J. Frank Dobie, folklorist, writer and newspaper columnist, was born on a ranch in Live Oak County, Texas. His Vaquero of the Brush Country, published in 1929, established him as a spokesman of Texas and southwestern culture. As head of the Texas Folklore Society and author of On the Open Range (1931), Tales of the Mustang (1936), The Flavor of Texas (1936), Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1939), and Tongues of the Monte (1947), Dobie was the state’s leading spokesman and literary and cultural figure for much of his life.