Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2004
Abstract
Citizens in the southernmost reaches of the Great Plains, as Barbara J. Rozek demonstrates in her exhaustively researched study, strove to convince all able-bodied individuals from other states and Europe to "Come to Texas." Rozek examines a fifty-year period, from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I, in which energetic Texans produced a stunning collection of almanacs, brochures, letters, newspapers, and pamphlets, trusting in the power of the written word to entice migration into the state. "Committed Texans did this," she asserts, "with a vigor, a persistence, and a creativity not always found in other states or United States territories." That the population of Texas increased 671 percent between 1860 and 1920 convinced many of those involved in the production of enticement literature that their efforts produced tangible results.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Research Vol. 14, No. 2, 2004. Copyright © 2004 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Used by permission.