News at the Nesbitt, 2006-2009
Bill Stein Texas Room Dedication
Danning Presents Forensic Reconstruction Projects
Local Authors Barnett, Brown, Wiseman Present Book
Historian Smallwood as Consultant
Alma
Hilburn returns as Interim Director
In
Memory of Dorothy Albrecht, Volunteer Cemetery Researcher
In
Memory of Bill Stein, Nesbitt Memorial Library Director/Archivist
One
Ranger, Jackson, Draws Full House
Michael
Entertains, Informs
Folkins
Brings Out Dance Hall Crowd
Parsons
Tells of Armstrong, Hardin
An
Evening with Susan Wittig Albert
Author
Bennett Appears at Library
Friends
of the Library Book Sale
Peter
Fletcher Fills the Room
Anders
Saustrup, Eccentric Historian, Found Dead
ACE
Donates Remaining Funds to Library
Hardin
Visit Another "Fabulous Success"
Dorothy
Albrecht Medals Awarded
Live
Oaks and Dead Folks, 2007
Elmer
Kelton at the Nesbitt
Franklin
Again Closes Summer Reading Program
Wyman
Meinzer Event Draws Record Crowd
Rare
and Important Items Donated to Archives
Bill Stein Texas Room Open House |
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The Texas Room was
rededicated as the Bill Stein Texas Room and an open house was held on October 15,
2009. A painting of Bill Stein by Ken Turner, commissioned by the Nesbitt
Memorial Library Foundation, was unveiled. Stein was the library
director/archivist from 1997 until his untimely death in December 2008. |
Danning Presents "Sam" and other Forensic Reconstruction Projects |
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Forensic artist Amanda Danning
spoke to an audience of 60 on September 17, 2009, about her 3-D facial
reconstruction projects that are on display at several museums and
universities, including the Smithsonian Institution. With Danning in this
picture is "Sam", reconstructed from a mold cast from skeletal remains
believed to be 11,000 years old that were found in Bosque County, Texas. |
Local Authors Wiseman, Brown, Barnett Present Books |
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Local Authors Beth Wiseman, Gwen
Brown, and Max Barnett discussed their books with 36 attendees on May 14,
2009. Wiseman spoke on her Daughters of the Promise series.
Brown presented her book Together Always: the Spirit of Fehdegeist.
Barnett presented his book And Time Will Turn Back: The Offer. |
Historian Smallwood as
Consultant |
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The library received the services of historian Dr. James M. Smallwood to help organize
the archives from the Spring of 2009 through
February 2010. Dr. Smallwood is professor emeritus at Oklahoma State
University and has been one of the library symposium speakers. We have several of the books he has published including The
Indian Texans (2004). Also in our circulation is the award-winning The Seventh Star of the
Confederacy (2009) by Dr. Kenneth Howell containing Dr. Smallwood's
contribution, "Prison City, Camp Ford: Largest Confederate Prisoner-of-War
Camp in the Trans-Mississippi." |
Alma Hilburn returns as
Interim Director |
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Alma Hilburn joined
the Nesbitt Memorial Library staff in 1997 as a part-time library clerk,
and eventually became a full-time assistant librarian. She retired in May,
2008, after ten years on the library staff. Following the unexpected death
of Bill Stein, Alma returned to the library, accepting the position of
Interim Director |
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In
Memory of Dorothy Albrecht, Volunteer Cemetery Researcher |
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Dorothy Mae Wallace Albrecht was a dedicated volunteer
and patron, serving several years on the library board as an officer. She
researched and recorded known burials in Colorado County for the TXGenWeb
site. She introduced Library Director Bill Stein to the cemetery
tour in La Grange, and helped him set up Columbus' first Live Oaks and
Dead Folks Cemetery Tour in 2004. The Dorothy Albrecht Medal is given to
five-year cemetery tour participants. Dorothy died at the age of 79
on January 31, 2009.
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In
Memory of Bill Stein, Nesbitt Memorial Library
Director/Archivist |
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Bill Stein became director/archivist of the Nesbitt
Memorial Library in 1997, having been archivist since 1987. A
sixth-generation Colorado County resident, Bill was well known for his
love of local and state history and folklore. He published the
Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, edited and authored articles on unique
events and characters in Texas history for numerous other publications,
and spoke locally and statewide. He assembled the “Texas Room” for
historians and genealogists, and made much available online. Bill
Stein passed away at the age of 54 on December 9, 2008.
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Texas Ranger turned literary figure H. Joaquin Jackson
addressed a crowd of sixty in the Nesbitt Memorial Library's meeting room
on Tuesday, October 21. Jackson spoke about the history of the rangers and
his own career, and about how he came to write two books, One Ranger: A
Memoir, and One Ranger Returns. Afterward, the crowd purchased
68 books. |
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Guitarist Dorian Michael drew a crowd of 38 people on
Tuesday, September 23, 2008. The audience interrupted the performance with
numerous questions, each of which Michael graciously answered, broadening
the evening from a simple recital into a seminar. |
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On July 22, 2008, Gail Folkins discussed and read from her
recent book, Texas Dance Halls: A Two-Step Circuit, at the library.
Folkins' book has stories about and photographs of many nearby dance
halls. After her talk, the audience engaged in a lively discussion of
their experiences in dance halls. Afterward, Folkins autographed copies of
her book. |
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On May 20, 2008, Chuck Parsons, the well-known Old West
historian, appeared at the library. Parsons told a crowd of 28 people
about the life and career of John B. Armstrong, the Texas Ranger who
captured the notorious killer John Wesley Hardin on a train in Florida.
After the presentation, Parsons autographed copies of his newest book,
John B. Armstrong, Texas Ranger and Pioneer Ranchman.
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Susan Wittig Albert, the highly acclaimed creator of the
amateur detective China Bayles, and author of numerous mystery books,
including a series featuring Beatrix Potter, ran through the history of
female mystery writers and female fictional detectives at the Nesbitt
Memorial Library on April 23, 2008. She also told how she began her career
as a writer, and of how she decided that her most famous character,
Bayles, would be a lawyer and the proprietor of an herb shop. Albert drew
a crowd of forty-six, and sold dozens of books. Her newest book,
Nightshade, which was published earlier in April, is the sixteenth
installment of the China Bayles series. |
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Mary Frances Chupik Bennett, author of the novel
Invitation to Cat Spring: From European
Tyranny to Freedom to Civil War, spoke at the
library on April 10, 2008. Bennett's appearance was sponsored by the
Shropshire-Upton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Her novel tells the story of a Czech family’s emigration to America
in 1855 and their subsequent involvement in the Civil War. Much of the
action takes place in Fayette, Colorado, and Austin Counties. She appeared
in costume and related highlights of the story. Her presentation drew
forty-two people. |
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The Friends of the Library book sale on March 7 and 8,
2008 drew numerous shoppers, and raised about $700 for the library. |
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Peter Fletcher, a classical guitarist from New York City,
made his fourth appearance at the Nesbitt Memorial Library on February 19,
2008, and drew a near-capacity crowd. His incredible performances of works
by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Isaac Albéniz, among others, drew raves from the
audience. |
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Anders S. Saustrup, former professor at Yale University
and the University of Texas, and a powerful, positive influence on the
development of the archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library, was found
dead in his home near Round Top on February 9, 2008. Saustrup, pictured at
left in 2006, was born in Denmark on February 7, 1930. In addition to his
teaching duties, he worked for the Texas State Historical Association and
was instrumental in initiating the production of The New Handbook of
Texas. He was also an historical advisor to James Michener when
Michener was writing his novel Texas. Michener correctly described
him as "most knowledgeable in the minutiae of Texas history." Saustrup
spent years working on an edited translation of Reise nach Texas,
which was published in Bremen in 1834 and is often said to be the
first book in German about Texas. That work brought Saustrup to Columbus
where, as he discovered, the book's author's wife and other family members
had lived and were buried. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Saustrup's
advice helped mold the archives into the outstanding facility it is. |
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The Alliance for a Clean Environment,
which successfully challenged the proposed expansion of a waste dump
in southern Colorado County in the 1990s, closed its books by donating its
remaining funds to the Nesbitt Memorial Library on February 5, 2008. The
library already housed ACE's records. ACE was represented by its former
president, Judge Billy Hefner, and the library by its director, Bill
Stein. |
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Stephen L. Hardin discussed his new book, Texian
Macabre: A Melancholy Tale of a Hanging in Early Houston, at the
library on January 15, 2008. Despite cold and rainy weather, Dr. Hardin
(pictured at right autographing a book) drew a crowd of 36 people and sold
33 books. It was, as one of those who attended remarked, another "fabulous
success" for the library. Hardin's entertaining and informative
presentation drew many similar encomiums. |
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In December 2007, the people who participated in
all five Live Oaks and Dead Folks cemetery tours were given the
Dorothy Albrecht Medal. Pictured above are Paulina Kearney, Bill
Stein, Dorothy Albrecht, Patty Simmons, Tracey Wegenhoft, and Bill
Mosley. Kearney, Wegenhoft, and Mosley acted in all five tours.
Simmons worked behind the scenes, helping set up and manage the
tours. Stein wrote and directed all five tours. The medal was named
for Albrecht because she was instrumental in getting the tours
started. Ironically, she did not receive a medal this year because
she missed one of the tours with an
illness. | |
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The library's fifth annual cemetery tour, Live Oaks and
Dead Folks, drew its biggest audience ever. For the two nights of the
tour, Friday, November 2, and Saturday, November 3, 2007, the library sold
271 tickets. The actors were Bob Gillespie (pictured at right as Dr.
Joseph W. Brown), Mike Ridlen (as John Cassagne), Allison Jones (as
Mathilda Tait), Tracey Wegenhoft (as Caroline Delany), Jim Kearney (as J.
W. E. Wallace), Laura Ann Rau (as Kate Oakes), Bill Mosley (as Dr. John H.
Bowers), Gary Chandler (as Charley Stafford), Paulina Kearney (as Ruth
Gillespie), Libby Flint (as Mabel Miller), and Sally Rogers (as Mary
Farrar Holland). The guides were Kathy Burris, Pat Gillespie, Diane
Callen, Martha Flint, Jake Wegenhoft, and Bill Stein. The gate was manned
by Dorothy Albrecht and Patty Simmons. Joe Wegenhoft, Patty Simmons, and
Bill Stein set up the cemetery. The Live Oak Art Center loaned the library
two dozen lawn chairs for the event. |
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Elmer Kelton's appearance at the library on August 7, 2007,
was an unqualified success. Between 65 and 70 people attended, and the
library sold 75 books. Kelton, who was voted the greatest Western writer
who ever lived by the Western Writers of America in 1995, spoke about his
early years as a writer and read part of his new autobiography,
Sandhills Boy. Afterward, he fielded dozens of questions, then
signed books for more than an hour. His wife, Anna, who wrote the
afterword for Sandhills Boy, also signed books. |
Julian Franklin entertained a crowd of about one hundred
children and adults at the closing program of the library's 2007 Summer
Reading Program on July 31. It was the sixth year in a row that Franklin
brought his entertaining reading-oriented magic show to Columbus. This
year, 131 children signed up for the program, 106 actually started, and 25
finished. While these numbers were lower than in previous years, the
weekly storytime sessions drew many more people than ever before. Like
last year, those who finished the program were given a work of art by
Errol Rizzuto. |
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Award-winning photographer Wyman Meinzer appeared at the
library on March 20, 2007, and drew a record crowd. More than seventy
people ate dinner, then saw Meinzer's entertaining presentation.
Afterward, Meinzer autographed copies of his many books. Meinzer, who was
named State Photographer of Texas in 1997, presented a program of many of
his best known photographs, and told the stories of how he made
them. |
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Beginning in the summer of 2006, the family of James and Mary
Elizabeth Hopkins donated a massive amount of material collected by the
Hopkinses to the archives. Though the collection will not be processed for
years, it has already yielded several rare and important items. Among them were
eleven letters written by John Samuel Shropshire to his wife while on the
Confederate campaign in New Mexico. Shropshire was the highest ranking
Confederate officer killed on the campaign. Previously, ten of his letters were
known to exist, and those ten have been repeatedly and assiduously studied by
historians. The collection also included Shropshire's Bible, a prayer book given
to him on his twenty-second birthday, and a photograph, apparently of his wife
and infant son. Besides the Shropshire letters, there was a printed flyer
containing a reminiscence of the New Mexico campaign by another Confederate
officer, James Murray Crosson. The flyer is apparently unique. Further, there
were letters written by Moses Solon Townsend while he was serving in the
Confederate army, and letters written by Marcus Harvey Townsend while he was
serving in the Texas legislature. Also included was the large journal kept by
Fannie Amelia Dickson Darden in the 1880s. This legendary item is popularly
known as "Fannie Darden's Diary," and had been out of the public domain for
several years. Finally, there was a copy of the pamphlet written by Rowan Green
and published in 1877. This is only the second copy of the pamphlet known to
exist. The other belongs to the library of the University of Texas at Austin and
is in fragile condition. All of these items greatly enhance the library's
already excellent archive, and should further elevate the library's reputation
as a repository of local history. The last items from the collection arrived in
February 2007.
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