2009

A RUNNING FIGHT: The Red War inArt
October 3, 2009 - February 14, 2010
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
The exhibition, “Art of the Red River War,” will assemble depictions of the events leading up to and including this particular campaign. Included among the artists who were drawn to the Red River War are those of national repute such as Frederic Remington, Nick Eggenhofer, W. Herbert Dunton, and Edward Borein, as well as Texas artists such as H. D. Bugbee, Ben Carlton Mead, John Eliot Jenkins, and Olive Vandruff. This exhibition will be the first of its kind to focus on this particular aspect of the history of the American West.

MFA Student Readings
October 6, 2009 • 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.

REMEMBERING THE ALAMO, 1836-2009
October 10, 2009 - March 14, 2010
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Items preserved or created for the purpose of “remembering the Alamo” give us valuable insight into how the Alamo story has evolved since the famous battle took place at San Antonio in 1836. Alamo souvenirs and other kitsch as well as artifacts pertaining to the battle and the building, and art work associated with the Alamo will be displayed in the Mary E. Bivins Gallery from October 3, 2009 until March 14, 2010.

TONY HOAGLAND Reading & Book Signing
October 15, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore. Tony Hoagland’s poems have been described as moving unerringly with wit and irony, like an arrow through its target—we, the readers—with exhilarating results. His poems sprint across the page and unexpectedly blow apart a single moment, exposing its contradictory nature—and often our folly. Hoagland explores the spiritual bereftness of American satisfaction, creating poetry that is scathing, funny, rich, and refreshingly intelligent. He is the author of three volumes of poetry: Sweet Ruin, winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry; Donkey Gospel, winner of the James Laughlin Award of The Academy of American Poets; and What Narcissism Means to Me, as well as a collection of essays about poetry, Real Sofistakashun, all by Graywolf Press. He currently teaches in the poetry program at the University of Houston.

GRAND REOPENING
October 17, 2009 • 7:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
The major event of the season celebrates the newly expanded Wittliff Collections with a reception and program highlighting their fall literary and photographic exhibitions. Special guest Keith Carter will be signing his two most recent monographs from the University of Texas Press: A Certain Alchemy, the latest in the Wittliff’s Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection Book Series, and Fireflies, Carter’s photographs of children. Watch the Wittliff's website for further details of this exciting evening. Admission is free and open to the public. RSVP to thewittliffcollections@txstate.edu or 512.245.2313.

THE LIGHTNING FIELD: Mapping the Creative Process
October 17 – December 18, 2009
The Wittliff Collections
Mark Twain once noted, "the difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." Leading writers of the Southwest make it their business to be lightning rods, and their journals, notes, correspondence, and manuscripts in the Wittliff's Southwestern Writers Collection document their struggles to find precisely the right word. This exhibition features the papers of Cormac McCarthy, Sam Shepard, John Graves, Rick Riordan, and many others as it illustrates a variety of authors' compositional dilemmas and, through them, illuminates the how of creation. Presented in conjunction with Texas State’s 2009-2010 Common Experience theme, “The Whole Mind.” This exhibition will be celebrated at the grand reopening event on October 17, which is open to the public.

A CERTAIN ALCHEMY: Photographs by Keith Carter
October 17, 2009 – March 13, 2010
The Wittliff Collections
Drawing from the animal world, popular culture, folklore, and religion, Carter's photographs explore relationships that are timeless, enigmatic, and mythological. The inaugural show in the Wittliff Collections’ new gallery spaces, this exhibition presents 60 images from Carter's monograph published last fall in their Southwestern & Mexican Photography Book Series with UT Press. With over 1100 prints and growing, the Wittliff's collection of Keith Carter photographs is the largest in the world. The public is invited to the grand reopening celebration on October 17, which will feature a book signing with Carter.

FIREFLIES: Photographs of Children by Keith Carter
October 17, 2009 – March 13, 2010
The Wittliff Collections
From Keith Carter’s forthcoming monograph with the University of Texas Press, the more than 20 images in this exhibition showcase the transcendent, lyrical depictions of children Carter has crafted throughout his photographic career. The public is invited to the Wittliff Collections’ grand reopening celebration on October 17, which will feature a book signing with Carter.

NUEVA LUZ / NEW LIGHT: Recent Acquisitions
October 17, 2009 – March 13, 2010
The Wittliff Collections
The Wittliff Collections open the vault to bring out the newest additions to their Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection. With over 40 images by Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Marco Antonio Cruz, Graciela Iturbide, Robb Kendrick, Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, Joel-Peter Witkin, and a host of other internationally acclaimed photographers, it's a show not to be missed. This exhibition will be celebrated at the grand reopening event on October 17, which is open to the public.

Archives Day
October 23, 2009 • 1:00 - 6:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
ARCHIVES DAY events at the Wittliff Collections will include a panel discussion from 1:00 to 4:00 pm featuring speakers from local institutions discussing renovation and construction of new libraries, archives, and museums, with a reception following from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

6th Annual Celebraciónes de la Gente
October 24-25, 2007
Museum of Northern Arizona
The Museum comes to life for Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, an ancient Meso-American holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. Transforming grief into celebration, this ritual pays homage to the lives of lost loved ones by inviting them back to enjoy their favorite music and foods, and to honor their contributions in life.

WOMEN AND PLACE: TWO VOICES, TWO PERSPECTIVES
Reading / Book Signing with SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT & SUSAN J.TWEIT
October 28, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Susan Wittig Albert, founder of the Story Circle Network, will read from the latest book in the Wittliff’s Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series, Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place, published by the University of Texas Press. Susan J. Tweit, a much-published nature writer, will read from her latest memoir, Walking Nature Home, also from UT Press. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore.

Texas Book Festival
October 31 - November 1, 2009
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.

LONESOME DOVE Revisited
Ongoing Exhibit
Southwestern Writers Collection
Costume sketches and set designs, principal props and costumes, screenplay drafts, script pages, production notes, and other "making of" materials from the major Lonesome Dove production archives are currently on display. October 13 marks the opening of the Lonesome Dove Room, where a significantly greater portion of this popular archive will be permanently on exhibit, including larger pieces such as the Hat Creek Cattle Company sign.

Imagination & Initiation Contemporary Artist Series 2009
Ongoing Exhibit
Museum of the Southwest
This series features five solo exhibits.

High Noon Talks 
First Wednesday of Every Month @ 12 p.m.
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
On the first Wednesday of every month during the Noon hour, the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum hosts engaging talks in the exhibits. High Noon Talks feature special guests who reveal the interesting and often untold tales that shape the story of Texas.

Ancient Texans: Rock Art & Lifeways Along the Lower Pecos
Ongoing Exhibit
Witte Museum
Learn about the people who lived along the Pecos River thousands of years ago.

TIM O'BRIEN Reading & Book Signing
November 3, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore.

MFA Student Readings
November 10, 2009 • 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER: A DRIVING DESIRE
A performance by PENNYLYN WHITE
November 14, 2009 • 7:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
In a tribute to Katherine Anne Porter's life, work, and legacy, actress Pennylyn White brings to life the woman behind the myth in a probing performance using extracts of Porter's body of work, including her personal letters. Special thanks to the Jane Hope Hastings Philanthropic Trust.

J. FRANK DOBIE: A LIBERATED MIND
Reading / Book Signing by STEVEN L. DAVIS
November 19, 2009 • 4:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
In this lively biography, Steve Davis takes a fresh look at a J. Frank Dobie whose "liberated mind" set him on an intellectual journey that culminated in the folklorist becoming a political liberal who fought for labor, free speech, and civil rights well before these causes became acceptable to most Anglo Texans. Tracing the full arc of Dobie's life (1888–1964), Davis shows how Dobie’s insistence on "free-range thinking" led him to such radical actions as calling for the complete integration of the University of Texas during the 1940s, as well as taking on governors, senators, and the FBI (which secretly investigated him) as Texas's leading dissenter during the McCarthy era. Davis is assistant curator of the Wittliff's Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University-San Marcos. Book link: click here

MFA Student Readings
December 1, 2009 • 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.

2009

All August events continued into September.

All July events continued into August.

SARAH JAROSZ
June 11, 2008
Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio
Sugar Hill recording artist CD release show
(reservations April 1)

JOHN GORKA
May 14, 2009
Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio
$25 donation at door
Don't miss this universal Folk Favorite!
(reservations March 1)

Memorial Memories: A Little Piece of Home
May 24, 2009 • 2:30 p.m.
Institute of Texan Cultures
The Institute of Texan Cultures and UTSA are proud to host Memorial Memories, a free concert offered as a gift to the community. The performance features the Sentimental Journey Orchestra, with the lively Memphis Belles trio and soloist Jesse Boatright presenting original arrangements of the swing and jazz standards of the Big Band era. Bob Guthrie, radio personality and San Antonio icon, will serve as the master of ceremonies. The production will be accompanied by evocative photos and film clips from the battlefront and the homefront on the overhead screens of the Dome Show Theater. Particularly meaningful to veterans and their families, the performance will pay tribute to the 65th anniversary of D-Day and to each branch of the military, both those who have served and those currently serving at home and abroad.

SHAWN COLVIN
April 9, 2009
Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio
$40 donation at door
This is one we've been waiting for. Help us welcome a songwriting giantess to Blue Rock Studio.

WILLIAM VOLLMANN Reading & Book Signing
April 9, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Named by the New Yorker in 1999 as "one of the twenty best writers in America under 40," Vollmann has achieved cult-status with legions of twenty-something readers for embracing taboo subject matter and/in highly dangerous situations. This Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore. Vollmann will also read at Texas State’s Katherine Anne Porter House in Kyle on Friday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m.
 
MFA Student Readings
Thursday, April 16 - 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library First Floor-Room 105/106
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.

ALEXANDER THEROUX Reading & Book Signing
March 5, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Laura Warholic, or The Sexual Intellectual, published by Fantagraphics in December, 2007, is Theroux’s first novel in twenty years and it’s filled with Theroux’s ferocious linguistic virtuosity and his unique perspective on the folly of humanity. This Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore.

THE BAND OF HEATHENS
March 12, 2009
Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio
$20 donation at door
Austin Music Award winners—special acoustic show.
(reservations January 30)
 
MFA Student Readings 
March 12, Thursday - 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library First Floor-Room 105/106
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.
 
BRIGIT PEGEEN KELLY Reading & Book Signing  
March 26, Thursday • 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Author of The Orchard (BOA Editions, 2004), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, celebrated poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly is a professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore. Kelly will also read at Texas State’s Katherine Anne Porter House in Kyle on Friday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m.

Not Fade Away: Remembering “The Day the Music Died”
Monday, February 2, 2009
Buddy Holly Center
The Center will be open from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Free Admission

LI-YOUNG LEE Reading & Book Signing
Thursday, February 5 - 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library-Fifth Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
512.245.2313
Currently serving as the Texas State University Chair in Creative Writing, critically acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee reads from his fourth collection, Behind My Eyes (Norton, 2008), and other work. This is the second Lee event co-sponsored by Texas State's English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore. Admission is free.

MFA Student Readings
February 12, Thursday - 5:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library First Floor-Room 105/106
Texas State's MFA students read from their poetry and fiction.

Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America Through Galveston Island
Opens February 21, 2009
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
This exhibit is the first of its kind. It’s a community outreach program which tells the story of Galveston as an immigrant port of entry into Texas and the US through the experiences of 19 th and early 20 th Century immigrants.

Imagination & Initiation Contemporary Artist Series 2009- REBECCA BEAL-MCCLURE
January 23, 2009 - February 22, 2009
Museum of the Southwest

JAMES YOUNG Reading • Book Signing • Q&A
February 26, Thursday - 3:30 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Alkek Library-Fifth Floor
Texas State University-San Marcos
512.245.2313
Young is Professor of English and Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Texas State alumnus LBJ, and to reflect on the need for civic responsibility, Dr. Young will discuss both via his work on the Holocaust and his involvement on the Findungskommission Holocaust memorial in Berlin, as well as the World Trade Center Memorial design competition. This Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series event is co-sponsored by Texas State's English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books will be for sale by the University Bookstore.

MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN INDIAN ART
Through January 10, 2008
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
While most American Indian exhibits examine artifacts as examples of material culture, Masterpieces gazes into a broader understanding of the high quality and aesthetic value of American Indian art.  Ornate beadwork, delicate sculpture, detailed painting, intricately woven baskets, and hand-crafted silver and turquoise jewelry bring splendor to the newly remodeled Mary E. Bivins gallery.

Chili Queens at the Alamo
Through January 11, 2009
Witte Museum
Representing South Texas, Julian Onderdonk's famous Chili Queens at the Alamo has adorned a wall of the Oval Office for the past eight years.

Fotoseptiembre ’08:  La cultura transciende fronteras:  A Personal Portrait of Tejanos and Mexicanos
Through January 25, 2009
Witte Museum

Sense of Self
Through January 27, 2008
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
An exhibit focusing on the different groups that settled the Panhandle region and exploring “how we know who we are.

"IT’S BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YUH": WOODY GUTHRIE IN PAMPA, 1929-1936
Opening January 24
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum-Alexander Gallery
This exhibit will illustrate how the years Woody Guthrie spent in Pampa, Texas, from age 17 formed the foundation of a life that was to influence the folk music genre for the generations to come. Family tragedy, the Depression and Dust Bowl years, and picking up a guitar and giving a voice to the plight of the American worker were the driving forces that guided Woody throughout his prolific, but too-short career.

ASIAN FESTIVAL— YEAR OF THE OX
January 31, 2009 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Institute of Texan Cultures
This event honors Asian cultures and traditions from the Pacific Rim. It includes foods, clothing, dancing, seminars, martial arts, arts and crafts, and more.

2008

All December events continued into January.

Texas Book Festival
November 1 - 2, 2008
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.

MFA Student Readings
November 18, 2008 • 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Alkek Library - ROOM 105/106
Texas State's MFA STUDENTS read from their poetry and fiction.

LI-YOUNG LEE Reading & Book Signing
November 25, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Alkek Library - 5th Floor (note special location)
Currently serving as the Texas State University Chair in Creative Writing, critically acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee reads from his fourth collection, Behind My Eyes, and other work. Lee is the recipient of numerous honors, among them three Pushcart Prizes, the Lannan Literary Award, and the American Book Award. His collection Book of My Nights was the winner of the Poetry Society of America’s 2002 William Carlos Williams Award; The City in Which I Love You was the 1990 Lamont Poetry Selection; and Rose (1986) won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award. Lee was born of Chinese parents in Indonesia, and he has lived in the U.S. since 1964. This event is co-sponsored by the English Department and the Wittliff Collections. Books for sale by the University Bookstore.

Texas State’s Third Annual Archives Month Celebration
October 24, 2008 • 1-6:30 p.m.
Alkek Library Special Collections
October is National Archives Month, and the Wittliff Collections and University Archives at the Alkek Library will co-host a panel of area archivists and librarians for a conversation about designing online archival exhibits. A catered, hors d’oeuvres reception will follow. This event is part of Texas State’s third annual Archives Month celebration and is designed to help de-mystify the process of creating a successful online exhibit of archival materials. Each panelist will explain and demonstrate a particular exhibit then the floor will be opened for questions from the audience. Scheduled panelists are: Liz Clare, Texas State Library and Archives Commission; Angela McClendon, University Archives, University of Texas-San Antonio; Stephen Mielke, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas-Austin; and Tara Spies, the Wittliff Collections, Texas State. The panel is 1-4 p.m. and the reception is 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 105/106 of the library. Both are free and open to the public. Panel attendance is not required to attend the reception. Guests are asked to RSVP to southwesternwriters@txstate.edu or (512) 245-2313.

5th Annual Celebraciónes de la Gente
October 25 - 26, 2008
Museum of Northern Arizona
The Museum comes to life for Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, an ancient Meso-American holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. Transforming grief into celebration, this ritual pays homage to the lives of lost loved ones by inviting them back to enjoy their favorite music and foods, and to honor their contributions in life.

TOMÁS RIVERA Mexican American Children’s Book Award
Annual Celebration
October 30, 2008 • 2:30 p.m.
LBJ Student Center Ballroom
Texas State University-San Marcos
Presentation honoring this year’s Tomás Rivera award winners, Marisa Montes (author) and Yuyi Morales (illustrator) for Los Gatos Black on Halloween . The award will be presented Thursday, Oct. 30 at a special luncheon by Texas State President Denise M. Trauth. Following at 2:30 p.m., Montes and Morales will give an author/illustrator presentation in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom on campus with book sales and signing. A mariachi performance is scheduled and refreshments will be served. The presentation in the LBJ Student Center is free and open to the public.

CARMEN TAFOLLA Reading & Book Signing
October 30th, 2008 • 4:00 p.m.
The Wittliff Collections
Reception, reading, and book signing.

LONESOME DOVE REVISITED
Ongoing Exhibit
Re-opens mid-October 2008
Southwestern Writers Collection
Costume sketches and set designs, principal props and costumes, screenplay drafts, script pages, production notes, and other "making of" materials from the major Lonesome Dove production archives are currently on display. October 13 marks the opening of the Lonesome Dove Room, where a significantly greater portion of this popular archive will be permanently on exhibit, including larger pieces such as the Hat Creek Cattle Company sign.

SAMUEL COLT: Art, Arms, and Invention
May 24 - September 1, 2008
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
An exhibition of unsurpassed historic firearms and related works of art, this exhibit presents a broader view of this unusually influential figure in 19th-century America. At the age of 16, Colt whittled a model of the first practical revolver. He later established production lines six decades before Ford and invented machinery for making interchangeable parts. His marketing savvy produced the first celebrity endorsements, introduced "new and improved" as an advertising motto, and demonstrated the value of branding.

All August events continued into September.
 

THE MOLLY IVINS LIBRARY
April 7 – July 7, 2008
Southwestern Writers Collection
Gifted to the Southwestern Writers Collection by her brother Andrew Ivins, Molly’s personal library is the focus of this exhibition illustrating the wide range of interests she had over the years. Highlights include her own personal notations and commentary, and inscriptions showing the admiration other authors had for her ability to speak her mind and hold politicians accountable, while still retaining her sense of humor.

SMALL DEATHS REDUX: Photo Works by Kate Breakey
May 23 – July 20, 2008
Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection
This special show from the Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection includes over 30 of the birds, flowers, lizards, and insects photographer Kate Breakey has memorialized in oversized, hand-colored silver-gelatin prints. By enlarging her subjects to human size and meticulously painting them in a brilliant palette, Breakey draws viewers in for a close-up and unexpected confrontation with mortality. The Wittliff Collections hold the major archive of the artist’s work, which is featured in her award-winning monograph, Small Deaths, published in The Wittliff’s photography book series with UT Press. The larger exhibition of over 60 images from which this show is drawn will begin touring with Exhibits USA later this year.

RIVERS OF TEXAS
February 1 – July 20, 2008
Southwestern Writers Collection
In conjunction with this year’s Common Experience at Texas State, which features Goodbye to a River by John Graves as the text, the Southwestern Writers Collection presents Rivers of Texas. This exhibition includes vintage archival materials from John Graves, including photographs and the canoe paddle he used on his Brazos river trip. Also represented is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, whose archives have been recently acquired by the SWWC. An early manuscript draft of McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men is featured, along with other works by writers Stephen Harrigan, Beverly Lowry, Joe Lansdale, Jan Reid, Joe Nick Patoski, and others who have published work about the state’s rivers, from the San Marcos to the Rio Grande.

TEXAS MUSIC POSTERS
Through July 20, 2008
Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection
In 2005, Austin resident Tom Wilmore donated more than one hundred vintage music posters to the Southwestern Writers Collection. Ephemeral pop-culture pieces from the l960s and '70s saved by Wilmore, they advertise the range of world-famous bands and musicians who played the Austin area. A portion of the collection is on view in the Reading Room, including posters promoting the J. Geils Band, Ry Cooder, Lighting Hopkins, Frank Zappa, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, and the Grateful Dead. The very first Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic poster (1973), donated by Nancy Coplin, is also on view.

All June events continued into July.
 

POZOS CHILDREN'S PROJECT
April 4 – May 9, 2008
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Over 70 photographs taken by the children of Mineral de Pozos, Guanajuato, Mexico, are on exhibit in an artistic and educational outreach project organized and directed by photographer Geoff Winningham and sponsored by The Jung Center in Houston, Texas. Winningham, his wife Janice Freeman, and eight Rice University students traveled to Pozos to teach local children basic photography and darkroom skills. The children were mostly between 9 and 14 years old and were given plastic Holga cameras to photograph their surroundings. Exhibit reception April 12 will include a talk by Geoff Winningham.

MARY GAITSKILL Reading & Book Signing
Thursday, April 10, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Books for sale by the University Book Store. Q&A session at 5 p.m.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
February 5, March 18, and April 15, 2008
each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's MFA reading series.

DR. GARY HARTMAN Reading & Book Signing
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Texas State Associate Professor of History, Hartman is author of The History of Texas Music, the first volume in the John and Robin Dickson Series in Texas Music, from the Center for Texas Music History, due out April 1 from TAMU Press.

ROBERT STONE Reading & Book Signing
Thursday, April 24, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Books for sale by the University Book Store. Q&A session at 5 p.m.

DAGOBERTO GILB Reading and Book Signing
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Gilb reads from his new novel, The Flowers, due this February from Grove Press. The PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author is a professor of Creative Writing at Texas State and editor of Hecho en Tejas, the Southwestern Writers Collection anthology of Texas Mexican literature. Books for sale by the University Book Store.

WHEN POETRY MEETS PROSE
Thursday, March 6, 2008 • 5 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
A Women’s History Month Reading by the Women of the MFA Faculty in Creative Writing, featuring Debra Monroe, Kathleen Peirce, and Nelly Rosario. Sponsored by the Department of English.

DR. MICHAEL OLIVAS Reading & Book Signing
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Author of Colored Men and Hombres Aqui: Hernandez v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican American Lawyering (Arte Public Press, 2006). Sponsored by the Dean of Applied Arts and Technology. Books for sale by the University Book Store.

Staff Favorites
January 14 - March 30, 2008
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Dramatic, challenging, beautiful…the favorite photographs of The Wittliff Collections staff reveal a range of personal aesthetics and offer a look at some of the finest prints in the permanent archive.

LONESOME DOVE: Photographs by Bill Wittliff
August 23, 2007 – March 30, 2008
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Bill Wittliff, screenwriter and co-executive producer of the popular miniseries Lonesome Dove, took numerous photographs on the set. Beyond mere production stills, these sepia-toned, silver-gelatin photographs reveal the epic story as seen through an artist's eye. This exhibit of over 60 images coincides with the publication of Wittliff's third monograph, the latest in the Gallery's series with UT Press, A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove, which brings the sweeping visual imagery of the film to the printed page at last. Artist's Reception and Book Signing with Bill Wittliff on October 13.

TIM O'BRIEN Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, February 21, 2008 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
National Book Award-winner Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato, reads as part of this Mitte Chair event co-sponsored by the SWWC, the English Department, and the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. Books for sale by the University Book Store.

LONE STAR SLEUTHS DAY
Saturday, February 23, 2008 • 2-5 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
A celebration of the new Texas crime fiction anthology in the Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series with UT Press. Fifteen of the contributing mystery writers and the three editors, Bill Cunningham, Steve Davis, and Rollo Newsom, will talk with guests and sign books. Jesse Sublett and Kasey Lansdale will perform acoustic noir songs. Scheduled authors include: Susan Wittig Albert, Neal Barrett, Jr., Paula Boyd, Susan Rogers Cooper, Bill Crider, A.W. Gray, Rolando Hinojosa, Joe R. Lansdale, David Lindsey, Ben Rehder, Rick Riordan, Jim Sanderson, Jesse Sublett, Doug J. Swanson, and Mary Willis Walker. Catered refreshments will be served. Books by all attending authors will be for sale. RSVP to southwesternwriters@txstate.edu or (512) 245-2313.

MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN INDIAN ART
Through January 10, 2008
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
While most American Indian exhibits examine artifacts as examples of material culture, Masterpieces gazes into a broader understanding of the high quality and aesthetic value of American Indian art.  Ornate beadwork, delicate sculpture, detailed painting, intricately woven baskets, and hand-crafted silver and turquoise jewelry bring splendor to the newly remodeled Mary E. Bivins gallery.

SENSE OF SELF
Through January 27, 2008
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
An exhibit focusing on the different groups that settled the Panhandle region and exploring “how we know who we are.”

2007

KING OF THE HILL
September 1 – December 14, 2007
Southwestern Writers Collection
Discover what goes into creating the popular Fox animated TV series with this special exhibition from the King of the Hill Archives at the Southwestern Writers Collection, on view for the first time. Episode drafts, whiteboards, a bird's-eye illustration of Hank's neighborhood, "interviews" with the characters, results from the writers' research trips, and music from and inspired by the show are among the materials and memorabilia that reveal the creative team at work and round out the back story of the Hill family's life and times.

Texas Book Festival
November 3-4, 2007
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the 11th annual Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.

KING OF THE HILL
Exhibit Reception & Program
November 10, 2007 • 7:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This reception and special program celebrate the current exhibition on display from the SWWC archives of the popular Fox animated TV series. Special guests include writer and producer Jim Dauterive, whose generous efforts brought the KING OF THE HILL materials to the Collection. RSVP to writerscollection@txstate.edu or (512) 245-2313.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
September 6, October 11, and November 15, 2007
each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's MFA reading series.

CHARLES SIMIC Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, October 4, 2007 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic will read from his work. Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

MARK BUSBY:
"John Graves, Writer and Goodbye to a River"
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 • 2 p.m.
Texas State University-San Marcos, Flowers Hall 341
Mark Busby, coeditor of John Graves, Writer and Director of the Southwest Regional Humanities Center, will discuss his book and Graves' most famous work, Goodbye to a River (1960), the core text for the 2007-2008 Common Experience program at Texas State. Busby will examine the book's major themes and its connection to Graves' life and other works. A book signing and reception will follow. For more information contact Mark Busby: mb13@txstate.edu

Texas State MFA Student Readings
September 6, October 11, and November 15, 2007
each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's MFA reading series.

LONESOME DOVE: Photographs by Bill Wittliff
Artist's Reception and Book Launch
Saturday, October 13, 2007 • 7:00 p.m.
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Celebrating the publication of Bill Wittliff's third book with the University of Texas Press, the latest in the Gallery's series, A Book of Photographs from Lonesome Dove. Wittliff was screenwriter and co-executive producer of the CBS miniseries, and he captured thousands of images during production, the best of which can be seen in this new book and the Gallery’s accompanying exhibition of his hand-printed, sepia-toned photographs.
Also tonight: GRAND OPENING of the Lonesome Dove Room, with extensive displays of props, costumes, and other "making of" materials from the major film production archives housed at the Southwestern Writers Collection. Admission is free, but space is limited—attendees are asked to RSVP early to (512) 245-2313 or wittliffgallery@txstate.edu. Books will be for sale; proceeds and author royalties benefit the collections.

TOMÁS RIVERA Mexican American Children’s Book Award Annual Celebration
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 • 1:00 p.m.
LBJ Student Center Ballroom
Texas State University-San Marcos
Presentation honoring this year’s Tomás Rivera award winner, Juan Felipe Herrera for Downtown Boy. Reading, book sale, and signing to follow.

Archives Fair
October 20, 2007 • 10:00 a.m-2:00 p.m.
at San Marcos Public Library • San Marcos, Texas
Alkek Library Special Collections
The Special Collections Department at Texas State University’s Alkek Library and the San Marcos Public Library will be teaming up to offer an "Archives Fair" for the community. The fair will be held at the San Marcos Public Library (625 E. Hopkins) and is intended for people who are seeking advice on how to best preserve their scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and other personal treasures. The event is free and open to the public. For questions, call the Special Collections (Southwestern Writers Collection and Wittliff Gallery) at (512) 245-2313, or the San Marcos Public Library at (512) 393-8200.

Archives Reception at Alkek Library
featuring Texas State Historian Frank de la Teja
October 22, 2007 • 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Alkek Library Special Collections
The Special Collections staff at the Alkek Library is hosting its second annual Archives Month Reception in the Special Collections galleries on the 7th floor of the Alkek Library on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos. The reception is free and open to the public and will include hors d'oeuvres. This year's special guest will be state historian and Chair of Texas State's History Department, Dr. Frank de la Teja. More information about Dr. de la Teja's role as state historian is available here. Please RSVP to (512) 245-2313 or specialcollections@txstate.edu with the names of attendees.

4th Annual Celebraciónes de la Gente
October 27-28, 2007
Museum of Northern Arizona
The Museum comes to life for Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, an ancient Meso-American holiday held throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Southwestern United States. Transforming grief into celebration, this ritual pays homage to the lives of lost loved ones by inviting them back to enjoy their favorite music and foods, and to honor their contributions in life.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
September 6, October 11, and November 15, 2007
each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's MFA reading series.

ON PARADE: Fiesta in the 1920s
Through September 7, 2007
The Witte Museum
Fiesta San Antonio was transformed in the 1920s. This exhibit explores two important changes that occurred the same year the Witte Museum opened.

NATHANIEL MACKEY Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, September 13, 2007 • 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

NONI BENEGAS:
"A Bilingual Poetry Reading: Burning Cartography"
Tuesday, September 25 • 3:30 p.m
Southwestern Writers Collection
Noni Benegas reads from Cartografía Ardiente, a bilingual edition published by Host Publications of Austin (2007), with translation by Noël Valis, professor of Spanish at Yale University.
Sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages.

58th Annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture
August 3 – 5, 2007
Museum of Northern Arizona
More than 55 Navajo artists, storytellers, hoop and traditional dancers, and cultural interpreters come together to share the Navajo “Beauty Way” philosophy.

LITTLE HEROES
March 24 - August 10, 2007
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Regarding the child as subject, this exhibition reflects the breadth and depth of the Wittliff Gallery’s permanent collection, including its world-class holdings of contemporary Mexican photography. Works by Lola Álvarez Bravo, Keith Carter, Marco Antonio Cruz, Héctor García, Flor Garduño, Graciela Iturbide, Russell Lee, Sebastião Salgado, Antonio Turok, Mariana Yampolsky, and many others.

TRES MUSEOS: Museum Day for Educators
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Witte Museum
Each summer SAMA, the McNay Art Museum, and the Witte Museum collaborate to provide TRES MUSEOS: Museum Day for Educators.

MADE TO WALK THE SKIES: Texas & Space Travel
Through August 12, 2007
Bob Bullock Museum
Featuring historic equipment, this is an exhibit sharing the stories of the Texans who helped make the dream space exploration a reality.

Various book discussions and presentations
June 15 - August 29, 2007
Arizona Humanities Council

CAMP TATANKA
June, July, August
Wednesday afternoons - 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Activities for kids ages 5 -12 years. Coordinated with West Texas A&M University. Museum activities are Wednesday afternoons.

74th Annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture
June 29 – July 1, 2007
Museum of Northern Arizona
With over 55 artist booths, this festival provides the public with the opportunity to meet, watch, listen, and learn from Hopi storytellers, music, dancers, carvers, painters, jewelers, potters, quilters, and basket and textile weavers. For more information click here.

High Noon Talks
Wednesdays, June 13 and 27, July 11 and 25 - 12 to 1 p.m.
Free with exhibit admission
Bob Bullock Museum
Learn about the many research discoveries and advanced technologies that have resulted from man's exploration of space. Meet and hear scientists, engineers and NASA experts discuss space-related research and personal adventures in the space program.

WHAT WILDNESS IS THIS:
Women Write About the Southwest
June 1 - July 31, 2007
Southwestern Writers Collection
Celebrating the publication of the next volume in its book series, the Southwestern Writers Collection presents this special exhibition of manuscripts, photographs, excerpts from the anthology, biographies of selected writers, and numerous books that showcase women’s writing in the Southwest. The book was created by the Story Circle Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women share the stories of their lives and to raising public awareness of the importance of women's personal histories.

PPHM Summer Institute
Urban West Photographers' Safari
JULY 28 - 31, 2007
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Instructor Ken Pirtle will lead a photography adventure through the lens into the development of the west, and art curator Michael Grauer will give a scholarly study of the exhibit Training the World to Travel West: Paintings of the Southwest from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Collection.

Conference
A LAND FULL OF STORIES
June 7 - 9, 2007
Southwestern Writers Collection
A conference and celebration of writing about place and personal history. Sponsored by the Story Circle Network in cooperation with the Southwestern Writers Collection. For more information click here.

Native Voices Symposium: Indigenous Language and Poetry
June 14 - 16, 2007
The University of Arizona Poetry Center
This three-day symposium celebrates linguistic and cultural diversity and it explores how languages—endangered Indigenous languages in particular—are not just preserved but invigorated by poetry, storytelling, bookmaking, and literary pursuits. Participants will have access to leading Native American writers and scholars, many of whom approach these concerns from wildly divergent perspectives. Keynote address by Leslie Marmon Silko.

LASTING LIGHT: The Photography of the Grand Canyon
Through June 17, 2007
Museum of Northern Arizona
A celebration of the best photographic images of this mysterious and ever-changing landscape, by a select group of fine art photographers. Additionally, raptors from MNA’s Natural History Collections soar above the gallery, representing the many raptors species that make their home in and around, or migrate through, the deep canyon.

Exhibit: HECHO EN TEJAS
February 1 - May 15, 2007
Southwestern Writers Collection
An exhibit showcase of Texas Mexican literature, celebrating the new anthology in the Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series, Hecho en Tejas, edited by Dagoberto Gilb. The exhibit displays a comprehensive selection of books, photographs, and literary excerpts reflecting the Mexican American experience in Texas as seen in Hecho en Tejas, including the Collection’s rare 1555 edition of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s La relación y comentarios. Book launch and symposium February 10; for more details click here.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: The Electrification of Rural Texas
September 2, 2006 - May 28, 2007
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum
An exhibit focusing on the Texas in which LBJ grew up—before electricity. A special highlights to the exhibit are home movies narrated by Lady Bird Johnson.

WENDY FERRIS Reading and Book Signing
Monday, April 1, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
February 6, March 6, and April 3, 2007, each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's "First Tuesday" series.

WRITING A WIDE LAND:
A Conference on Texas Nature Writing
Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Univeristy of North Texas
A one-day event at the University of North Texas that will bring together major Texas authors, editors, photographers and academic experts on the environment. Conference will be held at the Silver Eagle Suite of the University Union, located one block west of Welch and West Prairie streets, UNT campus. For more information click here.

HELENA MARÍA VIRAMONTES Reading and Book Signing
Friday, April 13, 2007 - 3:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Book sale and signing to follow.

YIYUN LI Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, March 1, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

River Conference
THE PECOS RIVER: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
Friday, March 9, 2007
Aquarena Center / Texas Rivers Center
The purpose of this conference is to stimulate a sense of interest and care about the Pecos River, and to facilitate activities that can express the character and importance of the river and its region. The conference will bring together the people who are experts on the various issues that can help put the Pecos into perspective. For more information and registration click here.

OJOS PARA VOLAR / EYES TO FLY WITH:
Photographs by Graciela Iturbide
October 21, 2006 – March 18, 2007
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Self portraits, portraits, famous works, and never-before-exhibited images by one of Mexico’s greatest photographers, from the Wittliff Gallery’s major collection of Iturbide’s work. This show coincides with publication of the 9th volume in the Wittliff Gallery Book Series, from the University of Texas Press. October 28: Reception, program, and book signing with the photographer and special guests, 7:00 p.m.

DENIS JOHNSON Reading and Book Signing
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This reading is sponsored by the English Department and the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. Book sale and signing to follow.

SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT and SUSAN HANSON Book Signing
Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Texas State University Book Store
This reading promotes the launch of What Wildness Is This: Women Write About the Southwest, edited by Susan Wittig Albert, Susan Hanson, Jan Epton Seale, and Paula Stallings Yost. For more information on the book click here. Books on sale at the signing.

PERCIVAL EVERETT Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, February 1, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

Book Launch & Symposium:
HECHO EN TEJAS
February 10, 2007
Southwestern Writers Collection
Discussions, readings, and performances featuring Sandra Cisneros and Dagoberto Gilb, editor of Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature. Books will be available for purchase. For a detailed list of events click here.

DENIS JOHNSON Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, February 15, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This reading is sponsored by the English Department and the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. Book sale and signing to follow.

CAROLE MASO Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Q&A session at 5:00. Book sale and signing to follow.

Antone's Home of the Blues
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Celebrating Lucky Tomblin’s efforts to produce the documentary, Antone’s Home of the Blues: A Legend Every Night, and his and wife Becky’s gift of the interview and performance-video materials to the Collection, this event also honors the late Clifford Antone. Light refreshments reception, highlights from the documentary, musical entertainment. Lucky Tomblin who funded the documentary, is a Texas State alumnus.

REGARDING THE LAND:
Robert Glenn Ketchum and the Legacy of Eliot Porter
September 16, 2006–January 7, 2007
Amon Carter Museum
Experience the breathtaking beauty of landscape photography through the lenses of two of the art form's most important color artists: Eliot Porter and Robert Glenn Ketchum.

2006

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER:
Artists of the War With Mexico, 1846–1848
July 15 – December 3, 2006
Amon Carter Museum
A selection from the museum’s important collection of works depicting the war, including 14 rare daguerreotypes, present new interpretations about the conflict.

Treasures of the Southwestern Writers Collection:
A 20th Anniversary Celebration  
September 1 - December 15, 2006
Southwestern Writers Collection
The "greatest hits" of the permanent archives are on display, including the 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca’s La relación, a songbook handmade by an eleven-year-old Willie Nelson, John Graves’s paddle from his trip chronicled in Goodbye to a River, original materials from King of the Hill and the making of Lonesome Dove, Cast Away, The Perfect Storm, and other films, manuscripts, memorabilia and more from the region’s leading authors, filmmakers, and songwriters. Exhibit Reception/Program on November 9 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

THE BEST OF THE SOUTHWEST:
Millicent Rogers Museum's 50th Anniversary
January - December, 2006
Millicent Rogers Museum
Join the MRM in celebration of 50 years of excellence by attending special exhibitions and public programs featuring the arts and cultures of northern New Mexico.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
October 4 and November 1, 2006, each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's "First Wednesday" series.

ELEANOR WILNER Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, November 9, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series Event is sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Book sale and signing to follow.

SARAH BIRD, ELIZABETH CROOK, and STEPHEN HARRIGAN:
Reading, Discussion, and Book Signing
Thursday, November 9, 2006 - 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. reception, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. discussion
Southwestern Writers Collection
Reception, discussion, and book signing in celebration of the 20th anniversary exhibition "Treasures of the Southwestern Writers Collection." These three leading Texas novelists—all with archives in the SWWC—will be discussing their work and processes, and signing latest books: The Flamenco Academy (Bird), The Night Journal (Crook), and Challenger Park (Harrigan). Book sale and signing to follow. Please RSVP for this free event to southwesternwriters@txstate.edu or call (512) 245-2313.

Bound for Glory: America in Color
September 2 – November 12, 2006
Amon Carter Museum
See an exhibition of 70 little-known color photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) during the Kodachrome era between 1939 and 1943. These images reveal a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images.

October

EIGHT DECADES OF EXHIBITS:
A History of the Museum of the Big Bend
May 8 - October 1, 2006
Museum of the Big Bend

RIDE: A Global Adventure
May 27 - October 1, 2006
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
Learn about the diverse international roots of the American cowboy and cowgirl via this special exhibit and film event.

FAMILY DAY Open House
Saturday, October 7, 2006 - 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Curator Connie Todd welcomes students and their families for informal tours of the collections as part of the Texas State Parents Association’s Family Weekend. Open to the public.

MOTHING: Experiencing Arizona’s Moths
August 17 - October 8, 2006
The University of Arizona Museum of Art
An exotic exhibit featuring the native moth species of Arizona.

The Latino Presence at Texas State: Celebrating 100 Years
September 15 - October 14, 2006
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
This Hispanic Heritage Month exhibition created and presented by Texas State’s Center for Multicultural & Gender Studies looks back through the years to 1906 when the first Latinos joined the student body. For more information, visit the Center's website. September 15: Public Reception, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

L.D. & LAVERNE HARRELL CLARK Reading and Book Signing
Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 2:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Co-sponsored by Texas State’s Southwest Regional Humanities Center, the Center for the Study of the Southwest, the College of Liberal Arts, and the SWWC. Book sale and signing to follow.

ARCHIVES FAIR
Friday, October 20, 2006 - 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Alkek Library, Texas State University
The Alkek Library archivists are hosting a Central Texas Archives Fair open to the public on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos. For directions, click here.

C.D. WRIGHT & FORREST GANDER Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series Event is sponsored by the English Department. Book sale and signing to follow.

Ojos para volar / Eyes to Fly With:
Photographs by GRACIELA ITURBIDE
Artist Reception, Program & Book Launch
Saturday, October 28, 2006
7:00 p.m. reception, 8:00 p.m. program
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Photographer Graciela Iturbide, esteemed literary critic and writer Fabienne Bradu, and Director of the Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City, Alejandro Castellanos, will be the guests of honor for a reception and bilingual program celebrating the exhibition of images from Iturbide’s new book, the 9th in the Wittliff Gallery series, Eyes to Fly With: Portraits, Self-Portraits, and Other Photographs (UT Press). Books will be for sale at the event. Please RSVP for this free event to wittliffgallery@txstate.edu, or call (512) 245-2313.

Texas Book Festival
October 27-29, 2006
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the 11th annual Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.

FROM ABOVE: Images of a Storied Land
May 12 - October 29, 2006
Mesa Southwest Museum
Aerial Photographs by Adriel Heisey.

PAUL SCHNEIDER Reading and Book Signing
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - 2:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America retells the story of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. The Southwestern Writers Collection’s 1555 edition of the original account will be on view. Co-sponsored by Texas State’s Southwest Regional Humanities Center, the Center for the Study of the Southwest, and the SWWC. Book signing to follow.

September

IMPRESIÓN: Printmakers in Mexico
May 7 - September 3, 2006
El Paso Museum of Art
Ranging from realistic works based on the people of Mexico, to Surrealism and abstraction this select group of etchings and lithographs explores the wealth of creativity in Mexico.

Hartley's New Mexico
June 9 - September 3, 2006
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe
This small exhibition places Marsden Hartley's paintings from the Southwest and his essays on Native American aesthetics in the context of the modernist cultural explosion that occurred in Santa Fe after the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1917.

LA VIDA BRINCA / LIFE JUMPS:
Photographs by Bill Wittliff
February 18 - September 6, 2006
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Over the past decade Bill Wittliff has replaced the lenses of some 100 cameras with simple pinholes, returning to photography's roots in search of ways to render the enduring realities of light and time. Always evocative, often relevatory, the resulting vignettes—which he calls tragaluces ("light swallowers")—open keyhole views onto an intimate world, with subjects that seem to exist outside the moment in their own private spaces. The exhibit features almost 60 hand-toned silver-gelatin photographs. Reception and book launch on Saturday, March 25 at 7 p.m.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE's Legacy in New Mexico
February 17, 2006 - September 9, 2007
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe
This long-term exhibit features the museum's collection of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings.

GUSTAVE BAUMANN: A Santa Fe Legend
February 17, 2006 - September 9, 2007
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe
The Museum of Fine Arts will feature a selection of Baumann woodcut prints, paintings, marionettes, and furniture from the Museum's permanent collection.

DAZZLED BY THEIR OWN IMAGE:
Self-Portraits from the Permanent Collection
May 14 - September 10, 2006
El Paso Museum of Art
Artists included are Manuel Acosta, Paul Cézanne, Luis Jimenez and Diana Molina.

It STILL Ain’t Braggin' If It’s True
May 27 - September 10, 2006
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Vision, Friendship, Perseverance, Pride, Showmanship, and Swagger are STILL the focus of this exhibit which is meant to celebrate the museum’s fifth anniversary. And who could forget the studded Cadillac in all its glory? It too is back.

Explore the Story
Saturday, June 24, 2006 and
Sundays, July 16 and 30, August 27, and September 10, 2006
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Free with exhibit admissions
The exhibit comes to life with the stories of pride and swagger, friendship and perseverance. Join us in the exhibit as yarns are spun and tales are told.

Latino Presence Exhibit Reception
Friday, September 15 - 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Sponsored by the Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies, in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month and the 100th Anniversary of Latino presence at Texas State. Event will feature an address by Dr. Raymund Paredes, Texas Commissioner of Higher Education, and a performance by the Texas Sate Mariachi Band. Visit the Center's website for more information.

2nd Annual Award of Literary Merit: SARAH BIRD
Friday, September 15, 2006 - 7:00 p.m.
Writers' League of Texas
The Writers' League of Texas will present its annual Award of Literary Merit to novelist and essayist Sarah Bird at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas. The ceremony will include a talk by the author, gourmet dinner, live music, and silent auction. Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith is the honorary chair of this event. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 512-499-8914 or write wlt@writersleague.org

Frederico Vigil's Dichos
June 23 - September 17, 2006
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe
Frederico Vigil creates visual images for spoken words of wisdom known as dichos, or sayings. Based on dichos he learned as a youth growing up in northern New Mexico, Vigil's works on paper are a powerful way of conveying the artist's strong sense of his Hispanic heritage.

Two Lectures by DR. CHARLES M. TATUM
"On Becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution: Charting the Path"
Monday, September 18, 2006 - 11:00 a.m.
"Contemporary Fiction and Autobiographical Chicano Narrative"
Monday, September 18, 2006 - 4:30 p.m.
Texas State University-San Marcos
Flowers Hall G-02
Dr. Charles M. Tatum, Professor of Spanish and Dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona, will present two lectures as part of Texas State's University Lecture Series. Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Southwest.

DESCANSE EN PAZ:
The Art of Handmade Grave Markers in the Southwest
April 15 - September 19, 2006
Mesa Southwest Museum
Photographer Dick George researches the grave marker as folk art.

¡GLOBALQUERQUE!:
New Mexico's 2nd Annual World Music and Culture Celebration
September 23 & 24, 2006
National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico
A weeklong, statewide celebration that culminates in a two-day festival at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, bringing a wide range of musical groups from around the world to perform on three unique stages in Albuquerque. Tickets provide total access: cabaret seating in the Cultural Center's intimate Salón Ortega, large concert presentations in the Albuquerque Journal Theatre, and plenty of opportunities to dance on the Center's central outdoor plaza. Each night features international bands on all three stages, plus artists representing New Mexican and Native American traditions, as well as a Global Village full of food and crafts available for purchase.

CHARLES BAXTER Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, September 28 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
This Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series Event is sponsored by the English Department and the University Lecture Series. Book sale and signing to follow.

TACWT Annual Conference
September 28 - 30, 2006
Annual meeting of the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers. The conference includes panels on creative writing pedagogy and readings by individual members. This year's conference will be held in San Angelo.

August

Colección FEMSA, Una Mirada Continental
The FEMSA Collection, A Continental Vision
March 2 - August 13, 2006
National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico
With special emphasis on Mexico, the exhibition features 60 modern and contemporary works of art dating from 1914 to 2004 by 57 Latin American artists. Included are paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphic arts, installations, photography, and video. This traveling exhibition comes to Albuquerque from the Museo Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO) in Monterrey, Mexico. From Albuquerque, it will travel to Bogotá, Colombia. The artists included in Colección FEMSA include such classic luminaries as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquieros, Rufino Tamayo, Wifredo Lam and Roberto Matta.

Readings/Discussions by Various Speakers
August 11 - 13, 2006
New Mexico Humanities Council
Visit the link above to learn more about specific speaker appearances, dates, cities, and venues.

Las Super Luchas
April 7 - August 20, 2006
Arizona State Museum
Artist Xavier Garza pays tribute to the men, women, and history of Lucha Libre.

OUT OF EDEN: The Sculptural Works of Harry Geffert
April 30 - August 20, 2006
El Paso Museum of Art
This is the first major survey of the artist’s long career as a Texas sculptor and will be accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by curator Amy Grimm.

100 Great American Photographs
July 1 - August 20, 2006
Amon Carter Museum
Some of the most artful, dramatic and inspiring works in the history of the photography will be on view in the Carter's 4,600-square-foot Special Exhibition Galleries. All works are from the museum’s permanent holdings, one of the premier photography collections in the country.

The Mexican Spirit of Fiesta
April 19 - August 27, 2006
The Witte Museum
In conjunction with Fiesta San Antonio, the Witte Museum presents a showcase of the deep Mexican heritage of San Antonio's annual 10-day celebration.

73rd Annual Annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture
July 1 - 2, 2006
Museum of Northern Arizona
With over 55 artist booths, this festival provides the public with the opportunity to meet, watch, listen, and learn from Hopi storytellers, music, dancers, carvers, painters, jewelers, potters, quilters, and basket and textile weavers.

LEWIS HINE: Children of Texas
January 7 - July 7, 2006
Amon Carter Museum
These 55 photographs made during the fall of 1913 by sociologist-turned-photographer Lewis Hine depict child labor in Texas in the early twentieth century. Hine, a pioneer in the use of photography to combat social ills, crusaded to change laws that condoned the exploitation of children by factories, mills, and farms.

The Complexity of Simplicity
May 13 - July 8, 2006
Longview Museum of Fine Arts
Works, paintings, and sculptures by Susan Sales and Marla Ziegler.

PALO DURO CANYON: The Grand Canyon of Texas
March 11 - July 16, 2006
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
This exhibit focuses on the canyon’s natural history, Indian occupation, ranching, the state park, and outdoor musical projects of the Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation.

Los Hilos De Oaxaca
April 29 - July 16, 2006
Mexic-Arte Museum
An exhibit filled with the textile works and traditional costumes found in Oaxaca. Exhibit accompanied by acclaimed documentary “A Skirt Full of Butterflies.”

3rd Annual Southwest Native American Film and Video Festival
July 14 – 15, 2006
Museum of Northern Arizona
This a two day festival including video, film, and animation. A panel discussion will also take place during the festival to explore issues surrounding Native filmmaking.

High Noon Talks
Wednesdays, June 14 & 28 and July 12 & 26, 2006
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Free with exhibit admission
Want to know all the behind-the-scenes stories and nitty-gritty details of the STILL Braggin' exhibit? Join guest curator, Dr. Suzanne Seriff on June 28 and July 12 as she shares her experiences and stories about the artifacts and people who helped create an exhibit worth braggin' about. Malcolm Greenstein and Eric Shepperd will talk on June 14 about Heman Sweatt's fight to the supreme court for access into the University of Texas at Austin law school. On July 26, Sherry Byrd, fourth generation quilter will talk about the stories behind her family tradition.

Readings/Discussions by Various Major Authors
July 24 - 28, 2006
Arizona Humanities Council
Visit the link above to learn more about specific author appearances, dates, cities, and venues.

57th Annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture
July 29 - 30, 2006
Museum of Northern Arizona
Navajo artists, storytellers, and cultural interpreters from various clans come together to share the Navajo culture. Enjoy watching hoop and traditional dancers, painters, jewelers, potters, and weavers.

Writer's Braggin' Rights
Sunday, July 30, 2006 - 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Texas Spirit Theater
Free - reservations required
The braggin' continues as Texas authors share their stories about our majestic state. Texas novelist and historian James L. Haley will present his new book Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas . Author of Sonnets and Salsa , Carmen Tafolla will discuss her work as a screenwriter and poet. Award-winning investigative journalist Denise McVea will present her new book Making Myth of Emily: Emily West de Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas . Authors will be available to sign books. A reception will follow the presentation. Call (512) 936-4649 for reservations.

J. FRANK DOBIE, MR. TEXAS: A Major Retrospective
February 1 - July 31, 2006
Southwestern Writers Collection
It was the Dobie archives gifted by Bill and Sally Wittliff that established the Southwestern Writers Collection. This exhibit celebrates the Collection's 20th anniversary, and the man who was the state's dominant literary/cultural figure for almost half of the 20th century.

35th Annual Texas Folklife Festival
June 8 - 11, 2006
Institute of Texan Cultures
A four day celebration in which more than 40 ethnic groups come together to share their traditions with the public. Visitors are encouraged to participate in song and dance and arts and crafts.

Texas Trivia Day
Sunday, June 25 - 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Free with exhibit admission
How many square miles make up Texas? How did the Bois d'Arc Bayou get its name? What color is the granite at the Capitol? Join our host, Tweed Scott, the author of "Texas In Her Own Words" for an exciting afternoon of Texas Trivia, fun for the whole family.

FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHS: Man Ray’s Électricité
February 18 - June 25, 2006
Amon Carter Museum
See ten revolutionary images created by the innovative American photographer Man Ray, who made cameraless photographs, or photograms, by placing objects like toasters, light bulbs and irons on a piece of photographic paper or film and then exposing the film or paper to light.

Texas Legends of Rock and Roll
Sunday, May 21, 2006 - 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Texas Music History Museum
Exhibit celebration of Texas rock-and-roll heroes, with photographs, biographies, artifacts, and video performances. Also explores the lives of some early pop music stars who predate rock-and-roll in Texas. Featuring music by Eve Monsees & the Exiles and The LeRoi Brothers, as well as a special recognition presentation honoring the music of Jesse "Guitar" Taylor, Jim Valentine, and Texas rock/pop label Domino Records. Exhibit continues through May 26th.

THE SPIRIT OF PLACE
Anniversary Gala & Fundraiser
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Four Seasons Hotel, Austin
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Southwestern Writers Collection and the 10th anniversary of the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography, this gala will salute the cultural legacy of the literature, film, music, and photography preserved at Texas State University-San Marcos, and the vision and creativity of Bill and Sally Wittliff.

9th Annual Arizona Book Festival
Saturday, April 1, 2006 - 10:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m.
Carnegie Center, Phoenix, Arizona
This free event offers four event stages and over 100 exhibitors, giving book lovers an opportunity to meet their favorite authors, participate in hands-on activities, buy new and used books, and see lively stage presentations. Readings, panel discussions, theater presentations, music, and storytelling.

MARJERIE PERLOFF Lecture
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Book sale and signing to follow.

Texas State MFA Student Readings
February 1, March 1, & April 5, 2006, each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's "First Wednesday" series.

TIM O'BRIEN Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Tim O'Brien reads as the current Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State. Book sale and signing to follow.

ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, April 20, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Q&A, book sale, and signing to follow.

MARK GIMENEZ Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 3 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Texas State graduate Mark Gimenez will be reading from his best-selling first novel, The Color of Law. Book sale and signing to follow.

MARTHA McCABE & DARREN DEFRAIN Reading
Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - 4:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Two Texas State MFA Creative Writing graduates return to San Marcos to read from their work. Q&A to follow.

MICHAEL JAIME-BECERRA, CHRISTINE GRANADOS,
& ALEJANDRO ESPINOSA Reading and Book Signing
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Reading sponsored by the English Department. Q&A and book signing to follow.

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
January 28 - February 4, 2006
Western Folklife Center, Elko, Nevada
A week-long celebration of life in the rural West, featuring contemporary and traditional arts that arise from lives lived caring for land and livestock. Poetry, music, stories, gear, film, photography, and food.

Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association
American Culture Association
February 8 - 11, 2006, Albuquerque, New Mexico
The 27th Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) Over 750 presenters, 255 of them graduate students, will be attending this year's conference based on popular culture in the Southwest.

TESTIGOS DE LA HISTORIA / WITNESSES TO HISTORY:
Modern & Contemporary Documentary Photographers of Mexico
August 22, 2005 - February 12, 2006
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
These 60-plus images reveal the essence of 20th-century Mexico, yet transcend mere documentary photography to stand alone beyond their agenda. The exhibit traces the development of photojournalism from early giants Nacho Lopez, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Héctor García, and Rodrigo Moya to the intrepid inheritors of this great artistic tradition: Graciela Iturbide, Marco Antonio Cruz, Eniac Martínez, Yolanda Andrade, Maya Goded, Francisco Mata Rosas, Antonio Turok, and Raúl Ortega. Reception & program October 8 at 7:00 p.m.

JOE HICKERSON Lecture:
"A History of Folksong Collecting in the United States"
Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 3 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
The "folksinger's singer," musician Joe Hickerson served for 35 years as appointed Librarian and Head of the Archive of Folk Song (later called the Archive of Folk Culture) at the Library of Congress. Event co-sponsored by the Southwest Regional Humanities Center and the College of Liberal Arts.

An Interview with TIM O'BRIEN
Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Tim O'Brien, the current Texas State Mitte Chair in Creative Writing, answers questions about his life and work.

ABE VERGHESE Reading and Book Signing
Thursday, February 23, 2006 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Book sale and signing to follow.

IN THE AMERICAN WEST:
Photographs by Richard Avedon, A 20th Anniversary
September 17, 2005 - January 8, 2006
The Amon Carter Museum
These portraits, shot twenty years ago, continue to challenge the stereotypes of the West and Westerners, capturing the unknown and often marginalized people who work hard, uncelebrated jobs.

2005

Texas State MFA Student Readings
September 6 & 21, October 4, November 1, & December 6, each at 5:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Graduate students in Texas State's MFA program in Creative Writing read from their poetry and fiction as part of this semester's "First Tuesday" series. The September 21 event is a special reading by students from Texas A&M's MFA program, part of an "MFA Exchange" with Texas State.

Santa Fe Film Festival
December 7 - 11, 2005

TOMÁS RIVERA Mexican-American Children’s Book Award 10th Anniversary Exhibit
September 1 - December 11, 2005
Southwestern Writers Collection
Celebrating the gift of the Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award archives to the Southwestern Writers Collection, this exhibit honors the distinguished writers and artists who have received the Tomás Rivera award, including Carmen Lomas Garza, Rudolfo Anaya, Pat Mora, Bobbi Salinas, and many more. Among the items on display are artifacts from the award's archives that show the workings behind the creation of acclaimed children's books.

New Texas Painting
November 4 - December 17, 2005
DiverseWorks
New Texas Painting brings together emerging and established artists from the urban centers and rural outposts of the Lone Star State in an exhibition as wild and grand as Texas itself.

Santa Fe Winter Antiquities Show
December 29 - 31, 2005
The Southwest’s preeminent general antiques show, the Santa Fe Winter Antiquities Show presents over fifty dealers and galleries from the U.S. and abroad.

Dia de los Muertos
October 8 - November 2, 2005
The Mesa Southwest Museum will host a month-long display of altars in honor of the tradition of El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).

ROBERT RIVARD reading
November 3, 5:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
The editor of the San Antonio Express-News, will read from his new book, Trail of Feathers: Searching for Philip True, A Reporter's Murder in Mexico and His Editor's Search for Justice. Book signing to follow.

Masks of Mexico: Santos, Diablos Y Mas
October 22, 2005 - November 5, 2006
At the Arizona State Museum, experience the beauty, pageantry, and power of Mexican masks as important components of dance regalia, as folk art, and as heroic icons.

COURAGE: A Panel Discussion
November 10 - 7:00 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
As part of the Texas State Common Experience, authors Benjamin Alire Saenz, Beverly Lowry, and Celia Morris share inspiring stories of courage—from their own lives and in their work. Quitting the priesthood, leaving a successful husband, and dealing with the loss of a child are among the topics examined. Moderated by author and SWWC Assistant Curator Steven L. Davis. Author reception at 7:00 p.m.

Arthouse Texas Prize 2005
September 10 - November 13, 2005
Arthouse presents the inaugural exhibition of the $30,000 Arthouse Texas Prize featuring works by Eileen Maxson, Robyn O'Neil, Robert A. Pruitt, and Ludwig Schwarz—organized by Regine Basha, adjunct curator at Arthouse. The prize will be awarded at Arthouse's annual gala on November 4, 2005.

"Self Portraits/Personal Stories"
October 12 - November 19, 2005
An exhibit of original hand-pulled prints by New Mexicans featuring Louise Baum, Julia Agnew Bell, Debbie Denison, Jack McCarthy, Lyn Pierre, Stephen Schultz, Phyllis Sloan, Monika Steinhoff, Maryellen Stewart, Mary Thompson, Lezle Williams, Vernon Wilson, and Frieda Wirick.

Texas Renaissance Festival
October 1, 2005 - November 20, 2005
Visit this authentically re-created 53-acre, 16th-century British village with more than 340 shops, games of skill, human-powered rides, three jousts concluding with the "Joust to the Death," and more.

14th Annual National Pastel Exhibition
November 4 - 20, 2005
This show, considered to be among the nation's best for pastel, will be judged by artist Doug Dawson. The jurors that select the artwork accepted into the exhibition are Gil Dellinger, Eric Michaels, and Sally Strand.

Southwestern Weaving and Fiber
October 28 - November 25, 2005
Fiber art from six states, juried show in Los Alamos, NM.

Celebración
October 25 - November 26, 2005
The Buddy Holly Center
Celebración is the annual invitational exhibition of artwork that explores the history and meaning behind the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Day of the Dead Ceramic Exhibit
October 28 - November 26, 2005
Ceramic artists from various parts of the region celebrate Day of the Dead in Santa Fe, NM.

The Last Frontier: The Ranching Tradition of the Big Bend
October 6, - November 30, 2005
The Center for Contemporary Arts
The Last Frontier: The Ranching Tradition of the Big Bend is an exhibit by June Van Cleef who created this body of work while on a seven-year sabbatical to document the ranching frontier. The exhibit features Van Cleef's journey along the Texas/Mexico border, and explores the everyday lives of the people she encountered.

Family Day Open House
October 1 - 10:00 a.m. to noon
Southwestern Writers Collection & Wittliff Gallery
Curator Connie Todd answers questions and offers “behind the scenes” anecdotes about the collection archives and current literary and photographic exhibits. Tours begin at 10 and 11 a.m.

Native American Recognition Days
October 1 - 31, 2005
October marks Native American Recognition Days, and the Valley’s Heard Museum is one of the best places to experience and learn about Native art and cultures. To find out more about Native American Recognition Days, visit www.aznard.com.

Testigos de la Historia / Witnesses to History
October 8 - 7:00 p.m. reception / 8:00 p.m. program
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Hors d’oeuvre reception and program. Distinguished photo historians Estela Treviño and Alfonso Morales from the Centro de la Imagen will speak on Mexican documentary photography.

Annual Russell Floore Memorial Art Show
Sunday after Labor Day through 2nd weekend in October
Artesia Historical Museum and Art Center
This show features the best in Southwestern art from present and former residents of Eddy County, New Mexico. Judged show with cash prizes. Call 505-748-2390 for more information.

Vegas Valley Book Festival
October 13 - 22, 2005
Events held in downtown Las Vegas' Cultural Corridor, in Henderson, and throughout the valley.
The 4th annual Vegas Valley Book Festival spans 10 days in which more than 50 writers, poets, and journalists from across the country will participate in readings and panel discussions. Keynote presentations include broadcasting legend Stan Freberg, cultural critic Joe Queenan, and celebrated French photographer Francois Paolini. Featuring writers workshops, children's programs, the Lewis Avenue Poetry Cafe Under the Stars, and a classic boxing film series. Most events are free.

12th Annual Austin Film Festival Writers Conference
October 20 - 23, 2005
One of the biggest screenwriting festivals in the country that brings together not only local writers, but also some of the biggest names in Hollywood and independent cinema. Over 100 films are screened during the event.

¡Fiesta de las Artes!
October 22 & 23, 2005
A two day celebration of the culture of the people of Mexico, Latin America, and the southwestern United States. Features live performances, dancing, music, arts and crafts, and hands-on activities.

2nd Annual "An Art Harvest"
October 22 & 23, 2005
A unique Albuquerque North Valley outdoor event, featuring 20 New Mexico artists showing and selling their fine arts & fine crafts.

TOMÁS RIVERA 10th Anniversary Mexican-American Children’s Book Award Presentation
October 28 - 11:00 am
Southwestern Writers Collection
Presentation honoring this year’s Tomás Rivera award winner, Pam Muñoz Ryan for Becoming Naomi León.

Socorro Regional Art Exhibition
August 1 - October 30, 2005
Talented watercolorists Warren Smart and Georgette Grey, oil painter Kim Dommer, and photographer Linda Aragon on display. This is the first in a series of professionally-curated exhibits the sponsor hopes to arrange; the goal is to continue rotating art exhibits throughout the area to promote the southwest region’s artists and their works. Socorro, NM.

New Art in Austin: 22 to Watch
August 20 - October 30, 2005
The Austin Museum of Art
AMOA organizes and presents New Art in Austin: 22 to Watch. The second in a series of triennial exhibitions, New Art in Austin introduces twenty-two of Austin's hottest emerging artists whose work stretches the boundaries of contemporary art.

Texas Book Festival
October 28 - 30, 2005
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the 10th annual Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.

2nd Annual Celebraciónes de la Gente
October 29 - 30, 2005
Celebrating the dead is never livelier than during the Museum of Northern Arizona’s Celebraciónes de la Gente, its annual Hispanic festival. Three Folklorico groups from Flagstaff will delight audiences and educational, yet fun, cultural discussions will be held throughout the day, including an altar building workshop and storytelling by Lupe Anaya.

DENIS JOHNSON Poetry Reading & Book Signing
September 29 - 3:30 p.m.
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the Texas State English Department. Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore. Q&A in the SWWC Exhibit Room following the book signing (5 to 6:30 p.m.).

Dedication of "The Battle of Medina" Historical Marker
Atsacosa County Historical Commission
Thursday, August 18, 2005 - 10 a.m.
Corner of Bruce and Applewhite Road, Hwy. 281 South, at Espey, Texas, 20 miles south of San Antonio.
Dan Arellano, the Austin-based author of "Tejano Roots, A Family Legend," will speak at the dedication. The Sons of the Republic will hold a memorial service at the battle site on Saturday, August 20, at 11 a.m. For more information contact Dan Arellano at www.tejanoroots.org

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: New Acquisitions
March 26, 2005 - August 12, 2005
Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern & Mexican Photography
Photoworks by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Curtis, Keith Carter, Annie Leibovitz, Jack Spencer, Sebastião Salgado, Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, Kathy Vargas, Graciela Iturbide, Russell Lee, and a host of other prominent names in photography today.
(April 16 Reception & Program.)

RIO GRANDE: The Storied River
March 1, 2005 - July 31, 2005
Southwestern Writers Collection
A celebration of the grand waterway and its borderlands through literature, photographs, and music from the Collection’s distinguished holdings. (April 7 Reception, Panel Discussion, Book Sale & Signing.)

Drawn from Experience: Landmark Maps of Texas
February 19 - June 5, 2005
A Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum exhibit that traces the evolution of the shape of Texas through 500 years of mapmaking, from the sixteenth century to the present day.

The Southern Pacific Railroad: the "Road of a Thousand Wonders"
March 31- June 10, 2005
The DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University exhibits photographs, maps, manuscripts, posters, timetables and brochures from the Southern Pacific Railroad. The exhibit opens with a free public lecture by author and historian Richard J. Orsi: "Sunset Limited: Towards a New History of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the American West." Reception at 6:00 PM, lecture at 6:30 PM, March 31, 2004.
 

All May events continued into June.
 

CHRISTOPHER RICKS Lecture & Book Signing
Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 3:30 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection
A Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. Nobel-nominee BOB DYLAN will feature in this lecture by the next Oxford Professor of Poetry. Ricks’ recent Dylan’s Visions of Sin was a 20-year labor of love by a man who owns 1,700 Dylan bootleg recordings and studio outtakes as well as the collected works. Ricks is currently professor of humanities at Boston University. (Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.)
 

The Texas State Historical Association 109th Annual Meeting
Radisson Plaza Hotel, 815 Main Street, Forth Worth, TX
March 3 - 5, 2005
U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will headline the Association's 109th Annual Meeting. Other speakers include James Ward Lee of the TCU Press, TSHA president John W. Crain, and Jerry Thompson. The program will also feature some forty sessions involving more than a hundred individual presentations on various aspects of Texas history.

RICHARD FORD Reading & Book Signing
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 3:30 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department. (Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.)

An Interview with BARRY HANNAH
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - 3:30 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department and Roy F. & Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. Pulitzer-prize finalist Barry Hannah currently holds the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State. (Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.)
 

BARRY HANNAH: A Talk on Southern Literature
February 8, 2005 - 3:30 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection
Therese Kayser Lindsey/ Katherine Anne Porter Series Event sponsored by the English Department and Roy F. & Joann Cole Mitte Foundation. Pulitzer-prize finalist Barry Hannah currently holds the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State. (Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.)

SW/TX PCA/ACA Annual Conference
February, 9 -12, 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico
The 2005 conference will feature guests speakers, graduate student awards, and a host of “special events.”

DANNY ANDERSON: A Talk on the Contemporary Mexican Novel
Sponsored by Texas State’s Modern Languages Department
February 24, Thursday - 5:00 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection

JIM SANDERSON Reading & Book Signing
Sponsored by the Southwest Regional Humanities Center
February 24, Thursday - 1:00 pm / FREE
Southwestern Writers Collection
Professor of English at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, Jim Sanderson is author of three other novels--LA MORDIDA, SAFE DELIVERY, and EL CAMINO DEL RIO--a short story collection, and a collection of essays on West Texas. His short stories have appeared in ten anthologies. Sanderson reads from his new book, NEVIN'S HISTORY, an epic historical novel of romance, violence, and the struggle for civilization on the frontier set against the backdrop of the turbulent lower Rio Grande valley of the 1870s. Books for sale courtesy of the University Bookstore.

Public Symposium: The Political Legacies of the American West
February 26, 2005 - 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Theater, Hughes Trigg Student Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University
Historians will offer original work on key issues, personalities, and themes, offering both stimulating questions and provocative answers about the nature of the political west and its relationship with national politics.
 

Go West: Selections from the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, C.R. Smith Collection
October 16 - January 9, 2005
Experience the history and myth of the old West through the artwork of such acclaimed artists as Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, Charles Russell, Henry Farny and Maynard Dixon. Collaborating with the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum exhibits more than fifty paintings that capture the drama of the people, events, and landscapes of the American West as it appeared over 100 years ago.

Vietnam from a Texas POV
September 1 - January 31, 2005
The war's stories from points of view close to home, through the words, photographs, and memorabilia of Sarah Bird, William Broyles, Jr., Mark Busby, James Crumley, Robert Flynn, and others. On exhibit at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.

Animalerie
October 23, 2004 - March 20, 2005
Photographs by Jayne Hinds Bidaut on exhibit in concert with the next Wittliff Gallery book launch. The Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography.

2004

Cyrus Cassells reading, book sale and signing
December 2, 2004 - 3:30 PM
Cassells reads from his latest book of poetry, More Than Peace and Cypresses. Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.
 

Barry Hannah Reading
November 4, 2004 - 3:30 PM
Barry Hannah, the Texas State University English Department's Roy F. and Joann Mitte Endowed Chair for Creative Writing, reads selected works. Southwest Writers Collection.

Undergrads read from their poetry and fiction
November 9, 2004 - 5:00 PM
Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.

W. S. Merwin reading, book sale & signing
November 18, 2004 - 3:30 PM
Part of the Therese Kayser Lindsey/Katherine Anne Porter Series. Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.

Miguel González-Gerth reads from his poetry in Spanish and English
November 22, 2004 - 3:30 PM
Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos. Book sale and signing.
 

Undergrads read from their poetry and fiction
October 5, 2004 - 5:00 PM
Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.

Deep in el corazón: A Week of Texas and Mexican Cultures
October 12 - 15, 2005
Presentations and panel discussions hosted by the Center for Southwestern and Mexican Studies at Austin College in Sherman, TX.

Vegas Valley Book Festival
October 21-23, 2004
A multi-day program of readings, lectures and panel discussions. Keynote lectures by nationally-known writers. Showcase for young and promising writers. Book signings and film screenings. Workshops for aspiring writers of all ages.

Exhibit Opening Reception and Book Launch for Animalerie
October 23, 2004 - 7-10 PM
Photographs by Jayne Hinds Bidaut, book sale, and signing with the artist. The Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography.

Texas Book Festival
October 28-31, 2004
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the ninth annual Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.
 

Tomás Rivera Book Award Reception
September 16, 2004 - 6:00 PM
Honoring Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book by Yuyi Morales. Held at the Southwest Writers Collection on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.

Songs of the Vaquero
September 17, 2004 - 4:00 PM
Folk music from the vaquero & cowboy traditions at the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography.
 

Texas Flags
February 28 - August 22, 2004
This temporary exhibit at The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum explores the history, symbolism and events behind 30 rare banners, including flags from the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers, Texas battalions that fought in WWII and more.
 

Latina Letters: An Annual Conference on Latina Literature and Identity
July 15-17, 2004
Three-day event held at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas showcasing the work of latina writers, scholars, filmmakers, and playwrights. There will also be an all-latina book fair.
 

Lonesome Dove Revisited
April 2 - June 30, 2004
Lonesome Dove fans can get a first-hand look at some of the TV miniseries’ wardrobe and set designs, script pages, photographs, and authentic costumes and props. Presented by the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University, San Marcos.
 

Arizona Book Festival
Saturday, April 3, 2004
Meet nationally known and local authors, enjoy panel discussions, browse through hundreds of books for sale, explore over 100 on-site exhibitors, watch lively stage presentations, and fill up on a full menu of festival fare.

"She Flies"
Monday, April 19, 2004 - 7:00 PM
A play based on the short story by Texas State graduate, David Rice, will be performed at the University Performing Arts Center on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos, followed by discussion with David Rice, playwright Mike Garcia (Nushank Productions), and cast. Rice will also speak at two events on campus and at the community library that week.

Reading and Discussion with David Rice
Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 7:00 PM
Texas State graduate, David Rice, will conduct a reading and discussion of his short story, "She Flies," at the San Marcos Public Library.
 

Texas Photographic Society Members' Only Show
February 21 - March 28, 2004
Juried by Austin-based photographer, screenwriter, film producer, and gallery founder Bill Wittliff, this year’s exciting Members’ Only Show from the Texas Photographic Society features 60 images—in black and-white and color—by over 40 artists.

¡A Viva Voz!
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 5:00 PM
Second annual celebration of U.S. Latino culture featuring a reading by author playwright and Texas State graduate, David Rice. Will be held in the Benson Latin American Collection Rare Books Room, Sid Richardson Hall 1.101 on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. Reception to follow. Complimentary parking available in Lot 38; enter from Red River Street.

William J. Cobb Reading
(Texas State graduate and Dobie Paisano Fellow)
Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 3:30 PM
Hosted by the Southwestern Writers Collection and co-sponsored by TKL, Alumni Affairs, the Southwest Regional Humanities Center & University Honors Program. Open to Public - FREE.
 

Scene of the Crime: Mystery/Detective Fiction from Texas
September 2, 2003 - February 29, 2004
"Whodunit" in the Lone Star State? Find out as the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University-San Marcos investigates Scene of the Crime: Mystery/Detective Fiction from Texas. Genre fans can make their fall reading lists from the dozens of authors spotlighted in this sleuth-centered exhibit.

Rocky Schenk Photographs
October 18 - February 15, 2004
Like lost stills from a silent movie, the photographs of Rocky Schenck hint at stories set in surreal, shadowy landscapes backlit with moments of pure beauty. Lose yourself in Schenck's dreamlike images at the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography.
 

2003

Play Ball! Texas Baseball
June 14, 2003 - January 4, 2004
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum presents a special exhibit that captures the excitement of America's "national pastime" with artifacts like original uniforms, equipment, stadium details, mascots, memorabilia and more.
 

Reading by Walt McDonald
November 6, 2003
The 2001 Texas Poet Laureate reads from his work at the Southwest Writers Collection.

Texas Book Festival
November 8 - 9, 2003
Founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1995, the eighth annual Texas Book Festival is held on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol and features readings and discussions from renowned authors.
 

43rd Annual Western History Association Conference
October 8 - 11, 2003
The Boundless West: Imagery and Popular Culture of the American West — Meet established authors, professors and other recognized experts in western history along with those who are making their own name in the field. Special events are also scheduled for entertainment and for savoring the unique cultural heritage of the conference site.

Russell Lee: A Centenary Exhibition
March 29 - October 12, 2003
The Wittliff Gallery Of Southwestern & Mexican Photography in the Alkek Library at Texas State University-San Marcos celebrates the Great Depression documentarian, Russell Lee, with an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Reading by Robert Flynn
October 23, 2003
The award-winning native Texan reads from his work at the Southwest Writers Collection.

Vegas Valley Book Festival
October 23 - 25, 2003
Featuring keynote speaker, Rudolfo Anaya, the second annual Vegas Valley Book Festival in Henderson, Nevada is a program of readings, lectures, panel discussions, book signings, writers workshops, keynote lectures by nationally-known authors, and an outdoor book fair with family-oriented activities.

38th Annual Western Literature Association Conference
October 29 - November 1, 2003
The West of the 21st Century — For its annual 2003 meeting, set in the very “new western” city of Houston, Texas, the Western Literature Association presents papers attending to the ways that regional culture and literature have been transformed by the Vietnam War, the end of the Cold War, and the spread of globalization (finance capital; new communications technologies; consumerism).

Southwestern Writers Collection acquires
Cormac McCarthy papers

The Southwestern Writers Collection, a part of The Wittliff Collections at the Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos, has acquired the papers of Pultizer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Cormac McCarthy. For details click here.