Austin airport displays treasures from the Wittliff Collections

If you’re passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) anytime before October 1, take a few moments to check out the new exhibit installed in the pylon display cases between gates 7 and 12. They’re filled with treasures relating to writers, photographers and musicians, all on loan from The Wittliff Collections, which focuses on the cultural legacy of the Southwest’s literary and photographic arts.

Some cool items here, including:

Lonesome Dove set designs and memorabilia;

Manuscript pages from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, No Country for Old Men and from his 2006 novel, The Road, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

A rare 1555 edition of Cabeza de Vaca’s La relación y comentarios, the first written account of travels in the region that is now Texas and northern Mexico.

A vintage camera used by Great Depression documentarian Russell Lee;

And pages from a songbook made by Willie Nelson when he was eleven years old.

(Photo: Pages from Willie Nelson’s first handwritten song book circa 1944, he was eleven years old. Also one of his first vinyl LPs with the hit, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. )

(Photos courtesy Wittliffs Collection and ABIA)

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