The Texas Prison Rodeo staged its last show on October 26, 1986, in Huntsville, Texas, marking the end of a 55-year run that left an indelible mark on the state’s history and the ever-evolving Cowboy Mythos.

Bill Kennedy's images are selections from an extensive project, co-authored with Michael Murphy, between 1977 and 1980. The project originated in a documentary photography course taught by Prof. J.B. Colson at The University of Texas at Austin, where Bill and Michael were graduate students and teaching assistants. Throughout a long and distinguished career, Prof. Colson mentored hundreds of aspiring photographers. 

Michael is an accomplished photographer, editor, and conservationist. His career includes working as a staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle, Director of Photography at the Texas Tourist Development Agency, and Photography Editor at Texas Highways Magazine.

A 105-print exhibition of the TPR photographs, made possible by a grant from the Texas Committee for the Humanities and the Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin, Texas, was organized by the Dallas Historical Society in 1979. The exhibition toured venues across Texas for two years under the direction of the Texas Association of Museums. The prints were donated to the Photography Collection at the Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin (https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/). The original negatives and supporting documents will be archived at UT's Dolph Briscoe Center for American History (https://digitalcollections.briscoecenter.org/).