
Don Bell
Going to the Shawnee Rodeo
I was fightin' this Model T through the Oklahoma clay.
Reflections of the West: Cowboy painters and poets
C.J. Hadley
FC 11 H-59
37
Linda Hussa
The Staff of Life
One of the buckaroos high-graded a jug of wine and brought it into camp. He filled everybody's cup. He handed one to Billy McCluskey.
coffee, staff, life
Rattlesnake Annie's Scattered Thoughts and Then Some!
FC 11 P-23
1
Linda Pishion
Computer
Ain't got no e-mail.
What I Learned On the Way to Life: Insights and Concepts learned along the way..
FC 11 J-15
54
Hans "Jake" Jeppson
Dear Friends and Horse Lovers
The following is a love story similar to many in the history of the Appaloosa horse.
Dry Crik Review (Elko Commemorative Double Issue): winter/spring 1994, 2 copies
John C. Dofflemyer
FC 11 D-20
35
Shadd Piehl
Dakotan Nocturne 4
The horns of the moon Are stuck orange in a tree Branch, swaybacked as the Fallen barn. Or old mare, Who, deep in snow, Eats saplings.