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IN MEMORIAM
J. FRANK DOBIE
J. Frank Dobie, professor of English and renowned folklorist,
died on September 18, 1964. He was 75. His funeral was held in Hogg
Auditorium and he was buried in the State Cemetery.
Professor Dobie was born on September 26, 1888, on his
family's ranch in Live Oak County, Texas. He studied at Southwestern
University, earning a bachelor's degree there in 1910. He received a
master's degree from Columbia University in 1914.
Professor Dobie joined the faculty of The University
of Texas at Austin in 1914. His association with the University was
interrupted on various occasions. From 1917 to 1919, he served in the
field artillery during World War I. In 1920 he again left UT Austin
to manage a family ranch for one year. Professor Dobie returned to the
University in 1921, but left once more to serve as chairman of the Department
of English at Oklahoma A&M University from 1923 to 1925. After returning
to UT Austin in 1925, Professor Dobie was a member of the faculty until
1947.
Professor Dobie played a significant role in the Texas
Folklore Society. As the society's secretary and editor for 21 years,
he built the group into a permanent professional organization. Professor
Dobie published many works that established him as a major writer of
Texas and the American Southwest. Some of his important works were A
Vaquero of the Brush Country (1929), Coronado's Children
(1930), On the Open Range (1931), Tales of the Mustang
(1936), Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest (1942 and
1952), Tongues of the Monte (1947), Tales of Old Time Texas
(1955), and I'll Tell You a Tale (1960). He won the Literary
Guild Award for Coronado's Children and held both Guggenheim
and Rockefeller fellowships.
Professor Dobie was honored for his achievements abroad
and in the United States. In England he held the chair in American history
at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, and received an honorary
master's degree there. He served as the honorary consultant on American
cultural history for the Library of Congress. He was also awarded the
Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil award, from President Lyndon
B. Johnson, on September 14, 1964, only days before his death. Special
editions of the Texas Observer and the Austin American-Statesman
were published to acknowledge his contributions to the state's literature
and folklore. The Dobie Paisano Fellowship for writers and other artists
was named in his honor.
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
Biographical sketch prepared by Teresa Palomo
Acosta and posted on the Faculty Council web site on November
17, 2000. Additional biographical sources can be found in the
Barker Texas History Center, the UT Office of Public Affairs,
and the New
Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association,
1996.
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