Articles

In the early 1970s, noted Texas historian Joe Frantz offered Bill Wittliff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to visit a ranch in northern Mexico where the vaqueros still worked cattle in traditional ways. Wittliff photographed the vaqueros as they went about daily chores that had changed little since the first Mexican cowherders learned to work cattle from a horse's back. Wittliff captured a way of life that now exists only in memory and in the photographs included in Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy, one of Humanities Texas's most popular exhibitions.

A freestanding version of Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy is now available through the Humanities Texas traveling exhibitions program. These fifteen panels feature captivating photographs and reflections by Bill Wittliff along with bilingual narrative text, revealing the muscle, sweat, and drama that went into roping a calf in thick brush or breaking a wild horse in the saddle. Learn more about reserving Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy for your venue.