Posted by & filed under General, Texas Digital Newspaper Program.

With this blog post, we are beginning a new series of biographies of famous Texans, before they were famous, in which we research the lives of Texans in their hometown newspapers. Currently, TDNP hosts so many newspaper title runs that we are very excited to learn what we can about our now-famous Texans.  For the first post, we have a guest writer, one of the Digital Newspaper Unit’s student assistants, Patrick Alonzo, who normally works on scanning the full-color newspapers you can find in the Texas Digital Newspaper Program. Patrick grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and he actually scanned many of the issues of the Westerner World that he mentions in the post below. 

buddy

Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historian, Volume 49, Number 1, September 1988. Austin, Texas. The Portal to Texas History.  Accessed April 1, 2016.

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they’d be happy for a while

-Don McLean, “American Pie”

A long, long time ago, before he became a music legend, Charles Hardin Holley, better known as “Buddy Holly,” was just another kid attending Lubbock High School in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, in the early 1950’s. Now with the LHS newspaper, the Westerner World, available on The Portal to Texas History, we get a glimpse of the young Holley’s school days before he became the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer that history knows him as today.

While searching through the collection of newspapers from Buddy’s time in high school, it was a bit surprising to not find any issues with Holley’s picture in them. Looking back on it now, it seems odd that the most famous man from Lubbock, whose face and name could be recognized by musicians the world over, could not even find his way into the school paper. But perhaps his lack of appearances in the paper highlights how much of a “normal guy” he was at the time, a time before appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show before millions of people, before performing in concerts around the world.

Though his face may not be found among the many photos of drama club actors and football players, Holley’s name can still be found in a number of issues from 1953-1955, although you’d have to search for both “Holly” and “Holley” due to typos in some issues. Back in those days, he was still known as “Holley” with an “e,” and it wouldn’t be until later, when he began his music career, that he would become famous as “Holly,” ironically because of the same typo.

Most often, Buddy is mentioned in the paper for having provided music at school events. It looks like Holly never passed up a chance to entertain others. Whether it was at a sophomore-grade assembly, an all-school party, or an all-night telethontelethon on KDUB-TV, Holly seemed to take every opportunity he could to showcase his talents. It comes as no surprise that he would win the contest for “western instrument” in the school’s 1954 Round-Up show. Even back then, others could recognize Holly’s skill with a guitar.

Buddy Vice PresidentApparently music wasn’t the only thing that occupied Holley’s time in high school. Many issues from the Western World talk about his work as vice-president of the Vocational Industrial Club of Industrial Co-operative Training, and although I can only guess as to what he did in the club, I’d be willing to bet that just as with his music, Holley excelled there as well. For proof, you’d need look no further than the issue from March 26, 1954, which lists Holley as the first place winner in the competition for parliamentary procedure and drafting at the club’s district meet in Levelland, Texas. According to one issue, Buddy got to go to Austin to the state meeting of the Vocational Industrial Club of Texas.

Today, generations of music fans love and admire Buddy Holley, but back in high school, there was one person in particular who had special feelings for him–his high school sweetheart, Echo McGuire. One issue from 1953 lists Buddy and Echo in a segment simply titled, “Daters.”

valentines

In fact, it seems the two were together throughout almost all of their time in high school.  One issue from 1955 tells about how the two went to Nona Gregg’s 18th birthday party at  the K.N. Clapp Party House in Lubbock. Another  reports on their attending of the Y-Teen Sweetheart Banquet together on Valentine’s Day. Events like these, no matter how small and insignificant, paint an important picture of Holley’s youth, and although he’s no longer with us to share in these memories, we love having the chance to read about such moments. From the concerts in front of sold-out crowds to the good times with a few friends, all of these moments made up the Buddy Holly we know now and just as important, the Buddy Holley that came before.

 I can’t remember if I cried

When I read about his widowed bride

But something touched me deep inside

The day the music died

Buddy Holley

Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historian, Volume 49, Number 1, September 1988. Austin, Texas. The Portal to Texas History. Accessed April 1, 2016.

Don McLean sang about the day the music died, and on that fateful February day, Lubbock lost its favorite son. On that day, a rising star in the world of music, though burning brightly, burned out much too early. However, although the music may have died, we must always remember that it was indeed real, and at one time, you could find it in a small, cotton-farming city in West Texas where many nights you can hear little more than the wind howling across the plains. But if you were fortunate enough in 1953 to be in a certain high school auditorium on a certain day in March, you’d hear something else. You’d hear the voice of a young man with a guitar in his hand and a smile on his face, and you’d know, just for that moment, the music surely was alive.

Posted by & filed under General.

March 31, 2016
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Featured Collections…

University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections
The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute of Texan Cultures contributed photographs from its Texas Folklife Festival collection and a copy of the Spanish language newspaper El Regidor (1890-1899, 1903). more… 

 

Private Collection of Joe E. Haynes 

The Private Collection of Joe E. Haynes includes family photographs, as well as a fascinating array of vintage postcards covering every holiday and locations around Texas and beyond. more… 

 

Danish Heritage Preservation Society
The Danish Heritage Preservation Society provides over 1,000 items depicting the history of Danish people in Texas.Started in 1993, the Society is comprised of residents from Danevang, Texas, which is considered to be the ‘Danish Capital of Texas’. more… 

 

From the web…

Three Questions with Jean Anne Cantore – Editor Texas Techsan

Three Questions is an initiative to share the value that our faculty, students, UNT community, and the community at large derive from using the Unique Collections at UNT Libraries. more…

from the UNT Digital Library

UNT College of Visual Arts + Design

Ireland
The UNT College of Visual Arts + Design (CVAD) seeks to engage UNT’s diverse student population with issues of artistic heritage, stimulate students’ imagination and involvement with the world, more…

 

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March 1, 2016
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big, big news!!  

UNT Libraries asks for public’s help to win $500,000 NEH challenge grant

DENTON, Texas (UNT) — The University of North Texas Libraries is asking for the public’s help to receive a $500,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Over the next five years, the university is tasked with raising $1.5 million – funds that would expand an endowment for the library’s most popular resource: the Portal to Texas History website. Donate heremore…

 

recently added Collections …
Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room 

Tarrant County College District Archives contributes digital copies of materials that document local and state history.The Heritage Room and District Archives was officially established in 2010 but their origins date back to the mid-1970s, with the Heritage Room opening in 1975. With emphasis on the cultural heritage of Tarrant County and North Texas, they have approximately 8,000 items. more…

 

Palestine Public Library

The Palestine Public Library materials include local history photographs selected for the grant Rescuing Texas History through the digitization of at-Risk photographs and maps, as well as photos taken during a Historic Resources Study in 1991. more…

 

Moore Memorial Public Library

The Moore Memorial Public Library materials include local history materials selected for the grant Rescuing Texas History through the Digitization of At-Risk Photographs and Maps. Images include photographs of the 1st Aero Squadron in Texas City from 1913-15, and of the Texas City Disaster of 1947.more…

 

From the Web…
Beth Stribling along with others were recognized for their roles in getting the state historical marker for the Elm Fork Bridge.The marker, sponsored by the county historical commission’s Marker Committee, reflects months of work by Gieringer and Zachery Richardson, a UNT graduate student. Richardson said he did the bulk of the research for the historical narrative, combing through newspaper articles using the Portal to Texas History at the UNT Libraries. He also used resources at Texas Woman’s University. read more…
from the UNT Digital Library

KXAS-NBC 5 News Collection

Voting Machines
Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story by reporter Ron Trumbla about new electronic voting machines in Tarrant County. A poll worker and voters are interviewed about the new technology. read more…

 

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February 23, 2016
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Texas Southern University

Texas Southern University features more than 200 photographs from the Barbara C. Jordan Archives. Barbara Jordan ran for the Texas House twice, in 1962 and 1964. She then ran for the Texas Senate in 1966, winning a seat and becoming the first African American since Reconstruction to serve in the Texas State Senate … (more)

 

Private Collection of T.B. Willis 

The T. B. Willis Photograph Collection comes from the private collection of T. B. Willis. It includes 648 historical photographs with albums, documents, and historical items from the Willis family and extended relatives who settled in Waco, Texas in the 19th century…more

Jacob Fontaine Religious Museum

The Jacob Fontaine Religious Museum provides materials that represent the history of African American churches in the Austin area and have contributed to the Rescuing Texas History, 2006 and Building the African-American Community collections. The museum is named for Jacob Fontaine, a slave preacher who founded thirteen Baptist churches in Travis County. Mainly consisting of photographs, the items date from 1898 to 2006. He established several churches, a newspaper (the Gold Dollar), taught school, and established a grocery store and laundry. The collection includes photographs of church parishioners, families, students, weddings, church groups, and more from Austin’s African-American community… (more)

From the Web
 

The Portal as a resource

Sunday Gazetteer

Donna Hunt used The Portal to Texas History as a resource to locate information or the newspapers on Bredette C. Murray when he was publisher of his “Sunday Gazetteer” newspaper back in 1910 and 1911 … (more)

from the UNT Digital Library
 
University Photography Collection

Presented by the UNT Archives, this collection of photographs features University of North Texas football, coaches, and fans, UNT alumni (Golden Eagles) and alumni events, and images of the changing and growing University of North Texas campus…(more)
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December 20, 2015
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Featured Collections…

Texas Cultures Online

Texas Cultures Online features local history materials from seventeen institutions depicting the diverse cultures of Texas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Funding for this collection was provided by the Amon Carter Foundation…more

 

 

Private Collection of T.B. Willis 

The T. B. Willis Photograph Collection comes from the private collection of T. B. Willis. It includes 648 historical photographs with albums, documents, and historical items from the Willis family and extended relatives who settled in Waco, Texas in the 19th century

…more

Hardin-Simmons University Library

The Richardson and Smith libraries contain approximately 400,000 items. In addition, the resources of the Internet, remote library catalogs, and more than 100 databases are available to the researcher. Highlights of the special collections include Texana, Fine Printing, and nineteenth and twentieth century classics. Hardin-Simmons University is a member of the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council and a founding member of the Abilene Library Consortium…more

From the Web
Humble Museum gets continued help from RTH grant

Thanks to another $1,000 grant awarded to the museum, more copies of The Humble Echo are currently on their way to UNT for further digitizing, and will join the other copies of the newspaper online for anyone to read them for free at the Portal to Texas History. The university offers their “Rescuing Texas History Mini-Grants” which provide digitization services to libraries, archives, museums etc. Already digitized papers include the earliest versions of the Humble Echo released in June of 1942…more

from the UNT Digital Library
Video of Christmas sales

KXAS was the first television station in Texas and the Southwest when it signed on as WBAP-TV on September 27, 1948. It is an NBC owned station in Fort Worth which serves the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Presented by the UNT Archives, this collection features photographs, video, and scripts from news stories produced by the station during its early years…more

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