Matthew Day is an independent scholar, historian in Lubbock that specializes in oil and agricultural, ranching history.
Day has published three books (in digital and paperback form) since moving back to Lubbock in June 2018. Much of the work he does is based on research conducted at the Southwest Collection and Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
“I enjoy studying the interplay between oil and ranching, especially as the oil industry began to branch out into petrochemicals–stuff like plastics and natural gas that help store and heat our homes,” said Day. “Even if you can’t buy books for your museum or your store, you’re always welcome to buy books for your own personal library.”
Day currently has 25 published through Amazon KDP. Some of those publications include: Accidental Resurgence? The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in West Texas: How Oil, Raw Materials, and Agriculture (Tried To) Save the Railroad Industry on the South Plains at Midcentury, which was released on April 27, 2020.
Many people might not know that the area to the west of Lubbock, a West Texas city of about a quarter million located not far from the state’s western border with New Mexico, is home to one of the largest and most prolific oil fields in the state, if not the country. The discovery of oil near Levelland and Morton in the late 1930s opened up new opportunities for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF).
Locally, the rail lines crisscrossed around Lubbock, even as far south and southwest as where South Plains Mall now stands. The AT&SF, knowing that their survival rested with the strength of the oil industry above all else, worked with oil companies and other businesses, letting these businesses borrow land along the railroads to store their supplies. This book was released less than two months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; as such, it is a primer on how to succeed in business when challenges arise.
The Oil Empire That Wasn’t: Energy in New Mexico During the Interwar Years: Book II: Hiram Dow and the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, 1935-42, which was released July 18, 2023.
This is one of two standalone books that are each part of a series on the oil industry in New Mexico during the 20th century, especially in the years prior to and during World War II. During the 1920s, the amount of oil that people found was so much that the price for it fell.
State and federal officials tried to see if they could make the oil worth more money. They tried to get companies to get less oil from the ground. Less of a product available means that the product is worth more (just like toilet paper during the pandemic). There were two groups of people that each felt that they could put forth the best solution. One group (Book I) sided with FDR, the president during the Dust Bowl and WWII. They thought that the federal government could control oil production better than the states could. The other group (Book II, what you see here today) thought that state officials knew about the oil industries better than the federal government could, and the states could better regulate oil production. Neither plan worked. The oil industry was left in a precarious situation as the whispers of war moved westward from Europe.
Fueling Victory at Home: How the Mallet Ranch of Texas and Its Relationship With the Oil Industry Helped Reshape the American Southwest in the 1940s, which was released November 29, 2019. The book was a winner for Best Indie Book Award (BIBA), Nonfiction, U.S. History category (2020).
As mentioned, the Slaughter Oil Field came online to the west of Lubbock in 1936 and 1937. That field would produce 100 million barrels of oil by 1948 and nearly half a million barrels by 1975. (One barrel of oil is 48 gallons. Of that, gasoline makes up 19 gallons. One barrel of oil makes a tankful of gasoline. 100 million barrels can fill up 100 tankfuls.)
However, that success story almost did not happen. State and federal officials tried (again) to cut oil production. It nearly left ships and tanks empty as WWII kicked into high gear—not to mention that these failed policies nearly left many in the Northeast in the cold (they rely on heating oil). Oil companies drilled anyway. They were willing to take the punishment from state and federal officials if it meant that they could help fuel economic growth at home and the war effort abroad. They helped win the war, and they helped fuel economic growth after WWII in Lubbock and in the Southwest.
Local Roots, Global Prospects: Robert E. Underwood, George P. Livermore, and the Growth of American Petroleum Around the World After World War II, which was released June 1, 2021.
With the recent outbreak of war in the Middle East, oil will almost certainly become a key topic in the 24-hour news cycle. Beyond the higher prices that some will pay at the gas pump, there is a lengthy backstory. When American oil producers had helped win the war, they expanded their operations abroad. Oil companies will go where they have the best chance to win. They found that they could win when they had little interference from government (rules, regulations, taxes). In the Middle East, they helped build Arab theocracies. In Canada—as in Texas a generation earlier—they helped build an industry that breathed new life into an economy heavily dependent on cattle and crops. The ultimate result was a never-ending balancing act between drilling more at home and drilling and importing more from other countries into the United States.
The Sale: How Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company Shaped the Culture of Mergers and Acquisitions, which was released September 18, 2023.
The 1980s were a time of fast growth in the economy. Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts would set the stage for a flurry of mergers and acquisitions—companies joining their money and things and companies buying other companies’ money and things. This flurry of activity became possible because the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company of Fort Worth crafted a blueprint for how to make these mergers and acquisitions possible. The TP spent eleven years trying to find someone to buy their company. Be surprised by who actually bought them. Don’t be surprised with all of the steps it took for this sale to happen.
How to Read Oil History If You’re an Average Joe: or, E. K. Warren and Son (Three Oaks, Michigan) and Oil in Three Western States, which was released June 1, 2021.
E. K. Warren and Son was a Michigan-based enterprise that borrowed its land-use techniques heavily from the cattle kingdoms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the end of World War II, it had outlasted the cattle kingdoms, which had lost much of their power over the American West by the end of the 1920s. I show how the Warren company’s experiences in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and even Canada helped move the oil industry forward, including through the use of seismic waves (yes, like those in earthquakes), municipal water rights, and more. The book also serves as a how-to guide on understanding some of the basic terminology of the oil industry while also providing an engaging narrative on the post-World War II oil industry in the American Southwest.
SUPERFIELD: What Makes an Oil Field a Superfield (and Why is West Texas the World’s Premier Oil Superfield)?: Book I: William Klattenhoff, which was released July 18, 2023.
Book I of a series of two standalone books examining oil production in West Texas in the years during and after WWII, with an eye towards comparing and contrasting West Texas oil with oil production elsewhere. Book I deals with Slaton, Texas, native William Klattenhoff. Day draws a contrast with Mideast oil, and includes some information on the Ellenburger oil discovery near Rankin, Texas, in the early 1950s.
Unknown Quantity: Vincent Charles Perini Jr.’s Role in Oil and Uranium in the American West, 1953-58, which was released June 1, 2021.
In addition to the various publications Day has produced, his podcast is an alternative option to hear his wealth of knowledge. Interested parties can go to https:// www.podomatic.com/podcasts/ officialmatthewmdaybookspodcast/ episodes/2024-01-04T10_00_0008_00.