Camp Logan in Memorial Park – Houston’s Hidden History

2017 marks the centennial of the U.S. involvement in World War I (1914-1919).  An exhibit in the cases near the east entrance of Fondren Library created in collaboration  with Rice’s Anthropology department offers a brief account of the history of Camp Logan, a World War I training camp once situated in what is today Memorial Park in northwest Houston.  This exhibit marks the 100 year anniversary of the opening of Camp Logan in 1917.

“Post Office, Camp Logan postcard.” (1918) Rice University: http://hdl.handle.net/1911/92653.

Although this centennial has served as an inspiration for the exhibit, Rice University faculty, staff, and students have been involved in researching and preserving Camp Logan’s history for some time:  for example, the Woodson’s collections of papers and objects related to Camp Logan (the Clark Bruster Collection) and the recently acquired Paul B. Hendrickson collection. Dr. Jeffrey Fleisher and students from the Anthropology Department have been investigating Camp Logan archaeologically since 2015.  These collections and the results of this research form an important part of this exhibit.  Also on display are postcards, ephemera, and images graciously loaned by Robbie Morin from his extensive collection and items from The Heritage Society. These materials have greatly enhanced the exhibit.

Location of Camp Logan in today’s Memorial Park

Occupied for a short period of time from 1917-1919, the story of Camp Logan represents the complexities and tragedies of early 20^th-century Houston.  Camp Logan emerged quickly at the edge of this small but growing city, and provided a significant economic boost to it as more than 30,000 troops were trained there.  But Camp Logan is also tied in historical memory with the Houston Riot and the racial segregation that structured the US military at this time.

One of the most well-known and tragic of these aspects is the Houston Riot of 1917. The all black 24^th Infantry was sent to guard the still under-construction site of Camp Logan in early 1917. On August 23^rd two Houston police officers assaulted and arrested two members of the 24^th Infantry for inquiring why a half-dressed, black mother of five was being assaulted outside her own home in downtown Houston. In retaliation to this unfair treatment, and spurned on by the general racist attitude of the city as a whole, around 100 men of the 24^th Infantry took matters into their own hands, gathered weapons from their stockpile and marched towards the police station with the intent of freeing their fellow soldiers. The two-hour riot that followed was a tragic and difficult episode in Houston’s history, the consequences of which meant the death of black and white Americans and the incarceration of black troops.

A current exhibit at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum covers the events of this riot in more detail and the museum is commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Houston Riot with week-long events later this month. More information is available on their website: http://www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com/?event=100th-anniversary-of-camp-logan-mutiny-1917-2017&event_date=2017-08-21 

The Camp Logan exhibit in Fondren Library will be on display through the end of December 2017.

New Houston Folk Music Archive Collections

Two more collections are available for research from the Houston Folk Music Archive.

Lucille Borella collection

In the late 1960s, Bill and Lucille Cade formed a folk duo. Over the next several years, they performed throughout the region. They played in Houston venues, such as Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, the UH Coffee House, and the Wooden Nickel Club, as well the college ciruit in and out of the state. They also performed at Kerrville Folk Festival in 1974 with their young baby in tow.

Around 1976, Bill and Lucille Cade broke up. Later on, Lucille, now Borella, began performing with her husband Larry at Anderson Fair in 1979 under the name Larry & Lucille.

While no longer actively performing, Lucille Borella has stayed a member of the folk community. She and her husband support the Dripping Springs Songwriters Festival.

David Rodriguez collection

David Roland Rodriguez (1952-2015) was a Houston-born folk musician and lawyer. At the age of two, he contracted polio. Because of his decreased mobility, his parents bought him a guitar. Throughout his teens, he played in a variety of musical groups including a rock band, a folk group, and an avant garde ensemble as a pianist. In the early to mid 1970s, he honed his craft in Houston’s folk venues.

After relocating to Austin in the late 1970s, Rodriguez graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1981. He practiced law in Austin into the 1980s, focusing on criminal law and working with the Austin Arts Commission. While he maintained his music career in the early 1980s, he began to focus exclusively on his law practice in 1984. He even mounted an unsuccessful bid for public office in 1990.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Rodriguez began focusing more attention on music. Local Austin music magazine “Third Coast Music” voted him Best Texas Songwriter for 1992, 1993. and 1994.

David Rodriguez with daughter Carrie, 2000s

In 1994, he moved to the Netherlands to play music full time. While abroad, fellow musician and daughter, Carrie Rodriguez would play fiddle with him on occassion. He had a vibrant career overseas and released a number of albums. David Rodriguez died at his home in Dordrecht, Holland, on October 26th 2015.

His most widely covered song “The Ballad Of The Snow Leopard And The Tanqueray Cowboy” was recorded by Lyle Lovett, Melissa Greener, and many others.

Rodriguez came from a musical family, which includes his aunt singer and actress Eva Garza, his brother singer-songwriter Philip Rodriguez, and his sister singer Leti Garza.

To see more of our collection, please see the Houston Folk Music Archive research guide. You can also follow us on Facebook.

KTRU Tuesdays: KPFT Bombing

KPFT has been in the news lately with a staff shake-up. While the KTRU archives recount the KPFT Pacifica strike dating from 1971, today we’d like to highlight the news reports surrounding the KPFT bombing by the KKK in 1970 and its aftermath. What follows is a series of news accounts from KTRU, usually featuring KPFT’s station manager Larry Lee, which document the aftermath, the Houston Police Department’s response, as well as the role of the FBI.

Image from: The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 58, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 8, 1970

Memorabilia Monday: Give Me a Brick

Side of “Mexico Standard” brick

While we don’t know the story of these bricks, we know they came off buildings during renovations. If you have any more information, feel free to comment.

We have three examples of brickused on campus: the “Mexico standard,” the Ferris Brick Company, and the Sherman Brady Brick Company.

Memorabilia Monday: Wall Sconce

 

This little guy used to act as a hotel door number at the Rice Hotel.

KTRU Tuesdays: 1st Houston Area Survey

Yesterday, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research announced the release of the 36th Houston Area Survey.  To see how much Houston has changed, you can compare it to the first survey. On September 28, 1982, Dr. Stephen Klineberg discussed the results of the first Houston survey with Scott Hochberg.

Image from: “Dr. Stephen Klineberg with student researchers Lisa Maier, Mark Brumback, Robert Putzke.” (1982) Rice University: http://hdl.handle.net/1911/75935.

Houston Folk Music Archive Updates

Over the past few months, we’ve been busy.

New Archival Collections

The Banded Geckos collection features the work of the band, which called Houston home from 1979 to 1993, before relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The collection has a great array of posters, photographs, promotional materials, and audio.

Frank Davis, Sand Mountain Coffee House, ca. 1965

The Boys From Houston research files includes photographs, digital images, news clippings, and memorabilia that Vicki Welch Ayo and William C. DeLaVergne used to write the book series.

Shake Russell, Dana Cooper, and Jimmy Raycraft at Rockefeller’s, ca. 1981

The Danny McVey collection features photographs, news clippings, and audio saved by McVey, a sound engineer for The Michael Marcoulier Band, The Dishes, and Beans Barton and the Bi-Peds. Within the next few days, his oral history will also be online.

Oral Histories

Since November, we’ve been doing oral histories with members of the folk community. We’re so happy to announce that some of those are now online.

Judy Clements of the folk duo Ken and Judy talks about being a Jester Lounge regular, an early folk club in Houston.

Vince Bell discusses his time starting out in Houston up to his current work. He even performs a couple of songs and explains his unique playing style.

Richard Dobson talks about working in Houston and Nashville, and his current adventure of being a Texas singer-songwriter in Switzerland. He also discusses his songwriting process and performs two songs.

To keep up with new collections and oral histories, please follow the Houston Folk Music Archive Facebook page, as well as check out our research guide.

Memorabilia Monday: St. Patrick’s Day Tie

Looking around this morning for a holiday-themed post, I could only find a reference to Tom Kelley’s St. Patrick’s Day tie. Since the box wasn’t onsite, I made the assumption that inside the box there would be a necktie; thus, fulfilling the theme of this post.

Rather than seeing the object, we get a couple of views of Tom Kelley, an employee for Texas Eastern in March 1958 showing off his tie. Does it look homemade to you?

Vince Bell collection

ca. 1976

As part of the Houston Folk Music Archive, we’re happy to announce that the Vince Bell collection is ready for research. His collection contains lyrics, journals, photographs, fliers, audio and video, and business records related to album creation, promotion, and touring. Bell also donated quite a few books where he is featured, mostly books on Texas singer-songwriters.

Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, 1974

While the physical collection is available, the digital side will take a bit longer. Over the next few months, we’ll be adding digital files, mostly music, to this collection, as well as post his oral history online.

Calendar drawn by Jean King from 1976 journal

For those not familiar with Bell, starting in 1970, he began playing folk music in clubs across Houston, including Sand Mountain Coffee House, the Old Quarter, Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, as well as larger venues like Liberty Hall and local universities. He also went on to play the U.S. coffee house circuit.

Rockefeller’s, 1979

In the mid-1970s, he spent his time living in both Austin and Houston forming bands and playing solo. In 1980, he worked on the rock ballet Bermuda Triangle with James Clouser for the Space/Dance/Theater. The ballet premiered in Houston at the Miller Outdoor Theater in May 1980.

On European tour with Eric Taylor and Iain Matthews,  1990s

After recording in an Austin studio, on December 21, 1982, he was hit by a drunk driver. The accident damaged his right arm, caused a severe brain injury, and he had a partially paralyzed vocal chord. After the accident, he worked over the next decade to rebuild his life and play the guitar again. This led him to develop a unique picking style and to write new music for his singing voice.

Austin City Limits: Step Inside This House, 2000. L to R: Guy Clark, Matt Rollings, Steven Fromholz, Sam Bush, James Gilmer, Viktor Krauss, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Martin Murphy, Dan Tomlinson, Vince Bell, Eric Taylor, Gene Elders [?], and Pat Bergerson, photo taken by David Roth

In 1994, Bell released his first album, Phoenix, to wide critical acclaim. He went on tour with The Jayhawks throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He followed this up with, Texas Plates (1999), Live in Texas (2001), Recado (2007), and One Man’s Music (2009), and the DVD New Lamps for Old. His songs have been covered by Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Little Feat, Trout Fishing in America, among others.

2000

He later chronicled his life in two independently published autobiographies, which were later re-published as one book entitled One Man’s Music: The Life and Times of Texas Songwriter Vince Bell by University of North Texas Press.

If you are interested in learning more about the Houston Folk Music Archive, please check out John Nova Lomax’s article.

Memorabilia Monday: The Banded Geckos’ T-shirt

The Houston Folk Music Archive recently received a collection from folk band The Banded Geckos. One fun piece of memorabilia is this T-shirt used to promote their 1990 CD Art Gecko.