{"id":3823,"date":"2018-02-23T21:23:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T21:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/theindustrioushistorian\/?p=3713"},"modified":"2022-11-30T17:21:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:21:36","slug":"the-history-of-thurber-in-12-objects-the-sound-of-thurber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/2018\/02\/23\/the-history-of-thurber-in-12-objects-the-sound-of-thurber\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Thurber in 12 Objects: The Sound of Thurber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Cameron Mitchell <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February’s object happens to be almost a century old. This C.G. Conn trombone, manufactured in 1926, produced years of tunes that echoed in music venues across the great state of Texas. The slim bell and lightweight frame was perfect for marching along the unpaved streets of Thurber. Although it has been heavily discolored over the years, this trombone was crafted well enough to be played today! The man who performed on this musical instrument was Thurber\u2019s own George B. Studdard.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Trombone owned by George Studdard
Studdard Collection, W. K. Gordon Center<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Studdard initially came to the Thurber area in order to work in the local oil fields but found a career with the company in the business office. When he settled in Thurber, he was approached by the company band conductor, Cicero Harris, who asked Studdard to play the trombone for the Thurber \u201cTee-Pee\u201d Band. Although Studdard did not have a musical background, he quickly learned how to play with the support of Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Vintage
1927, Thurber band celebrating the tenth anniversary of the oil discovery in Ranger, Texas. George B. Studdard is standing on the back row, fifth from the left.
Studdard Collection, W. K. Gordon Center<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


He recalled one of his local performances:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cI well remember a concert one Sunday evening at Thurber when the Conductor…decided to play a different tune [instead of] the next one on the program. Some of the guys were talking and did not hear the change. The Conductor raised his baton and gave the downbeat – well, holy bedlam broke loose, confusion reigned, and the band was mortified with embarrassment and the conductor was totally flabbergasted. He immediately stopped the band, made sure every member of the band understood what number we were going to play, then started over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
1944, Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company\u2019s employee group of volunteer blood donors during World War II. George B. Studdard is located second from the left.
\u00a0Studdard Collection, W. K. Gordon Center<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thurber had many different bands, from the official company band to the Italian musical group. Performances were held on the town\u2019s multiple bandstands on Sundays. The town hosted parades with upbeat marches every July 4th<\/sup> and Labor Day. Touring musical acts played to audiences crowded into the Opera House. From music filled wedding receptions extending into the early morning hours to mournful funeral processions up cemetery hill, music filled the lives of all Thurberites, regardless of background. Studdard\u2019s trombone leaves an impression of how significant a role music played for the souls of this boom town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Studdard continued working as a tax commissioner for the company after it moved back to Fort Worth. He went on to publish Life of the Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Co.<\/em> in 1992. This publication has continued to give insight and unique perspective on the life in Thurber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cameron Mitchell February’s object happens to be almost a century old. This C.G. Conn trombone, manufactured in 1926, produced years of tunes that echoed in music venues across the great state of Texas. The slim bell and lightweight frame was perfect for marching along the unpaved streets of Thurber. Although it has been heavily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"brian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/author\/brian-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/308\/2022\/11\/Trombone-300x107.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Uncategorized<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Uncategorized<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 23, 2018","modified":"Updated on November 30, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 23, 2018 9:23 pm","modified":"Updated on November 30, 2022 5:21 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"A vintage trombone with a black case.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/the-industrious-historian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}