The Michener Center for Writers is housed in the historic J. Frank Dobie home adjacent to campus. A writer and chronicler of the folklore of Texas and the Southwest, Dobie published some twenty-five books in his distinguished career—among them The Longhorns, Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver, and Coronado’s Children—and from 1914 to 1947 was a member of the English faculty of the University of Texas. Until his death in 1964, Dobie met with students and colleagues in a kind of informal literary salon in the backyard of the house Waller Creek.
The house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Texas Historic Landmark. It was acquired for UT in 1995 by a generous group of benefactors and friends of the University interested in linking Dobie’s unique legacy with the Michener Center for Writers. The upstairs library, available to students, also serves as a seminar room for visiting faculty workshops.