Frank Reeves was a well-known livestock reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the American Hereford Journal, and the Cattleman. Born in Kentucky, Frank Reeves grew up on his family's livestock farm in Young County, Texas, and attended Grayson College. Though hoping to study law, Reeves instead accepted a position at the Swenson Land and Cattle Company (SMS Ranch). He remained there for 14 years and took photographs which were reproduced in the ranch's catalog. For $50, the Stetson Hat Company bought Reeves' photo of an SMS cowboy drinking from his hat and used the caption, "Stetson hat beats sanitary drinking cup any old time."
His work captured the working cowboy in each decade along with a little of the romance of ranch life and he did this on every major ranch in Texas. Scenes that include all aspects of cow work, ranch architecture, horses, breeds of cattle, stock shows, cattle sales, rodeos, and the people who were involved make his photograph collection a well-rounded view of 20th century ranching in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Many of his images have the quality of movie stills- a lone cowboy working the cattle at dusk, a chuckwagon cook moving the dutch oven of sourdough biscuits to the center of the coals, a cowboy and horse drinking from the stream side-by-side. Others emphasize Reeves' specialty of action photography. In a 1969 interview Reeves said, "I've always tried to make my pictures authentic instead of spectacular. I wanted them (the subjects) working, not standing around looking at the camera. A lot of times I'd make the picture and say, `thank ya,' then they'd get busy and I'd get busy shooting."
After leaving the SMS Ranch, Reeves took on other ranch jobs and eventually ended up in California, where he wrote a series of articles for the Dallas News. Returning to Texas in 1929, he landed a job with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Reeves remained a reporter with this newspaper until his death.
From the guide to the Frank Reeves Papers, S 832. 1., 1910-1972 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)
