Old Dobie Ranch, Birthplace of J. Frank Dobie
Lagarto, Live Oak County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Sept. 26, 1888-Sept. 18, 1964) A strong individualist and noted folklorist who added a new dimension to literature of Southwest. Collected and published more than 30 volumes of folk tales and legends. His works best preserve the heritage of people of the brush country--the rancher, the miner and the cowboy. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On this brush-country ranch in 1888 was born J. Frank Dobie, the folklorist who became one of the great chroniclers of the Southwest. A fierce individualist, he gathered and published more than thirty volumes of folk tales and legends, preserving the voices of the rancher, the miner, and the cowboy. His work gave the everyday people of South Texas a place in American literature.
Why it matters
Dobie helped Americans see their own regional folk culture as literature worth saving, and his birthplace grounds that legacy in the hard, beautiful brush country that shaped him.
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Related people
- · J. Frank Dobie
Themes & tags
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