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
More Cow Country
FC 11 E-05
45
Tom Ellinwood
Vigilant and Free
The desert sheep is one to stay.
desert, sheep, mountain sheep
The Cowboy Folk Arts of Max Godfrey
FC 11 G-29
Max R. Godfrey
Brochure with biography of Max Godfrey and arts: cowboy music; cowboy poetry; cowboy culture and folk arts; rawhide braiding in residence; braiding; the cow camp.
Can't Stop Rhymin' on the Range
Mike Puhallo, Brian Brannon & Wendy Liddle
FC 11 P-27
29
Brian Brannon
Tyson
You see him at the cuttings.
A Cow's Tail For a Compass; Cowboy Poetry and Short Stories
FC 11 F-17
156
Leon Flick
The Quarter Horse
There's legends in the Quarter Breed, the old foundation sires. They were picked for speed and quickness. Had the traits that it requires, to run a short race, quickly. They were mostly picked for speed. Had a certain conformation, no matter what the breed.
The Humbler Poets: A Collection of Newspaper and Periodical Verse, 1870-1885
Slason Thompson
FC 11 T-04
366
author unknown
Accursed
Pallid white the moonlight gloweth
Bygone Days of the Old West
FC 11 L-01
31
Fred Lambert
The Return of Padre Juan de La Padilla
You've likely read of the Padre old -- He whom they say no grave may hold.
Riding the Dim Trails
FC 11 C-01
18
Austin Campbell
Shipping Time
Now when I spend my twilight years.
childhood days, memories, autumn, homestead, old times, change, steer, sadness, rail road corral, cattle train
Back at the Ranch
FC 11 S-29
88
Colen H. Sweeten Jr.
Whiskers
Folks think a bunch of whiskers
Rhyme Doesn't Pay -- But Neither Does Cowboying
FC 11 B-46
10
Ed B. Brown
Cow dogs
Now some cow dogs have pedigrees.
Livestock Man
FOLK COLL 11 A-22
33
Amy Hale Auker
His Time of Day
The old cow moves and stretches her bones from her place in the cedar shade. She calls to her calf, drawing him close, teaching him not to be afraid.
experience, age, cow, worth
Sawdust & Shavin's
FC 11 S-11
34
Shep Smith
The Boomerang Bounce
Lee busted the tongue out of his pung
Cattails & Other Poems
FC 11 D-27
10
John C. Dofflemyer
Fishing
I visit the people-side of Lake Kaweah as summer evening shimmers on blinding ribbons to pink Sierra teeth & find Happy Jack
ski boat, beer, power, focus, pole
Stubby Pencil Poems of Rural Livin' Doin's
FC 11 G-41
19
G.B. Griffith
Mustang Foal
It was sight that would'a torn at the hardest of human souls. A small pile of sun whitened bones all scattered about. Bones so small it was easy to see that it must'a been a foal.
death, horses, foals
Muddled Meanderings in an Outhouse
FC 11 R-11
43
Bob Ross
Privacy--Who Needs it?
We weren't much for frilly flares
Ride For the Brand
FC 11 S-53
69
Red Steagall
Rosalee's Smile
One night in Paducah, we danced until dawn.
love, bronc stomper, camp, Paducah
On the Edge of Common Sense
FC 11 B-12
130
Baxter Black
Stressful Journey - not a poem
Cut from the Same Leather
FC 11 C-05
30
Jo Casteel
Miriah, Ha!
Way out here, out in the west.
wind, commentary
Bell-Bottoms to Boots
FC 11 W-07
124
Joe "Blackie" Wilson
One Thing Wrong With the Navy
I got up this morning talking about deep water,
Songs of the American West
Richard E. Lingenfelter, Richard A. Dwyer and David Cohen
FC 11 L-10
234
The Mountain Meadows Massacre
Come all ye Sons of Freedom.
wagons, Indian, Lee, Cedar City, Brigham Young
An Aussie Turned Cowboy Wife
FC 11 S-45
34
Marie W. Smith
September Aspens
I linger midst the aspens.
Ranch Tales of the Rockies
FC 11 E-03
98
Harry Ellard
Buck Fever
Oh, the happy exultation, that filled my heart with hope.
deer, hunting, game, youth
The Mystique Of Grouse Creek
FC 11 S-64
40
Elden K. Shaw
Our "Banty" Rooster
Many years ago when I was a young lad, My Brother and I had a talk with our Dad, And pleaded with him like the dickens, To please get us some bantam chickens.
Cowboy Poems
FC 11 W-23
3
Ed H. Woolsey
The Cowboy's Horse
I remember when I first saw him.
two copies
Saddle Pals
FC 11 S-56
19
Down to the Club
Last night I was out rather late, just out on the innocent spree my wife for my coming did wait, while sleeping I thought she would be.
Buckaroos of the Great Basin
William Matthews
FOLK COLL 11 M-69
Waddie Mitchell
Random Thoughts of a Buckaroo
When you spend better than a quarter century drawing wages buckarooing and being on crews of them, you tend to have a vast pool of cumulative experience to draw opinions and philosophy from.
buckaroo, dinner, wagon