Big Thicket People: Larry Jene Fisher's Photographs of the Last Southern Frontier (Bridwell Texas History Series)

Living off the land--hunting, fishing, and farming, along with a range of specialized crafts that provided barter or cash income--was a way of life that persisted well into the twentieth century in the Big Thicket of southeast Texas. Before this way of life ended with World War II, professional photographer Larry Jene Fisher spent a decade between the 1930s and 1940s photographing Big Thicket people living and working in the old ways. His photographs, the only known collection on this subject, constitute an irreplaceable record of lifeways that first took root in the southeastern woodlands of the colonial United States and eventually spread all across the Southern frontier. Big Thicket People presents Fisher's photographs in suites that document a wide slice of Big Thicket life-people, dogs, camps, deer hunts, farming, syrup mills, rooter hogs and stock raising, railroad tie making, barrel stave making, chimney building, peckerwood sawmills, logging, turpentining, town life, church services and picnics, funerals and golden weddings, and dances and other amusements. Accompanying each suite of images is a cultural essay by Thad Sitton, who also introduces the book with a historical overview of life in the Big Thicket. C. E. Hunt provides an informative biography of Larry Jene Fisher. Contents......Page 8 Foreword by Maxine Johnston......Page 10 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 14 1. Introduction: Plain Folks (Thad Sitton)......Page 18 2. The Photographic Legacy of the Renaissance Man of East Texas (C. E. Hunt)......Page 34 3. Photo Sequences, with Introductory Essays......Page 44 Southerners in the Big Woods......Page 45 Porch Portraits......Page 51 Dogs......Page 57 Camps......Page 63 Deer Hunts......Page 69 Farming: From Hand to Mouth......Page 73 Syrup Mills......Page 81 Rooter Hogs and Southern Stock Raising......Page 87 Tie Makers......Page 91 Stave Makers......Page 95 Chimney Daubings......Page 99 Peckerwood Sawmills......Page 103 Major Logging Operations......Page 107 Turpentining......Page 117 Town Life......Page 121 Church Picnic at Pine Ridge......Page 129 Funerals and Golden Weddings......Page 135 Fundamentalist Church Services......Page 141 Dances and Other Amusements......Page 145 Lance Rosier and Family......Page 149 Notes......Page 154 Bibliography......Page 156 Living off the land -- hunting, fishing, and farming, along with a range of specialized crafts that provided barter or cash income -- was a way of life that persisted well into the twentieth century in the Big Thicket of southeast Texas. Beofre this way of life ended with World War II, professional photographer Larry Jene Fisher spent a decade between the 1930's and 1940's photographing Big Thicket people living and working in the old ways. His photographs, the only known collection on this subject, constitute an irreplaceable record of lifeways that first took root in the southeastern woodlands of the colonial United States and eventually spread all across the Southern frontier