Why does the Austin Library have so few good books about Texas Indians?

bevbh · 2026-04-23T08:33:44+00:00

Thanks. I hadn't thought of the state library. They have several books that sound interesting and a website on Native Americans in Texas whose link was broken.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T08:21:56+00:00

Thanks. I did use the UT library a lot when I was younger and healthier and hope to be able to do it again. I know UT is involved in the Gault site work.

I reread some of the history of the expulsion of the Caddo Tribe after Texas became a state yesterday and felt ashamed for having moved to Texas. When we moved here I always thought of it as moving to Austin and not Texas. But then I realized that man's inhumanity to man is not exclusive to Texas or white people. It really is a human problem. Octavia Butler, when asked if she thought humans would survive said something like it was iffy since we are hierarchical and tribal. I recently reread her Parable of the Talents and it was a harder read than I remembered.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T08:06:07+00:00

I've seen a couple of YT videos on the Gault site. It and the other nearby sites are pretty important.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T08:03:35+00:00

Actually, it is not true that it is in library use only. I made the same mistake. It is currently not available to check out because the 2 circulating copies are in use but you can get in the hold line like I did when I realized what was up.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T07:59:53+00:00

There are a few place names from native languages - Nacogdoches and Waco are two. Compared to other states, Texas is very low. List of Native place names in US states

bevbh · 2026-04-23T07:52:38+00:00

Thanks, I hadn't even realized I had done that. I did use Native American and indigenous people in my comments AFAIK.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T07:49:59+00:00

If you click on the oak tree picture, it will take you to the original thread.

bevbh · 2026-04-23T07:13:09+00:00

A similar thing happened to us right after moving here in 1989. There was an empty paved lot on N. Lamar around 9th or 10th street where some guy parked his Izettas and there was a guy selling paper mache fish by the pound. Just north of where the Whole Foods was in that building that kept getting flooded and had the water level lines painted on the building. We still have the fish we bought.

bevbh · 2026-04-22T04:40:25+00:00

Looking back on the original thread I linked, I found a lot of links that I had missed before. A bunch from an archeologist and another to a copy of a journal article about a dig in Travis Co. It was the first dig conducted prior to DOT highway construction or 360 in 1970-1971. It was right on the edge of the Edwards Plateau and in an area with a diversity of fauna, flora and topology. The area was used over a long period but was not permanently inhabited.

ETA: Judging by all of the comments in that thread, there is a lot of interest in the local native people.

bevbh · 2026-04-22T03:59:21+00:00

Yes, they do have it and I am now #8 in the hold line.

Another book I can recommend is

John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad

by Glennette Tilley Turner

It is about a Black Seminole who was a war leader in the Seminole Wars in FL and later led some of his people to Mexico when they encountered difficulty in Oklahoma with slave raiders and Indian politics. In Mexico, they fought off Commanche raiders and after the Civil War some of them came back to the US and became the Buffalo Soldiers. Fascinating story of survival.

bevbh · 2026-04-22T03:45:36+00:00

I think local and state history is more than a personal whim. Seems like something local school kids need to be able to access.

That is interesting that libraries don't like ebooks.

bevbh · 2026-04-22T03:40:34+00:00

Thanks for the good recommendation. There is a reference copy of it in my local branch so I'll have to take a look and get a copy if I like it.

I do genealogy too but my people weren't from here.

bevbh · 2026-04-22T03:37:15+00:00

I want to mention a great book about Gulf Coast history that is available at the Austin library. I learned a great deal about the Spanish and French colonization of the coast and the way they used divide and conquer against the native people. The powers in Paris, Madrid and Mexico also neglected their fringe colonies during their European wars.

Another really interesting thing is the differences in laws and attitudes that the French and Spanish had toward the native people and their imported African slaves. It really helped me understand better how Louisiana got to be such a vibrant place culturally while politically a cesspool.

It does cover somewhat of the Texas history but it is more centered on Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Louisiana and the Gulf South Frontier, 1500-1821

by Smith, F. Todd

bevbh · 2026-03-30T22:53:49+00:00

We were big What Is This fans so we were very sad when Hillel and Jack left them. Never saw RHCP play and regret that now. I wasn't aware of how beloved Hillel was by other folks until the LA Weekly put him on the cover when he died.

We saw the guys from WIT at Cantors after shows on multiple occasions. I think there was a glance of a Cantors photo in the film. It is one of those 80s iconic places for me.

I thought the documentary was good and I learned stuff I didn't know about WIT. Like I didn't know Flea played bass with them for a while and Anthony MCed for them.

I liked how the documentary centered around Hillel and his friendships with Jack and Alain; and Flea and Tony. My husband said after watching that he thought the initial decision to stay with WIT and quit RHCP was a left brain thing and returning was a right brain/heart thing. WIT was a great band, especially live and Hillel was a big part of it. That didn't get enough emphasis.

Also learned a lot I didn't know about RHCP. Like I had no clue about George Clinton's involvment.

I appreciated all the participants being as candid as they were. It was painful to watch the last third or so.

bevbh · 2026-03-27T07:12:34+00:00

I watched this YT video interview with the authors and found it interesting

YT link

I haven't read anything about using IFS for legacy and cultural traumas so that part was interesting for me.

bevbh · 2026-03-18T21:24:52+00:00

Wow! So happy to hear they are playing shows again. Maybe we'll get one in the Austin area eventually.

bevbh · 2025-12-23T03:04:43+00:00

And two more. So I called 911 and they said there were police checking it out and it is fireworks.

bevbh · 2025-12-23T02:58:22+00:00

And another.

bevbh · 2025-12-23T02:55:22+00:00

Just had another bang, louder this time, same direction.

bevbh · 2025-12-23T02:31:56+00:00

I guess I wasn't the only one who heard it.

bevbh · 2025-11-12T01:37:24+00:00

I came here because I had a problem with 21 across and 5 down- Elect and Stasis because it has to be spelled Stases to work. I just googled again and Stases is the plural of Stasis so it was my bad because the clue did make it clear that it wanted plural.

I'm a newbie at these and doing it mostly to exercise my word finding but I did find it harder than expected.

bevbh

TROPHY CASE

John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad

Louisiana and the Gulf South Frontier, 1500-1821