Robert E. Howard at Texas Tech University Essay

Rob King, Assistant Librarian at Texas Tech University’s Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, was recently in contact with the REHF about a collection of Howard material at TTU.King manages a small collection of works by and about Howard, along with the on-going project of digitizing issues of the Cross Plains Review. A bibliography of Howard material in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library can be found here.

King grew up in Abilene and starting at age 16, he spent weekends working with his grandparents owned a grocery store and meat market in Brownwood, which they owned for 50 years. Being from the same region of Texas as Howard, King has an interest in all things related to him. King also frequently attends Howard Days.According to King, TTU has a deep respect for Texas authors. They have Elmer Kelton’s manuscripts as well as his first editions with autographs. The library has  a permanent Robert E. Howard exhibit of their materials (pictured above) to encourage students’ interest in Howard.

King has added a collection of Howard Days postage cancellations, along with the banquet programs for years he’s attended. He recently became a member of the Foundation and is contributing his copies of the REHF Newsletters to the collection as well. TTU doesn’t give him much of a budget for new acquisitions to the collection, so contributions are apprenticed. I will besending King some back issues of TGR for the Howard collection after the first of the year and I am going through my inventory of REH books to find some duplicates I have that I will contribute.

If you want to send any extra copies of what you have that are not listed in the bibliography, you can contact King via his email account. It is certainly a worthwhile endeavor that deserves our support.