Sam DeShong Ratcliffe, who earned a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, is head of special collections in the Hamon Arts Library at Southern Methodist University, which holds the Jerry Bywaters Collection on Art of the Southwest. He has taught courses on the history and literature of Texas and the American West in SMU's history department and MLA program. His publications, including Painting Texas History to 1900, have won a number of awards.