Learn about the day-to-day life and influence of vaqueros in Texas with a traveling photography exhibition on display as part of Lone Star College-CyFair’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

Stop by the library to see “Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy,” an exhibition created by the Wittliff Collections in partnership with Humanities Texas and made possible in part by a We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In the early 1970s, noted Texas historian Joe Frantz offered Bill Wittliff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - to visit a ranch in northern Mexico where the vaqueros still worked cattle in traditional ways. Wittliff photographed the vaqueros as they went about daily chores that had changed little since the first Mexican cowherders learned to work cattle from a horse's back. Wittliff captured a way of life that now exists only in memory and in the photographs included in this exhibition.

The exhibition features photographs with bilingual narrative text that reveal the muscle, sweat and drama that went into roping a calf in thick brush or breaking a wild horse in the saddle.

“This month commemorates my beautiful rich heritage and a part of this is reflected through the exhibition on display in our library,” said Paula Gonzales, LSC-CyFair’s Assistant Director of Children’s Services. “As a proud Texan and direct descendent of one of the first families who settled in Texas, I have several generations of family dating back to the early 1700’s who were vaqueros and vaqueras.”

Visit this exhibition through Oct. 15 and learn how the vaquero influenced the origin of the Texas cowboy.

For information about viewing hours or to arrange group visits, call 281.290.3467.