Texas Women and Ranching: On the Range, at the Rodeo, and in Their Communities

by Deborah M. Liles (Editor), Cecilia Gutierrez Venable (Editor), John T. Becker (Contribution by), Light Townsend Cummins (Contribution by), Alex Hunt (Contribution by)

Overview

Winner, 2020 Liz Carpenter Award For Best Book on the History of Women

The realm of ranching history has long been dominated by men, from tales—tall or true—of cowboys and cattlemen, to a century’s worth of male writers and historians who have been the primary chroniclers of Texas history. As women’s history has increasingly gained a foothold not only as a field worthy of study but as a bold and innovative way of understanding the past, new generations of scholars are rethinking the once-familiar settings of the past. In doing so, they reveal that women not only exercised agency in otherwise constrained environments but were also integral to the ranching heritage that so many Texans hold dear.

Texas Women and Ranching: On the Range, at the Rodeo, and in Their Communities explores a variety of roles women played on the western ranch. The essays here cover a range of topics, from early Tejana businesswomen and Anglo philanthropists to rodeos and fence-cutting range wars. The names of some of the women featured may be familiar to those who know Texas ranching history—Alice East and Frances Kallison, for example. Others came from less well-known or wealthy families. In every case, they proved themselves to be resourceful women and unique individuals who survived by their own wits in cattle country.

This book is a major contribution to several fields—Texas history, western history, and women’s history—that are, at last, beginning to converge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623497392
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Publication date:	01/24/2019
Series:	Women in Texas History Series, sponsored by the Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	687,309
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

DEBORAH M. LILES is an assistant professor and the W. K. Gordon Endowed Chair in Texas History at Tarleton State University. She is the coeditor of Women in Civil War Texas: Diversity and Dissidence in the Trans-Mississippi, winner of the Liz Carpenter Award for Best Book on the History of Women, and coeditor of African Americans in Central Texas History: From Slavery to Civil Rights. She resides in Weatherford, Texas. CECELIA GUTIERREZ VENABLE is the director of archives for the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. She is the author of numerous books, scholarly articles, and a chapter in Black Cowboys in the American West: On the Range, On the Stage, Behind the Badge. She resides in Adkins, Texas.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Map xii

Introduction: Beyond Women, Oxen, and Texas Light Townsend Cummins 1

Chapter 1 Tejanas and Ranching: María Calvillo and Her Ranching Enterprises Amy Porter 9

Chapter 2 In Search of Lucinda: Women in the Cattle Industry in Early Texas Deborah M. Liles 25

Chapter 3 Cornelia Adair: Transatlantic Panhandle Rancher Alex Hunt 42

Chapter 4 Mary Jane Alexander: "The First Woman Rancher in the Panhandle." Jean Stuntz 65

Chapter 5 Mattie B. Morris Miller: Matriarch, Ranch Woman, and Benefactor Jack Becker 75

Chapter 6 Mabel Doss, Mary Ketchum Meredith, and the Texas Fence-Cutting Wars Brooke Wibracht 91

Chapter 7 Kathryn and Nancy Binford and the M-Bar Ranch: More than "Something in the Soil" Renee M. Laegreid 107

Chapter 8 Alice Gertrudis King Kleberg East: Loving the Land Cecilia Gutierrez Venable 126

Chapter 9 Frances Rosenthal Kallison: Historian at Home in the Saddle Hollace Ava Weiner 141

Contributors 161

Index 165

Editorial Reviews

"A beacon shining a light on a new perspective through which all historians should assess the question, 'How does what I am studying relate to women?'" Sylvia Gann Mahoney, author College Rodeo: From Show to Sport

Sylvia Gann Mahoney

In these essays, the editors have opened up a valuable and much needed study of Texas women and ranching—from early Tejanas in South Texas to women ranchers in the Panhandle, from women in the Fence-Cutting Wars to all-female rodeos, from King Ranch descendant Alice East to a female historian in the saddle—it is all engagingly covered.”—Frances B. Vick, coauthor of Petra’s Legacy: The South Texas Ranching Empire of Petra Vela and Mifflin Kenedy
 

Frances B. Vick

Texas Women and Ranching is not only an enjoyable read, but it also fills an important gap in our knowledge of Texas ranching and women's history with innovative and varied research.” —Angela Boswell, author of Women in Texas History

Angela Boswell

Readers will be inspired by the stories of ranch women featured in this collection of essays. . . . It is an inspiring look at an often-overlooked side of ranching history.”—Western Horseman
 

Western Horseman

Offers thorough and engaging accounts of Texan women on ranches during the last two centuries. . . . these hardy and determined women, living with their husbands and families on often tough and dry Texas ranches, held their own. . . . These were ladies with grit.”—True West

True West

Texas Women and Ranching is a excellent source to learn more about ranching and will fill and complete the general knowledge about cattle production and land management in our state.”—Mexia Daily News

Mexia Daily News