Union Pacific Turns 150!

Did you know Congress incorporated the Union Pacific Railroad 100 years ago this month on July 1, 1862? Enacted and approved by President Abraham Lincoln, the railroad forever changed the face of the United States.

Late the following year, railroad workers would break ground on the railroad in Omaha, Nebraska, completing work on the line in 1865. The company hit another milestone four years later when it reached Promontory Summit, Utah and joined with the Central Pacific to create the first transcontinental railroad.

Things were looking well for the railway until 1872 when Union Pacific became embroiled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, in which railroad officials bribed congressmen and stock speculators. The railway later filed for bankruptcy, reorganizing in 1880. The dominant shareholder, Jay Gould, is the focus of Earle Young’s books Tracks to the Sea and Galveston and the Great West -- both published by Texas A&M University Press. Read more about Tracks to the Sea here: http://bit.ly/LJkdGi and more about Galveston and the Great West here: http://bit.ly/LlqL9r

Thirteen years later the company filed for bankruptcy again; this time resulting in changes that would keep the railways successful. On January 8, 1980, the Missouri Pacific Railway was purchased by Union Pacific, but the merger was not approved until September 13, 1982. However, it still did not become official until January 1, 1997 due to Missouri Pacific’s outstanding bonds. Read more about the Rebirth of the Missouri Pacific (Texas A&M University Press) here: http://bit.ly/OGe2CS

Today, UP headquarters remain in Omaha, with the railway directly owning and operating lines in 23 states in the US, spanning some 54,000 west of the Mississippi River. UP has hundreds of yards throughout the United States.

Celebrate Union Pacific’s 150^th birthday by engrossing yourself in the history of the line’s storied past, or, better yet, take a trip to Houston October 27^th and 28^th for the Houston Community Celebration. For more information about the railway’s birthday celebrations around the United States, visit http://bit.ly/MvD9HA. Also celebrate the 150 year milestone by purchasing one of the above mentioned books for 40% off!

Happy Birthday Union Pacific!

By: Paige Bukowski



Your Weekend: Braving Big Bend

It’s summertime—pack up your bags, your friends, your kids, or your dog and load up the mini-van for a summer vacation you’ll never forget. It’s time to use those vacation days you’ve been saving up, and enjoy one of the most beautiful natural sites in America.

Located in the tip of southwest Texas, Big Bend National Park is highly underestimated. It is an area of Texas so unlike any other, and America’s last frontier wilderness. With over 800,000 acres, the park ranges from mountainous terrain to flat dessert plains, featuring cool rivers and abundant forests. There is a wide variety of wildlife as well—including birds, butterflies, and black bears.

Enjoying Big Bend (Texas A&M University Press, 2009) by Gary and Kathy Adams Clark, ensures there is an adventure for everyone at Big Bend. If you only have a couple hours, a couple days, or a week’s stay at the park, the Clarks have included detailed adventures and sights for you.

Kathy Clark has introduced us to her favorite location with the best views, and has included her own photograph as well:

"My favorite place in Big Bend National Park is the Window View at sunset.  The Window View is a notch in the mountains that looks west if you're standing in The Basin high in the Chisos Mountains.  The sun sets through the Window all year.  In the summer it is really spectacular because there is dust in the air that refracts the light.  The oranges and reds are really intense.  Sometimes there are summer thunder clouds out in the desert and that's special.  If the thunder clouds create a storm with lightning, it's really special."    

Instead of going to your neighborhood chlorinated pool or watching re-runs of the Bachelor this weekend, follow these instructions and experience the lure of Big Bend National Park.


What: Walk the Chisos Basin Loop Trail located in Big Bend.

Location: Start and end at the Chisos Basin Trailhead.

Getting There: The trail is 1.6 miles on foot, and will take roughly 1-2 hours to complete.

About Chisos Basin Loop Trail: This trail is a simpler way to enjoy the flora and fauna of Big Bend without the strain of hiking uphill. You will be able to see a wider picture of the whole park and enjoy it at an easy pace.

What You'll See: You will be able to enjoy the various species of trees that cover the surface of the mountain, Casa Grande, as well as the potential to see wildlife across the trails. There are beautiful birds, butterflies, and various wildflowers unlike any others seen in Texas. Clark recommends keeping an eye out for the different types of grass growing along the trail--lechuguilla, stool, Harvard agave, and bear grass. There will also be plenty of scat, or animal poop, left behind by deer, fox, and rabbits that may have been left during the night.

The Clarks Recommend: “Carry binoculars to watch birds, butterflies, and other creatures. Bring your camera or sketch pad to record sights.” Clark also suggests starting the trail during the early morning or late afternoon for a chance at the best sights. Drinking lots of water and wearing a hat and good hiking shoes are a must during hot weather.

While You're At It: Clark has included follow-ups to this adventure if you’re still hungry for more. Pinnacles Trail, Laguna Meadow Trail, Southwest Rim Trail, or Lost Mine Trail are a few other walking trails located in Big Bend.

Order Enjoying Big Bend National Park today for the best guide to exploring the park, including one color map and 57 color photos capturing the park’s beauty.

TELL TAMU PRESS: Have you ever been to Big Bend National Park? Tell us about your favorite adventure. 

By: Madeline Loving

Did Davy Crockett Die on the Ramparts of the Alamo? New Book Revives Debate

More than 30 years ago, historian Dan Kilgore and Texas A&M University Press ignited international controversy with the book How Did Davy Die?  -- asserting that Davy Crockett did not die on the ramparts of the Alamo swinging the shattered remains of his rifle “Old Betsy.”

Instead, Kilgore pointed to historical sources, stating Mexican forces took Crockett captive and then executed him on Santa Anna’s order.  

Intense debate followed. The London Daily Mail associated Kilgore with “ the murder of a myth,” and he became the subject of articles in Texas Monthly and the Wall Street Journal. Some who considered his historical argument an affront to a treasured American icon delivered personal insults and threats of violence.

In the 1955 Disney movie Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, Fess Parker famously depicts Crockett as a hero of the Alamo. Check out the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVN_n0PljQ

Now  a new book lauded by True West Magazine as “the most comprehensive account” of events leading up to the Alamo siege as well as what likely happened during the battle has revived debate over the details surrounding Crockett’s death -- this time in the pages of Texas Monthly.

In the main narrative of his book, Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo -- and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation Donovan writes that Crockett died “in the open air, as he wished,” but in his notes he concludes that the frontiersman “may have been executed after the battle, but until stronger evidence is presented, let history show that he died fighting with his comrades.”

In this month's issue of Texas Monthly, James E. Crisp, co-author of the commemorative edition of Kilgore’s original book, entitled How Did Davy Die? And Why Do We Care So Much? (TAMU Press, 2010), responded in a letter to the magazine’s May 2012 article on Donovan and his book.  

“ . . . Donovan, who dismisses José Enrique de la Peña’s account of the death of David Crockett while still praising the Mexican officer as ‘an astute observer’ of the Texas Revolution, might have taken de la Peña’s account more seriously had he read the revised 1997 English-language edition of the officer’s memoir instead of the rather flawed and incomplete 1975 first edition (both editions are from Texas A&M University Press),” Crisp writes. Crisp --  who wrote the more recent edition’s introduction -- and the late Kilgore point to the Mexican officer’s accounting of the events surrounding Crockett’s death as supporting the assertion that Crockett was executed by Mexican forces.

In his letter Crisp also refutes Donovan’s statement in the article that the description of Crockett’s death appears “in a different hand -- on a slip of paper that was inserted into the original manuscript.”

“In fact,” says Crisp, “the entire de la Pena memoir is written in a different hand -- four or five different hands -- at a time when correspondence between de la Pena and Mexican government officials shows us that the imprisoned officer was so ill that he could not even write his own name.”

Crisp goes on to suggest as further evidence a letter published in a Detroit newspaper in 1836 and unearthed by a Rice University grad student in 1960. The letter was the subject of an article Crisp published on the subject of Crockett’s death in an issue of the Journal of the West, a respected historical publication.

In an editorial note, Donovan responds that he is aware of the letter, which is “only marginally more convincing than the other alleged sources supporting Crockett’s execution.”

Donovan writes that he consulted the 1975 translation of the de la Peña memoir as well as the Spanish-language original.

“The method of Crockett’s death is the subject of the longest endnote in my book, in which I analyze the sources used to support the execution theory. I stand by my opinion -- that Crockett may have been executed after the battle, but it’s doubtful, and there is certainly not enough reliable evidence to write it as history," says Donovan.

Who do you think is right?

"It's Gene Autry!" National, Texas Parks Advocate George Bristol Shares His Favorite State Park Memory

George Bristol, author of On Politics and Parks (Texas A&M University Press, 2012), is known for his love of nature and his successful political career. Bristol’s passion for national parks and the great outdoors led to his involvement in the National Park Foundation and National Park Service. After spearheading efforts to elevate the image of the National Park Service and helping to establish a successful fundraising strategy for the NPF, Bristol carried his ideas over to his home state of Texas. His efforts played an important role in the Texas Legislature's 2007 vote to double the operating budget for state parks.

Bristol has received several awards, including the 2009 Pugsley Medal, honoring champions of parks and conservation and a leadership award from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. On Politics and Parks offers intriguing peeks at behind-the-scenes events in Washington, Austin and elsewhere, as well as a captivating personal memoir.

TAMU Press: What was your inspiration for writing a memoir? 

George Bristol: The inspiration for the book really came from three sources:

1. My mother, Lottie Bristol, was a devoted outdoors person. After my father's death in 1946, even in those times when we didn't have a car, she made sure we got out to natural and historic sites around Texas. Many were state parks and historic sites.

Later, when the opportunity came for me to work in Glacier National Park, she had no hesitancy of putting me on a train to parts unknown so that I could experience, in depth, the awesome wonders of that crown jewel among America's Best Idea.

2. Following the discovery of my father's billfold that was in his possession at the time of his death, I felt compelled to relate my memories surrounding its contents. This led toward other avenues of memories and history that I wanted to share with my family, particularly with my grandchildren who would not otherwise have written knowledge of our families and the times they shared.

3. Dick and Joanne Bartlett of Dallas and Fort Davis set up a wonder writer-in-residence program in the Davis Mountains. I was able to spend two months there in splendid isolation, pulling all the separate parts of my most interesting life together, until I had fashioned a work, to my satisfaction, of how I got to the purpose of my life work: park and conservation advocacy. 

TAMU Press: What is your favorite memory or park experience? 

 GB: After my father's death in 1946 we lived in Beeville, Texas, a small South Texas town. True to form my mother took us to nearby Goliad to the state park and historic sites. After

touring the fort and mission we were walking toward the parking lot, when we spied a tall figure in full movie cowboy regalia.

We thought it was our hero, Gene Autry. We ran toward the man, yelling, "It's Gene Autry! It's Gene!" We threw our arms around his legs and continue to exclaim that it was Gene. He laughed and then gently bent over and explained that he was not Gene Autry, but rather Monte Hale, a good friend of Autry's and a fellow cowboy star.

That was good enough for us. Forty years later I would have Monte Hale confirm that story to family and friends in the pretense of.........Gene Autry.

By: Madeline Loving

ABA Awards Author Ludlow Griscom Award

The American Birding Association has awarded Mark Lockwood, co-author of The TOS Handbook of Texas Birds, its prestigious Ludlow Griscom Award for Outstanding Contributions in Regional Ornithology.

Help us celebrate this honor by taking 60% off the price of the paperback edition of this book (Retail: $24.95). Use promo code 60off when checking out at www.tamupress.com.

The Ludlow Griscom award is one of five awards given annually by the ABA to individuals dedicated to educating the public about birds and birding. According to the ABA website, the Ludlow Griscom Award is given to those who have "dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region. This may be through their long-time contributions in monitoring avian status and distribution, facilitating the publication of state bird books, breeding bird atlases and significant papers on the regional natural history of birds. This may also be through the force of their personality, teaching and inspiration.” Mark Lockwood did all of these for birds and birding in Texas. 

Lockwood is the former longtime secretary of the TOS Texas Bird Records Committee; editor of the Texas regional report for North American Birds; the author, co-author, or editor of six books; and a biologist at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

The TOS Handbook of Texas Birds, co-authored by Brush Freeman is a necessary companion for any bird-watching enthusiast. Its research covers the span of almost three decades, based on the work of the Texas Bird Records Committee. It includes 623 different species of birds, with thorough descriptions, maps and 140 color photographs. 

By: Madeline Loving

Your Weekend: Gangsters in Texas?

Their journey began in 1930 after meeting at a mutual friends’ house. Bonnie was a café waitress just coming out of an abusive marriage, and Clyde was a school dropout who had just begun stealing cars and burglarizing houses. The two lovers were inseparable after that, and thus began their four year reign of terror.

Until their deaths in 1934, Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree took them across Texas, where they stole cars, robbed banks, murdered officers, broke out of prisons, and cheated death multiple times. The fugitive couple survived gunshot wounds, car crashes, and malnourishment, and Bonnie survived a car crash with gasoline burns and cuts to the bone that left her unable to walk without the support of a cane.

They became notorious; other men joined the criminal-couple including Clyde’s brother, Buck Barrow, forming the Barrow Gang.   The Barrow Gang slowly unraveled; with most of the gang getting caught and sent to years in prison. Bonnie and Clyde were not so easy to catch.

Here T. Lindsay Baker, author of Gangster Tour of Texas, shares his favorite historic crime scene, starring none other than Bonnie and Clyde -- the scene of the shooting at Lillian McBride's house in Dallas.

"It was here that around midnight on Jan. 6, 1933, Clyde Barrow stumbled into a lawmen's stakeout for another criminal, "said Baker. "He wanted to check with robber Raymond Hamilton's sister, Lillian McBride, to determine whether a radio with hidden hacksaw blades had been delivered to Raymond in the Hillsboro jail."

When Barrow approached the door to the house, he discovered lawmen inside, fired a shot into a window from a sawed-off shotgun hidden under his overcoat and then shot to death Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis when he ran around the house from the rear.

Barrow then ran around the house and a block and a half down an alley to meet up with Bonnie Parker at the wheel of an automobile to escape from the scene of the murder.

"The crime scene is pristine, looking today almost identical to the way that it appears in contemprary crime scene photographs," said Baker.

Crime Scene:

3111 North Winnetka Avenue (formerly 507 County Avenue), Dallas

Location:

West Dallas, just off Singleton Boulevard (formerly Eagle Ford Road).

Getting There:

Leave Interstate 30 at exit 44A and drive north 0.8 miles on Sylvan Avenue (crossing Fort Worth Avenue and West Commerce Street) to Singleton Boulevard. Turn west on Singleton and proceed four blocks to the intersection with Winnetka Avenue. Turn north (right) on Winnetka Avenue and drive a block and a half to the house, which stands on the west side of the street next to a red-brick Methodist church. The single-story wood dwelling with a porch across the front is painted white.

What You'll See:

The well-preserved former residence of Lillian McBride in West Dallas, where Clyde Barrow walked into an ambush planned for another criminal and subsequently killed Dallas deputy sheriff Malcolm Davis.

By: Madeline Loving

What is AAUP? And Why Do We Care So Much?

This week, staff members of Texas A&M University Press are in Chicago attending the Association of American University Presses Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting of the Association of American University Presses predates the founding of AAUP itself. The seeds of the Association were planted during informal conversations between university press representatives who attended the yearly meetings of the National Association of Book Publishers in New York City throughout the 1920s. These informal conversations gradually became longer and more formal, with agendas, invited attendees, and minutes. In 1928, a group of university presses finally set up their own separate meeting, reserving rooms at the nearby Waldorf-Astoria.

A growing (though still unaffiliated) group of university presses continued to meet in New York annually. At the 1937 meeting, they formed the Association we still know today—and meetings continued under the new rubric of AAUP.  New York City continued as the annual meeting home until 1946, when Chicago took on hosting duties—a city it seems appropriate to return to in 2012.

The 1978 annual meeting in Baltimore was a milestone. Held during the "University Press Week" declared by US President Jimmy Carter, the meeting celebrated 100 years of university press publishing in the United States at our host press Johns Hopkins. The year also marked 500 years of university presses globally with the anniversary of the first volume printed in Oxford.

Perhaps the most memorable meeting of the past decade took place in New Orleans in 2006. Less than a year after Katrina, while there was some unease felt about holding a conference in a city where services were so strained, there had also been no doubt as to the Association's commitment to the city—to bear witness, in a way, but also to provide even the small economic boost of a meeting such as ours. AAUP will return to New Orleans in 2014.

Of course, in 1987 and today, we are still following the path laid down by AAUP's founders who, in 1936, discussed institutional relationships between libraries and university presses. The AAUP Program Committee shapes our annual meeting each year, putting together conference agendas on the most pertinent topics and pressing professional needs in scholarly communications. It is fitting to close with the words of the AAUP 2012 committee, who constructed a program addressing "the volatility of our industry, as well as our collective reliance on foundational skills and disciplines that have endured for decades. This year, 75 flames flicker on the candles of AAUP's birthday cake. Watch them and reflect on the past. Then watch them kindle the future."

By: Paige Bukowski