Mody C. (Mody Coggin) Boatright

Born in Mitchell County, Texas, in 1896, he grew up in a large ranching family and absorbed the kind of spoken storytelling that would shape his life’s work. He went on to become a folklorist, writer, and longtime educator, and spent much of his career at The University of Texas, where he taught English and helped build serious study around Texas and American folk traditions.

His writing is especially remembered for collecting and preserving the stories people told outside formal literary circles: cowboy tales, tall tales, and oral histories from working Texans. Sources on his life describe him as an important figure in Texas folklore, and his papers show how wide his interests were as both a scholar and a teacher.

He died in 1970, but his reputation lasted well beyond his lifetime. Later admirers in Texas cultural history remembered him as one of the state’s standout folklorists, especially for the way he treated plainspoken local storytelling as something worth saving.