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
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
519
Walquist
Ship Out
Nothing to do, sucker darling.
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
269
Hester A. Benedict
Satisfied
Where moss-made beds are brightest by the river,
Jesse Rogers' Song Collection and Souvenir from Old Mexico
Jesse Rogers
FC 11 R-32
25
Return of the Gay Caballero
I am a gay caballero, I'm back from Rio Janeiro, and you bet your life I'm
Custer and Other Poems
FC 11 W-02
17
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The Universal Route
As we journey along, with a laugh and a song,
Stubby Pencil Poems of Great Basin Musin's
n/a
FOLK COLL 11 G-45
33
G. B. Griffith
Cowboy Hat Troubles
It's the same old question all over again. Concerning my troubles when wearing a cowboy hat.
hat, size, thinning
Trail Dust : Sketches on the Trail
FC 11 H-03 v. 1
4
W. Howard Hamm
Vaqueros
You'll always find that riders.
Cowboy Meditations
FC 11 L-02
26
Wade Lane
My Fireside
As I sit by my fireside each evenin', An' gaze in its embers so red.
Poems Mostly Cowboy
FC 11 N-16
35
Dick Nichols
Our Precious Dreams
Don't take away my dreams Don't put me on the shelf Don't force me to withdraw To live within myself
Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp
John A. Lomax
FC 11 L-13
109
The Cowboys' Dance Song
You can't expect a cowboy to agitate his shanks.
Poems of a Desert Cowboy
FC 11 B-30
41
Rob Blair
Spoon Candy
Wide open spaces, bright smiling faces, and silver bits with a click.
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse Number 2
FC 11 R-12
52
Bob Ross
Mixed Emotions
Services here aren't very long
An Ol' Cowboy Still Remembers?and Other Cowboy Poems
FC 11 E-12
26
Glen Enloe
A Boy That Ain't Got No Quit
He'd been throwed off some of the best, Stomped down in the mud and spit.
Songs of the Cowboy
Don Edwards
FC 11 E-09
47
anonymous
Cowboy's Dream
Last night as I lay on the prairie.
afterlife, judgment, death, belief, God
Ballads of the Black Hills
FC 11 G-11
55
Charles P. "Soldier" Green
The Outlaw
By legal theft he lost his home.
law, despair, stealing, society
Trail Dust
FC 11 K-32
53
E.J. Kirchoff
Can't Beat a Country Mornin'
Old horse, there's somethin' 'bout it gets beneath a feller's hide to see fat cows a-grazin', calves contented at their side. Or restin' full and peaceful in the shade along the crick with calves that's nearly hidden in the grass that's tall and thick.
Between The Fences
FC 11 D-25
133
Danny W. Dutton
Cathedrals In The Sky
Show me the Plains in all their awesome glory where the horizon meets the sky, where the meeting is almost imperceptible
Cowboy Poetry: Turning to Face the Wind
FC 11 M-50
162
Jane Ambrose Morton
Horse Sense
Mountain Echoes
FC 11 W-08
26
Jim Whilt (Poet of the Rockies)
My Ships
I have built many ships in my life's small shipyard.
Ballads of the Poison Oak
FC 11 K-18
61
Jack Killam
Dissatisfaction
You plan in the heyday of innocent youth, The part you will play in the long search for truth.
Give My Love to Children - Horses - A Collection of Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-07
41
Hans Jacob Jeppson
Young Love 'n Heifers n' Stuff
The summer sun beat down mercilessly on the fields of grass hay and sagebrush hills all about as grasshoppers crackled and flew her and there.
For Cowboys, Campers an' Common Folk
FC 11 H-19
27
Charlie Hunt
Goodnight, Old Pard!
Wal, howdy, hoss...it's been a day.
work, horse, occupation, job, cowboy
Give My Love to Children - Horses - A Collection of Stories and Poems
FC 11 J-07
24
Hans Jacob Jeppson
"Some Say?"
While riding my Appaloosa Stud in the heart of the Primitive Area one fall afternoon, my eye caught movement in the ledges up ahead.
City Cattle: Humorous Western Political Satire
FC 11 J-06
80
Derwin J. Jeffries
His Face Remembers
Hey look -- that old bronc stomper there.
old, leather, happy, smile
Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee?s Songs of the Range
FC 11 P-17
36
Powder River Jack and Kitty Lee
I Am A Texas Cowboy
Oh, I am a Texas cowboy, right off the Texas plains
songs only
Songs of the Saddlemen
FC 11 B-06
109
S. Omar Barker
Manana
Manana is a Spanish word we all would like to borrow.