Ever heard of Frontier Times Magazine?
It's an historical and genealogical gem published in Texas by J. Marvin Hunter from October 1923 until October 1954, during a time when early Texas settlers, pioneers, cattlemen, and other event observers were still alive and able to relate their stories. Its articles were written largely from the vantage point of the eye-witness or actual participant - which makes the magazines of unparalleled value to historians, collectors, and genealogists. Imagine reading first-hand accounts of early settlers, frontier expeditions, soldiers, Texas Rangers, Indians, and outlaws; of battles, privations, and tragedies; of riches won and lost, of mines, of hidden treasures - the bold, bloody and accurate facts. Each issue is a voluminous resource of genealogical data - family names, ancestors, relations, locations, employments, migrations, birth dates, and death dates.
Frontier Times is a gold mine of information - and Sims Library has issues dating from its beginning in 1923 through 1928. These are not the original issues; in the 1970s, Western Publications reprinted most of the volumes, and it is these reprints that will soon be available for unrestricted patron reference in the Library's Genealogy Collection.
In 2004, the full and exclusive copyrights to all 344 of the magazines were awarded FrontierTimesMagazine.com. Their aim is to provide the genealogical, historical research, and literary archivist communities with quality-minded, technologically advanced means of access to the publication. Through their website, The Frontier Times Magazine can be purchased in 3 different formats - original and reprinted hard copy, compact discs in PDF format, and as downloads that are the exact duplicate of the hard copies. Interested in a specific individual or event? No problem - the site is fully searchable.
Just for fun, I searched the website for James Washington Winters, an ancestor who was a Battle of San Jacinto Veteran. Much to my delight, I found the article "James Washington Winters - San Jacinto Veteran and Indian Fighter" in the September 1936 issue. I bought the reprinted issue for $12.95 - I can hardly wait!
Each issue has a comprehensive table of contents, but the name or names of persons may not appear on the contents page. No matter - it is so much fun to flip through each article that soon you find yourself reading the entire issue. Many Letters to the Editor are also published - these are as interesting as the articles themselves.
There's lots of sweet stuff in the Sims Genealogy Collection. Some of it is new to the collection, and some of it has been around awhile, just not overtly advertised.
Watch for more SOME SOURCES AT SIMS postings.
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