Is anybody here familiar with "The Texas Spectator"?

[ashling]

At one point my dad had a stack of Texas Observers probably going back to 1954. When he died in 1998 I thought I would put them up for safekeeping, but I couldn't locate them. However, I did find some issues of a Texas weekly newspaper that predated the Observer.

These were issues of The Texas Spectator to which he subscribed when he was a resident at Breckenridge Hospital in Austin in 1946. The copies that I have are all between January and May 1946 ... The first issue I have is Vol 1, No. 15, dated January 18, 1946. I was thinking that maybe this was a predecessor to the Observer, but they don't mention it on their history page.

I had been planning to do some research on these for a paper for presentation at the Texas Historical Society, but Had put them away and just never got back to it. My adult daughters were here last weekend and we went through old home movies from the 1950s and other memorabilia, including political clippings, et al. that my mom had put up for us kids (she died in 1973)

I will be posting some stuff here that is of interest. Things never change.

Anyway, if anybody has any information on the Texas Spectator, please send a message to my DU mailbox. Thanks.

[sonias]

1. Best of luck to you ashling

Sounds like a nice find. I'm not familiar with that publication but I hope you do find out its history. You could always call The Texas Observer and at the very least they may know about the publication.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Found this

Eckhardt had found expression for his creative side in various ways all his life. He'd executed murals and paintings during his years at UT and written poetry and journalism as well. Cartooning was his big thing, though. He'd drawn cartoons compulsively since childhood and published many anonymously in the '40's in The Texas Spectator, a precursor to the Observer. "He created logos for the various sections of the Observer, as well as a cartoon for its first issue: a man with a cane, top hat, long braid, and topcoat, saying, 'I do not agree with anything you say, and I will fight to the death your right to say it.'" Dugger was delighted. The two became close friends. Eckhardt drew nearly 100 cartoons for the Observer between 1954 and 1990.

http://www.texasobserver.org/archives/item/15258-2658-the-man-in-the-panama-hat-gary-a-keith-reclaims-the-legacy-of-bob-eckhardt-the-quixotic-progressive

Edit to add:

STILWELL, HART (1902–1975). Hart Stilwell, writer, the son of Hartwell and Anna Belle (Poole) Stilwell, was born on May 13, 1902, at Yoakum, Texas. His hot-tempered father was never able to readjust his frontier ways and kept the family on the move along the back roads of the less civilized sections of Texas. Hart, Jr., escaped to the University of Texas and graduated in 1924 with a degree in journalism. In 1925 he married Mary Gray Seabury. Their first home was at Brownsville, where he worked as a newspaper reporter. Their daughter, Mary Gray Stilwell Hughes, became a successful fiction writer and poet; their son, Arthur Evans Stilwell, wrote a newspaper column for a time. Stilwell moved to Austin in 1946. Stilwell wrote stories and articles for Esquire, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, and other publications. A liberal Democrat, he wrote during the 1940s for the Texas Spectator, forerunner of the Texas Observer.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fstbs
And if you can get access to the whole piece this might be helpful:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/30239531

[ashling]

3. I may put you on retainer! LOL

Thanks so much.

I had thought that some of the artwork was very familiar from my having grown up with the Observer on the coffee table.

[Joe A.]

4. Creekmore Fath estate sale

The Estate of Creekmore and Adele Hay Fath

Creekmore Fath (1916-2009) was an influential figure in Texas politics. After law school at the University of Texas, where he co-founded the campus Progressive Democrats, he moved to Washington to serve in the FDR administration and then the Democratic National Committee. He married Adele Hay in 1947 and moved back to Austin, where he ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a liberal New Dealer. He spent the rest of his life as a sought-after political consultant and kingmaker and a standard bearer for progressive politics.

Adele Hay Fath (1917-2007) was the daughter of New York socialite Alice Appleton Hay and anthropologist Clarence Hay, the son of John Hay, Lincoln’s private secretary and later Secretary of State. Mrs. Fath followed her husband to Austin, where she became a prominent hostess and philanthropist.

This important single-owner sale brings together Mr. Fath's two most enduring passions- politics and art. To include an impressive inventory of over 40,000 books and autographs, Americana and Presidential Biography, Modern Literature and Illustrated Books, Political Memorabilia, Rare Books and First Editions, many signed. Mr Fath was a lover of art and American regionalism most famously the work of Thomas Hart Benton. This sale comes on the heels of significant portions of the collection which were auctioned by Doyles in November of 2011. See a slideshow and highlights of the auction at http://www.doylenewyork.com/content/more.asp?id=184
More information on the Creekmore and Adele Fath Charitable Foundation Collection can be found at: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/art/2011/11/auctioning-a-beloved-thomas-hart-benton-collection/

Also to feature home and library furnishings, fine china, crystal, men's vintage clothes and household items from a lifetime of entertaining and good living.
Sale Dates and Times:
3/29/2012 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (Thursday)
3/30/2012 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Friday)
3/31/2012 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Saturday)
4/1/2012 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Sunday)

Visit austinestatesales.net for photos and updated information