The young Tejano singer onstage — clad in skintight black head-to-toe, hair dyed black in a short shiny pompadour and wearing big loop earrings — looks like she’s skipping or maybe doing a modern tango. She’s in flight, and the …
Backstory to an iconic photo of “brotherly love.”
The iconic photograph of the legendary Vaughan Brothers – Jimmie and Stevie Ray – sitting on a couch, smiling, arms over each other’s shoulders and flanked by electric guitars was taken by Scott Van Osdol and Jeff Rowe in spring …
Read More "Backstory to an iconic photo of “brotherly love.”"
Rechy archive illustrates our society’s changing views on the LGTBQIA community.
In honor of Pride Month 2022, I wanted to give a behind-the-scenes look at the John Rechy papers which I’m currently processing. John Rechy is a native El Pasoan who is recognized as a pioneer LGBTQ author. In 1963 he …
Read More "Rechy archive illustrates our society’s changing views on the LGTBQIA community."
Texas literary all-stars gather to celebrate “Viva Texas Rivers” at The Wittliff.
An all-star collection of 23 Texas writers along with an acclaimed artist gathered at the Wittliff Collections on Mother’s Day to celebrate a sparkling new literary anthology devoted to Texas Rivers. Viva Texas Rivers! Adventures, Misadventures & Glimpses of Nirvana …
Read More "Texas literary all-stars gather to celebrate “Viva Texas Rivers” at The Wittliff."
Niceday: Charles Barsotti’s Commerical Pup
You may not know his name, but you would recognize his cartoons of talking animals, talking pasta, kings, and corporate bosses. Over the course of his career, Charles Barsotti published more than 1,300 cartoons in The New Yorker and thousands …
Stevie Ray Vaughan comes to The Wittliff
The recent acquisition of a substantive Steve Ray Vaughan archive is the latest gem preserved at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, home of more than 500 historic literary, photographic, film and music collections. The new SRV collection offers …
Inhabiting Darkness (Habitar La Oscuridad): The photography of Marco Antonio Cruz shines a light on compassion
By Kimberly Conner To experience Inhabiting Darkness (Habitar La Oscuridad) is to understand that whether we navigate the world with sight, or without it, we are united by a shared humanity. This collection of stunning black and white images offers …
From Politics to Poodles: A Look into Molly Ivins’ Personal Library
Written by Wittliff archivist, Karen Sigler, This article was originally published in the Society of Southwestern Archivist and now resides in Texas State Universities digital archives. If the world were given your personal library, what would it tell them about …
Read More "From Politics to Poodles: A Look into Molly Ivins’ Personal Library"
9/11: A Reflective Pause
Photographer Eric O’Connell photographed the chaos and atrocities of September 11, 2001 and survived. Speaking with him recently about the upcoming twentieth anniversary, he said “it brings him reflective pause on what happened to him personally” and added, “that all …
Looking into the face of the Grey Ghost
In 1994, sculptor Cindy Debold met the Grey Ghost. Her first impression of the legendary blues pianist born Roosevelt Williams was that he was rather frail and shy. He was 90 at the time. The Grey Ghost arrived at Debold’s …
THE KEYSTONE 