In June, I attended the Western Writers of America annual conference in Lubbock, Texas. The thriving city of the Southern Plains not only lives up to its nickname, “Hub City,” as the crossroads of West Texas, but also as a “hub” for historians and writers researching Southwestern history.
Fiction and non-fiction authors will appreciate Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library with its tremendous archive of primary sources, newspapers, rare books, historical photographs and the Crossroads of Music collection. Many of the TTU Library’s resources are online, and a good way to begin your research in the Special Collections is to visit the website at SWCO.TTU.edu.
Western writers visiting Lubbock should also visit TTU’s National Ranching Heritage Center (which has an excellent library), the Bayer Museum of Agriculture, American Wind Power Center, and the Buddy Holly Center.
Also of interest to writers and researchers, and within easy driving distance of Lubbock are the Haley Library and Archives in Midland, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon and the Dr. Ralph R. Chase West Texas Collection at San Angelo State University in San Angelo.
—Stuart Rosebrook
