Texas A&M University-San Antonio Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio Finding Aids: Guides to the Collection Archives & Special Collections 2020 DRT 9, Documents Collection, 1519-1979 DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/findingaids Recommended Citation DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, "DRT 9, Documents Collection, 1519-1979" (2020). Finding Aids: Guides to the Collection. 176. https://digitalcommons.tamusa.edu/findingaids/176 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives & Special Collections at Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio. It has been accepted for inclusion in Finding Aids: Guides to the Collection by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Texas A&M University-San Antonio. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DRT 9, Documents Collection, 1519-1979 Descriptive Summary Title: Documents Collection Dates: 1519-1979 Abstract: The Documents Collection is an artificial collection formed to gather manuscript material received by the DRT Library prior to the implementation of current descriptive and cataloging practices. In general, this includes single documents and some small collections received by the library prior to 1981, when a numbering system for new items was adopted, which became the basis for the location of manuscript material and descriptive records tied to the location. Identification: DRT 9 Extent: 14 document boxes, 6 flat storage boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 5 oversize items, 23 bound volumes Language: Materials are in English Repository: DRT Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Introduction An important part of the Documents Collection is made up of the manuscript material donated by Dr. William E. Howard, which formed the core of the library's holdings when it was established in 1945. In the years following, new acquisitions were added to the Howard donation, the items interfiled and described on index cards using an in-house cataloging system (larger manuscript collections received during this time were housed separately, and eventually were numbered, described and cataloged separately). The current arrangement of this collection was undertaken to provide improved access to the material, replacing the inconsistent and incomplete index cards, without resorting to cataloging all of the items within the collection. With a few exceptions, the items in the collection have been described individually and are arranged alphabetically by an author/creator element. To provide other means of examining the contents of the collection, the finding aid includes a chronological list of the items, and a name index. The collection also includes a small group of literary manuscripts or creative works that is listed separately in the finding aid. Other features of the finding aid that should be noted: Items for which an author/creator element could not be determined are listed at the beginning of the finding aid, ahead of the alphabetical arrangement. Most legal documents are listed under the governmental jurisdiction responsible for administering the transaction involved; most commonly, these are municipalities, counties, states, and provinces. The jurisdiction listed is that in existence at the time the document was created. Personal name access to these items is provided by the index. A title element that usually designates the form or function of the document, the date, physical extent, language other than English, and a brief note on the contents, is also provided for each item. In a few cases, the description is of two or more items related by provenance; that is, the items were donated as a group or evidence suggests that they were the accumulated items of an individual or family. Folders containing the items have been numbered; the name index refers to these folder numbers. For oversize items, which appear in the finding aid in the same alphabetical arrangement, the index gives the oversize folder number and the author/creator element, allowing the user to refer to the full description for more information. Oversize items also appear in a separate list to further facilitate references from the index. Scope and Content Note Gathering documents in a multitude of forms, the Documents Collection provides a record of government, business and personal activities in Mexico and Texas, from the earliest days of European settlement through the twentieth century. Because it includes the collection of Dr. William E. Howard, there is a recognizable emphasis on his interests, particularly material from colonial Mexico and the Republic of Texas. Many of the documents associated with Mexico were collected by Howard, and include decrees, letters, broadsides, and other items issued by the Kings of Spain, Mexican Viceroys, and prominent government and church officials. The bulk of the collection, documents Texas, beginning with its earliest settlement as a province of New Spain. The greatest concentration of material dates from the period of Anglo-American colonization through the Civil War, and documents significant events and more mundane matters. Encountered most frequently are documents related to transactions of various types, such as land grants and sales, slave transactions, legal actions, and monetary matters. Political and military events are also represented, and letters reflect both government, business and personal and social life. The collection includes some photocopies of items held by individuals and by other archival repositories. Some of the notable items in the collection are: a copy of a grant to native residents who assisted in the Spanish conquest of Mexico; proceedings related to the establishment of San Francisco de Solano Mission, the parent mission of the Alamo; a collection of letters written in 1726 by a prisoner of the Inquisition in Spain; records of a 1790 trial before the Inquisition; a body of letters of the Archbishop of Mexico, Alonso de Nunez de Haro y Peralta; a copy and translation of the trial records of Juan Bautista Casas for the failed 1811 revolt against Royal forces in San Antonio; Royal and Viceregal letters and decrees concerning matters in Mexico, including the rights of Indians, finances, church affairs, military matters, and Mexican independence; a report on an Indian battle in 1833 involving Jim Bowie and others; the marriage bond of Alamo defender Almeron Dickinson; a November 1835 circular of the provisional government of Texas concerning military and political affairs; a letter of Daniel W. Cloud as he traveled to the Alamo, where he would meet his death in the siege of 1836; the first printed copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence; a broadside accusing Sam Houston of anti-Catholic views; two broadside detailing Houston's position on the secession crisis in 1860 and 1861; share certificates issued by inventor Jacob Brodbeck in 1865 for an airship; labor contracts with freedmen in Harrison County, Texas; a bound volume of papers of Agustin Fischer, a religious figure and confidant of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; letters and reports of Mexicans involved in the struggle against French rule, including Benito Juarez and Victoriano Cepeda; letters and documents of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna concerning his family and property; and letters of Bishop John C. Neraz on the sale of the Alamo by the Catholic Church to the state of Texas. The collection contains material related to individuals both prominent and obscure. Some of the other names appearing in the collection include: Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, Stephen F. Austin, Thomas Barnett, the Baron de Bastrop, David G. Burnet, Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Jose Antonio de la Garza, Thomas Gay, Jose Manuel Granados, Archibald Hotchkiss, Francis W. Johnson, John W. Kenney, Luke Lesassier, John H. Money, Ramon Musquiz, Jose Antonio Navarro, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, Henry Smith, James Harper Starr, William Barret Travis, Juan Martin de Veramendi, and Samuel May Williams. Geographically, most areas of Texas are represented, but there is a particular concentration of material associated with the Austin Colony and San Felipe de Austin, and San Antonio and Bexar County. In addition to the documents, the collection includes a small number of literary manuscripts, including memoirs, biographies, genealogies, histories, fiction and poetry. Several of these were obtained by Dr. Howard from James T. DeShields, and reflect his interest in gathering and publishing accounts of frontier Texas. Notable items from this portion of the collection include a detailed genealogical history of several Spanish-Mexican families produced in the eighteenth century, a volume of collected recipes and home remedies, biographies of Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston and John C. Hays, and the memoirs of James Wilson Nichols. Most of these are unpublished, but galley sheets of published works are also found. Restrictions Access Restrictions No restrictions. The collection is open for research. Usage Restrictions Please be advised that the library does not hold the copyright to most of the material in its archival collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure those rights when needed. Permission to reproduce does not constitute permission to publish. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright, literary property rights, and libel. Administrative Information Preferred Citation [Identification of item], DRT 9, Documents