A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is a historian of prehistory. Some historians are recognized by publications or training and experience. "Historian" became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany and elsewhere.
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the South Central region of the country, Texas shares borders with the U.S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast.
Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, except Hawaii. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. The term "American Indian" excludes Native Hawaiians and some Alaska Natives, while Native Americans are American Indians, plus Alaska Natives of all ethnicities. Native Hawaiians are not counted as Native Americans by the US Census, instead being included in the Census grouping of "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander".
Carlson received his Ph.D. in 1973 from Texas Tech, taught at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin in Guadalupe County, and returned to Tech in the early 1980s as a professor of history. He retired from the university in 2009. He has also been active throughout his career as a fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association, based at Texas Tech, and the Texas State Historical Association, headquartered at the University of Texas in [Austin, Texas]. Carlson concentrates on ranching, frontier life, the military, and Indian affairs.[3] He has through 2017 published 23 books and more than 240 articles, essays, and book reviews.[4]
Seguin is a city in and the county seat of Guadalupe County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,175. By 2015, the population was estimated to be 27,864.. As of 2017, the population of the city reached 31,078 people.
Guadalupe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 131,533. The county seat is Seguin. The county was founded in 1846 and is named after Guadalupe River.
The West Texas Historical Association is an organization of both academics and laypersons dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the total history of West Texas, loosely defined geographically as all Texas counties and portions of counties located west of Interstate 35.
Carlson's The Cowboy Way
In 2006, Carlson edited The Cowboy Way: An Explanation of History and Culture, published by the Texas Tech University Press. Carlson wrote two chapters, "Myth and the Modern Cowboy" and "Cowboys and Sheepherders." In the preface, Carlson writes that the interest in the cowboys comes from:
The Texas Tech University Press, founded in 1971, is the university press of the American Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas.
dime novels and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Exhibition, then in the enormous popularity of Owen Wister's The Virginian (1902), and subsequently in the success of popular western novels of the type by Zane Grey and Max Brand, in western films (made in Italy, Germany, Hollywood, and elsewhere), in television programs in public television documentaries, and in other formats, including the highly effective use of cowboys as advertising symbols. Serious scholars—including historians, sociologists, literary critics, and others—have studied cowboys and the symbols and myths that surround them.
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term dime novel has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, referring to story papers, five- and ten-cent weeklies, "thick book" reprints, and sometimes early pulp magazines. The term was used as a title as late as 1940, in the short-lived pulp magazine Western Dime Novels. In the modern age, the term dime novel has been used to refer to quickly written, lurid potboilers, usually as a pejorative to describe a sensationalized but superficial literary work.
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was an American scout, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory, but he lived for several years in his father's hometown in Toronto Township, Ontario, Canada, before the family returned to the Midwest and settled in the Kansas Territory.
Owen Wister was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing The Virginian and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant.
In the popular view cowboys were men on horseback. In fact, most of the time they spent their days on foot working at such farm-related chores as repairing fences and cutting hay. Even in Wister’s defining cowboy novel, for example, the hero of the story—the prototypal cowboy—herded neither cows nor cattle of any kind.
Nonetheless, in both his actual and his imagined life the cowboy has become a popular hallmark for defining what it means to be a 'real' American male. Perceived as a tough, mobile, and independent outdoorsman, he has become a symbolic yardstick against which modern men might measure their own manhood.[5]
Other chapters of The Cowboy Way are "Cowboy Humor" by Kenneth W. Davis, "Stockyards Cowboys" by J'Nell L. Pate, "English Cowboy: The Earl of Aylesford in the American West," by James Irving Fenton (1932–2011) of Lubbock, "Cowboy Songs" by Robert G. Weiner, and "Vaqueros in the Western Cattle Industry" by Jorge Iber.[5]
Another Pecos Bill
"Pecos Bill," a Military Biography of William R. Shafter, (Texas A&M University Press, 1989), is a study of a controversial military officer who was stationed for a time in West Texas. The officer is of course unrelated to the western character Pecos Bill, a creation of folklore. Carlson seeks to set the historical record straight in regard to General William Shafter, formerly considered a "fat, incompetent buffoon" who headed the American Expeditionary Force to Cuba in 1898. Much of the success of the AEF has been attributed to future U.S. PresidentTheodore Roosevelt and his friend, General Leonard Wood.[6]
After the American Civil War, Shafter returned to his native Michigan but found that he preferred military to civilian life. In 1867, he received a commission in the regular Army and was sent to Texas as a lieutenant colonel of the 41st Infantry, an African American regiment. Carlson describes Shafter's Texas sojourn as service "with distinction." Thereafter, Shafter fought in several Indian campaigns throughout the West. He was involved in peace restoration at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in the wake of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee.[6]
In the Spanish–American War, Shafter transported a force of 16,000 men some 1,200 miles by water, and within ten days of landing drove back the enemy to his last line of defense at Santiago de Cuba. Within another two weeks, the city surrendered, and a Spanish army of 24,000 laid down its arms. Carlson concludes that Shafter's work in Cuba was certainly not that of a "buffoon."[6]
corrects such misconceptions and rescues Shafter from ill consideration and obscurity. [His] portrait of William R. Shafter, therefore, is a refreshing revisionist analysis of an important nineteenth century military figure. Perhaps at times the author is too persistent in trying to rescue Shafter from his reputation as an incompetent, but the arguments he makes are compelling. Even so, Carlson, does not paper over flaws in his character. Shafter was obstinate, profane, a womanizer, a sometimes drunk, and single-mindedly hard-boiled. He was also, Carlson admits, energetic, ambitious, self-reliant, and hard-working. When one finishes this book, there is a sense that Shafter was a flawed but capable figure. 'Pecos Bill' is a fine book, well worth the reading.[3][6]
Other Carlson works
With Tom Crum, Carlson published in 2010 Myth, Memory, and Massacre: The Pease River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker.Cynthia Ann Parker was the mother of Comanche chief Quanah Parker, and had been taken captive in 1836, when she was a young girl. In 1860, she was taken prisoner in a raid on the Pease River by a contingent of Texas Rangers, led by Sul Ross, and United States cavalry. Carlson and Crum re-examine the plight of Parker and reveal a century of historical falsifications that have made the facts of the case a continuing mystery.[2][7]
In 2006, Carlson also published Amarillo: The Story of a Western Town, a history of Amarillo, largest city in the Texas Panhandle.[4]
In 2005, Texas Tech Press published Carlson's short volume of history and archaeology of the Llano Estacado, entitled Deep Time and the Texas High Plains: History and Geology.[5] A reviewer write that early inhabitants of the Plains who came to the Lubbock Lake Landmark in the long Yellow House Draw, "camped, hunted game, and sought shelter from harsh winter weather." Carlson surveys the geologic past of the area, with emphasis on "human activity in the region... how early peoples adapted to shifting environmental conditions and changing animal resources.... Carlson places this significant national archaeological site in broad perspective, connecting it to geology and history in the larger upper Brazos River drainage system and, by extension, the central Llano Estacado...."[8]
The Plains Indians (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press) won the History Book Club selection of 1998 and was subsequently published in 2004 in a French language translation in Paris. In 2005, The Plains Indians was named one of the 100 most outstanding books on the American West published in the 20th century.[4]
Empire Builder in the Texas Panhandle: William Henry Bush (1849-1931), Texas A&M University Press, 1996, is the story of a versatile entrepreneur who made a fortune in many enterprises, including the Panhandle cattle industry.[9]
Texas Woollybacks: The Range Sheep and Goat Industry (Texas A&M University Press, 1982) is a study of the sheep and goat industries in West Texas.[10]
With the historians Donald R. Abbe (born 1949) and David J. Murrah (born 1941), Carlson co-authored Lubbock and the South Plains.[11] In the 2014 West Texas Historical Review, Carlson published "The Nicolett Hotel and the Founding of Lubbock", a study based in part on the hotel register of the former landmark Nicolett Hotel in Lubbock.[12]
Academic honors
In 2000, Carlson garnered the "Outstanding Researcher Award" from the Texas Tech College of Arts and Sciences. He served on the advisory committees for the Handbook of Texas, a creation of the Texas State Historical Association. He has worked on the Charles Goodnight papers. In 1993, he received the Texas Tech "President's Excellence in Teaching Award." In 2005, he was named outstanding professor by the Residence Life students. He has been twice named the "outstanding faculty member" of the Texas Tech history department. He has also been a director of the Texas Tech Center for the Southwest.[4] In 2006, Carlson was elected to membership in the Philosophical Society of Texas.[2]
On April 11, 2015, the West Texas Historical Association at its annual meeting this year at Amarillo College in Amarillo honored Carlson with the presentation "A Prof's Prof: A Timely Tribute to Paul Howard Carlson and His Versatile Body of Work." Susan Dickey of Jackson, Mississippi, discussed Carlson as "Young Teacher and Military Historian"; Leland Turner of Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, presented "Carlson: Ranching Historian", and Scott Sosebee of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, concluded with Carlson as "Native American Historian."[13]
Carlson is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Philosophical Society of Texas, and several other professional organizations.
Family
Carlson and his wife, the former Ellen J. Opperman (born ca. 1941), reside in scenic Ransom Canyon in Lubbock County.[2][14] There are two Carlson sons, Steven Y. Carlson (born ca. 1966) of Schertz, Texas,[15] and Kevin A. Carlson (born 1971) of Ransom Canyon,[14] and one daughter, Diane K. McLaurin of Lubbock.
William Rufus Shafter was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War who received America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Fair Oaks. Shafter also played a prominent part as a major general in the Spanish–American War. Fort Shafter, Hawaii, is named for him, as well as the city of Shafter, California and the ghost town of Shafter, Texas. He was nicknamed "Pecos Bill".
Lubbock is the 11th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 256,042 in 2015, the city is also the 83rd-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically and geographically as the Llano Estacado, and ecologically is part of the southern end of the High Plains, lying at the economic center of the Lubbock metropolitan area, which has a projected 2020 population of 327,424.
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight, was an American cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J. Frank Dobie said that Goodnight "approached greatness more nearly than any other cowman of history."
William Curry Holden, also known as Curry Holden, was an historian and archaeologist. In 1937, he became the first director of the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. During his tenure, the museum gained regional and state recognition for excellence. Holden also guided the plans for a new museum building, which was dedicated on November 11, 1970. The museum includes the main building, the Moody Planetarium, the Natural Science Research Laboratory, the research and educational elements of the Lubbock Lake Landmark, and the Val Verde County research site.
Peta Nocona was a chief of the Comanche Nokoni band, who was the husband of Cynthia Ann Parker and the father of Quanah Parker.
Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum is a history museum on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, U.S.A., a small city south of Amarillo. The museum's contents are owned and controlled by the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, while West Texas A&M University and the Texas A&M University Board of Regents maintains and provides the facilities. Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum claims to be the largest history museum in the state of Texas with 70,000 visitors annually and more than three million artifacts.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, United States. It is owned by GateHouse Media.
Texas is a stage musical produced annually by the Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation at the outdoor Pioneer Amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon outside of Canyon, Texas. The show is performed every Tuesday through Sunday from June through August. It was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green and conceived of as an idea by Margaret Pease Harper.
James Evetts Haley Sr., usually known as J. Evetts Haley, was a Texas-born political activist and historian who wrote multiple works on the American West, including an enduring biography of cattleman Charles Goodnight. Haley determined Goodnight to have been a man of greatness and claimed that Goodnight's detractors were less-than-successful persons envious of Goodnight's achievement and bearing. His political views were ultraconservative.
The Battle of Pease River occurred on December 18, 1860, near the present-day town of Margaret, Texas in Foard County, Texas, United States. The town is located between Crowell and Vernon within sight of the Medicine Mounds just outside present-day Quanah, Texas. A monument on that spot marks the site of the event, where a group of Comanche Indians were killed by a detachment of Texas Rangers and militia under Ranger Captain "Sul" Ross. The Indian camp was attacked as retaliation against recent Comanche attacks on white settlers.
Harold Dow Bugbee was an American Western artist, illustrator, painter, and curator of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas. Bugbee sought with considerable success to become the dominant artist of the Texas South Plains, as his role model, Charles M. Russell of Montana, accordingly sketched life of the northern Great Plains.
Laura Vernon Hamner was an American author, ranch historian, radio commentator, educator, and public official from the Texas Panhandle who was known informally in her later years as "Miss Amarillo", a reference to her adopted city of Amarillo, Texas.
Ernest Wallace was a historian of Texas, the American West and the southern Great Plains, who was affiliated with Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Chester Alwyn Barr, Jr. is an American historian who specializes in African American studies, the American South, the American Civil War, and Reconstruction. He is a professor emeritus and former chairman of the history department at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
The Nicolett Hotel was a two-and-a-half-story frame white building which provided lodging for more than 50 years and was particularly important to the settlement of Lubbock County in West Texas.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Lubbock, Texas, USA.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Amarillo, Texas, USA.
Margaret Pease Harper was an American educator, musician and civic leader. She is best known for originating the idea for the historical outdoor drama, Texas, and facilitating both its creation and the Pioneer Amphitheater where it is performed in Palo Duro Canyon.
1 2 3 4 Pecos Bill, a Military Biography of William R. Shafter. College Station: Texas A&M Press. 1989. ISBN978-0890963487.
↑ Carlson, Paul H.; Tom Crum (2009). "The "Battle" at Pease River and the Question of Reliable Sources in the Recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Vol.113, no. 1 (1): 32–52. doi:10.1353/swh.2009.0070. JSTOR27794584.
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