NEW DIRECTIONS

NEW DIRECTIONS

Curated by
Bruce Cammack,
Steve Bogener

wpe4A.jpg (22927 bytes)

Fabricated by
Lyn Stoll
April 1, 2002-SWC

As the Southwest Collection nears its fiftieth anniversary in 2005, the archive continues to preserve the rich history
of the American Southwest, a tradition dating back to the 1920s. Ranching, farming, and community development on
the Texas High Plains and near Southwest continue to be major areas of focus, but the new millennium suggests
some new directions for the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library and Texas Tech University.

Natural history holds a special place within American culture. Whether it is the exuberant descriptions of Yosemite
from John Muir, or Edward Abbey’s abiding passion for Utah’s Arches National Monument, or the observations of
Henry David Thoreau, scientists and writers over the years have realized a sense of connectedness to the land.
Building on the strengths of the last seventy-five years, the Southwest Collection is expanding to include a focus on
the ever-changing American landscape.

In addition to an emphasis in the arts and sports history, the Southwest Collection has launched an initiative to collect
he papers of America’s best contemporary writers on nature and place. Alongside the Collection’s extensive rare books
and other holdings of the nature writing genre, the creation of the James Sowell Collection on Literature, Community
and the Natural World provides models of exemplary writing from the late 20th century. For students and faculty from
as divergent fields as creative non-fiction, environmental ethics, and history, the archive serves as an interdisciplinary
research center, a bridge between the sciences and humanities in the 21st century.

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