Sixth graders visit the Larry McMurtry Center in Archer City on a class field trip  (courtesy of LMLC)

Special thanks to Stephanie G. Miller for sharing the story of the Larry McMurtry Literary Center and the important work being done to preserve McMurtry’s legacy for future generations.

Texas’ iconic writer, Larry McMurtry, was celebrated for capturing the unique world of Texas ranch country and portraying the way of life here and throughout the American West. The world recognizes his beloved Western, Lonesome Dove, as one of the definitive works in the genre. But in addition to being an acclaimed author and screenwriter, McMurtry was a world-renowned book collector who considered his collection, amassed over decades, to be his proudest achievement.

After he passed away in 2021, McMurtry’s most rare and valuable books ended up in the hands of a Dallas collector. The Larry McMurtry Literary Center (LMLC) in Archer City, which houses 300,000 of the books that were in McMurtry’s bookstore, Booked Up, is working to buy back many of the 28,000 rare books that comprised McMurtry’s private collection.

“Each of the volumes in this collection, which is valued at close to $1 million, bears Larry’s bookplate, making each irreplaceable,” explains George Getschow, executive director of the LMLC. “These are the books from the private collection in his home, and they meant more to him than the Pulitzer Prize he was awarded for Lonesome Dove, more than the Academy Award he won for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Brokeback Mountain, and more than the National Humanities Medal he received from President Barack Obama. As Larry said in his memoir, Books, creating his personal library was his greatest achievement.”

Two generous grants from the Texas Historical Foundation and support from individual donors have allowed the LMLC to begin this critical acquisition. The initiative focuses on works about Texas and the American West, as well as books authored by McMurtry. The books will be used to create the Larry McMurtry Personal Library within the LMLC, where they will be available for public viewing and scholarly research.

Last week, THF President & CEO David Preziosi joined more than 500 preservationists from across the country in Washington, D.C., for the National Preservation Summit, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Held at the National Cathedral, the three-day convening featured discussions on the current state of historic preservation and threats to preservation regulations. The Summit also included the National Trust’s annual membership meeting led by Houstonian Phoebe Tudor, Chair of the National Trust Board of Trustees, and the awards ceremony, where San Antonio Missions National Historical Park received the Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation. Texas was well represented, including Sheila Mota Casper of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, a past THF grant recipient.

The final day took preservationists to Capitol Hill, where David and fellow Texans from Houston, Galveston, and San Antonio met with Texas congressional offices to discuss the importance of historic preservation and the need to maintain the review protections for historic resources that have been in place for the past 60 years, since the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act. 

See additional photos from David's trip.