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Robert L. Dawson French Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 411
  • Collection
  • circa 1570-circa 1970

This collection consists of manuscripts, typescripts, printed items, correspondence, official documents, and publications from the French seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Authors and addressees include many personalities prominent in French history but also many ordinary individuals.

Dawson, Robert L.

Slavery and Emancipation Documents

  • US TxAM-C C000006
  • Collection
  • 1737-1875

This collection contains 58 items are related to slavery or emancipation in the states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Texas and the countries of Cuba, the Caribbean, Jamaica, and Paris, France.

The descriptive write-up provided by Respess and William Reese, Company is used in the listing of documents. Each document purchased has a title, date, and some have an abbreviated transcription of the text.

The Texas document recounts the hiring, auctions, renting, and transferring ownership of slaves. The Missouri documents concern the purchase and transferring of ownership of slaves named Nancy, George, Phebe, Washington, Lucinda, Madison, Benjamin, and Sarah. No last names or additional information is provided except that Nancy is a Mulatto Woman and George is "of the age of seventeen or thereabouts." Of particular note are two documents, a Texas free woman of color filing a complaint regarding an illegal beating by a group of five men one and the other document is from Missouri and details a sale of slaves by a woman, a rarer document than those recording sales by men.

Mercurio Martinez Papers

  • TxAM-CRS C000563
  • Collection
  • 1767-1963

The Mercurio Martinez Papers (1797-1963 (bulk: 1910-1963)) include correspondence, copies of legal documents such as wills, deeds, affidavits and courtroom briefs, maps, a few photographs, field notes for land surveys, genealogical charts, accounts of family and regional history by Mercurio Martinez, and historical accounts from other sources, principally newspapers. There are also financial records of various kinds including tax records, bills and receipts, books of check stubs and account sheets.

The vast majority of the papers relate to families, places and events in Zapata County. Webb County is also well represented, as is the region surrounding the town of Guerrero, Tamaulipas located on the south bank of the Rio Grande opposite Zapata County, Texas. A few papers deal with families, places and events in Starr County and further south in the Rio Grande Valley and a few files deal with Mexican, United States and world affairs. Unless otherwise noted in the inventory, files deal with Zapata or Webb County matters.

The oldest original papers date from the latter part of the nineteenth century and include such documents as Mercurio Martinez's Texas Teachers Certificate, 1898 (Series 1-3/4); a General Land Office map of Zapata County, 1885, (Series 3-14/25); and a certificate appointing Proceso Martinez, Sr., Mercurio's father, to the Zapata County Board of Appeals, 1870, (Series 3-25/23). There are also copies and translations of nineteenth-century documents including partition deeds, deeds of sale, birth records, and maps. Accounts of family and local history written by Martinez in the 1950s and early 1960s deal with events dating back to the Spanish settlements along the lower Rio Grande in the 1750s. Genealogies are generally traced back to the first colonists to arrive in the region. Family records, therefore, cover a time span of more than 200 years, from the settlers who arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande in about 1750 to their descendants in the early 1960s. Each decade from 1900 onward is represented in the papers. There are more files from the 1950s than any other single decade.

Among the most important files in the collection are those on the relocation of the town of Zapata due to the construction of Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande in the early 1950s, the salvation of the community of San Ygnacio from destruction during this period, the accounts of family history and genealogy from Zapata County, and the papers related to the division of lands between descendants of original holders of Spanish grants and sales of family lands. Maps, genealogies, and legal documents provide a clear picture of the rapidity with which even extensive landholdings can be reduced to tracts hardly adequate to support the families of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original owners. Reconsolidation of holdings through the purchase of interest from siblings and through cousin marriage are also documented. It is also possible to trace shifts in settlement and land-use patterns. For example, the original grantees of porciones along the Rio Grande held land in long narrow blocks extending inland from the river. Over the generations, these blocks were subdivided among heirs and parts of them were sold outside the families. Through separate inheritance from parents, through marriage, and through purchase, individuals came to own small pieces of land located in widely separated tracts. This pattern of dispersed holdings, each of economically inefficient size and too far apart to be worked as units, has been noted for many peasant societies. These papers clearly reveal the processes whereby such a land-holding pattern developed out of the more economically efficient block holdings within a few generations. The most completely documented tract of land is the vast Jose Vasquez Borrego Grant made in 1750. It was later divided into the Dolores, Corralitos, and San Ygnacio Subdivisions. The first settlement was made at the Hacienda de Dolores on August 22, 1750. This settlement was abandoned, apparently during Indian troubles in the early 19th century. A settlement or Rancho of Dolores was founded nearby in the Dolores subdivision of the Borrego Grant by Cosme Martinez in 1859. Meanwhile, the town of San Ygnacio had been founded in the San Ygnacio subdivision in 1830. Until the early 20th century, an hacienda in the Corralitos subdivision was occupied by members of the Vidaurri family, who were descendants of the original grantee's daughter, Alejandra Vasquez Borrego de Vidaurri.

Also of interest are the Corridos, or ballads, composed by Mercurio Martinez and dealing with dramatic events in Zapata County history such as an escape from prison, a contested election and the destruction of Zapata by the rising waters of Falcon Reservoir.

Martinez, Mercurio, 1876-1965

Abolitionists' Archive

  • US TxAM-C C000553
  • Collection
  • 1795-1910; Undated

The collection contains over 100 rare letters, autograph quotations, and photographs from 50 major figures in the American antislavery struggle, including several rare autographs from key British abolitionists. Many of the individuals noted provided selfless support, financially, morally, and wrote on behalf of the abolishment of the 'peculiar' institution of slavery. Some of the well-known abolitionists include Henry Ward Beecher, Blanche K. Bruce, William Channing, William Lloyd Garrison, Joshua R. Giddings, the Grimke sisters, Gerrit Smith, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Lewis Tappan, one of the leading financial supporters of the Amistad Africans.

The collection contains photographs and newspaper clippings of these 50 prominent abolitionists.

H.M.S. Alfred Crew Station Book

  • US TxAM-C C000020
  • Collection
  • circa 1800

This collection contains the crew station book of the H.M.S. Alfred (3rd rate 74, built 1778). Unpaginated [276].

The H.M.S. Alfred was in the harbor for service from 1799 until she was broken up in 1814. This notebook was used for training crews for the Napoleonic wars, and it gives very detailed accounts of the jobs from getting up the anchor, to furling sails.

Wipprecht Family Papers

  • US TxAM-C 1251
  • Collection
  • 1803-1973

The Wipprecht Family Papers is a collection of photographs, correspondence, and other items pertaining to the family of Walter Wipprecht (Sr.). The photographic collection spans the Wipprecht personal family ranch life in Bryan Texas to Texas A&M College and Bryan, TX early buildings. The collection includes several local newspapers, commemorative Bryan, TX memorabilia along with photographs of historic Texas A&M College during the early 1900s.

The collection includes light-sensitive glass plate negatives.

Wipprecht, Walter

Illustrated European Periodicals of African Military Expeditions

  • US TxAM-C C000564
  • Collection
  • 1821-1906

This collection includes over 11 different groupings of approximately 1 to 10 issues in each grouping. The latter half of the collection includes illustrations of African and African Americans in European periodicals.

Burchard/Birchard Family Papers

  • TxAM-CRS C000504
  • Collection
  • 1821-1998

This collection includes documents of the Burchard/Birchard family from 1821 to 1998. The family is notable to Texas as Amasa Burchard was a founder of Independence Texas in 1835. The Burchard family claimed land through the generations in Texas following Amasa Burchard. The family remains active in Texas as John W. Burchard helped erect a Historical Landmark in Independence in 1998.

Alfred and Emily Tennyson Letters

  • TxAM-CRS 649
  • Collection
  • 1832-1893; Undated

This collection contains nine handwritten letters from Alfred Tennyson and one handwritten letter from Emily Tennyson. Also included is the poem "A Welcome", the lower half of a letter with Tennyson's signature, and the dated and signed portion of a document that Tennyson signed as a witness on August 1, 1862.

Alexander Thomson Letter

  • US TxAM-C 37
  • Collection
  • 1832-08-05

The Alexander Thomson letter is dated August 5, 1832, from Texas, Austin's Colony. Addressed to "Mr. Wm. D. Thomson, Giles County, Tennessee, Cornerville P.O.," with the salutation "My dear son," and signed "your Aff. Father, Alexs. Thomson."

The text of the letter recounts recent events in Austin's colony which, in retrospect, have a direct bearing on the brewing struggle for independence of the colony from Mexico. Most noteworthy is the account of the early revolt of Anglo-Texas colonists against the Mexican government's steady encroachment on the freedom of colonists to conduct free trade or encourage further immigration into Texas from the United States.

In the letter, Thomson details the build-up of hostilities between Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn, born in Virginia, but in service to Mexico, who was made commander of Fort Anahuac.

Noteworthy also in the letter are the expressions of loyalty and admiration shown toward General Antonio López de Santa Anna by the colonists, who saw him as championing their rights in the condemnation of Bradburn, who was known to be a supporter of the hated General Anastacio Bustamante. Bustamante, who had been the dictator of Mexico since January 1830, was now involved with Santa Anna and his allies in a fierce civil war. (see general note)

As the Thomson letter records vividly, the Texas colonists threw their support to Santa Anna, believing him to favor their freedom to enforce their own laws and maintain their own system of trade and civil courts. The letter records Stephen Austin's whole-hearted support of Santa Anna and Thomson's encomium on Santa Anna as "a true republican ... determined not to lay down his arms until republicanism prevails," rings ironically optimistic in the face of events only a few years later, culminating in the bitter defeat of the colonists by Santa Anna at the Alamo, and the equally bitter final defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, assuring Texas's independence from Mexico.

Accompanying the letter are three other items.
A sepia-toned picture apparently reproduced from an oil painting. The picture is pasted inside a dark brown oval paper matting on a piece of cardboard measuring about 20 cm by 15 cm. The image measures about 13 cm by 7 cm. Though the original painting is as yet unidentified, "Alexander Thomson" is written on the back of the cardboard in pencil.

A sheet of letterhead stationery for the "St. Louis Southwestern Railway Lines, St. Louis 2, Mo.," with the logo for the "Cotton Belt Route," and below that "F. W. Green, President." On this much-folded piece of letterhead is an undated and unsigned biography of Alexander Thomson handwritten in pencil.

A photocopy (circa 1980) of a booklet originally prepared by Ralston P. Haun in Coleman, Tex. around 1936, which includes a transcription of the August 5, 1832 letter, as well as other family letters and papers. According to the copy of an explanatory note appended to the booklet, dated May 1, 1980, and signed Jim Glass of Houston, Tex., one of the three copies made by Haun was given to Ana Gardner Thomson and passed down to her granddaughter Ana Haun Frómen, thence apparently to Gardner Osborn. The booklet includes transcriptions of five other family letters and two memoirs. Though speculated upon in the Glass note, the current disposition of the other letters and papers is still unverified.

Thomson, Alexander, 1785-1863

William Youens Family Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 1594
  • Collection
  • 1836-1946; undated

This collection contains letters, newspaper clippings, postcards, empty envelopes, and stamps. The collection contains over 600 items in total, with four letters, and forty-eight postcards. However, the majority of this collection is made up of envelopes.

Most of the correspondence relates to William Youens (1848-1930), his wife Mary (Kennard) Youens (1856-1941) of Navasota, Texas, and their children Anne Caroline Youens (1883-1959), Emmie Lucy Youens (1885-1967), Herbert Percy Youens (1889-1978) and Clifford Kennard Youens (1891-1977). The correspondence concerns the travels of family members and the service of Herbert Youens in Europe during World War I. Of particular interest is a letter written to Judge John R. Kennard, Mary Youens' father by Texas Governor James W. Throckmorton on January 5, 1867. In this letter, Throckmorton references a court case concerning the use of United States Army troops to provide protection for freedmen. Mentioned in the letter are General Charles Griffin, commandant of the Texas sub-district, General Joseph Barr Kiddoo, assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, and Jacob Carl Maria Degress, assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau of the eastern division of the state. Judge Kennard was an early settler of Grimes County.

This collection was originally in a white metal box with the word "BREAD" printed in gold. The collection appears to have been compiled for its stamps, as many have been removed. Some of the stamps were collected in envelopes at the end of the collection.

Exhibit Collection, "In Fulfillment of a Dream: African Americans at Texas A&M University"

  • TxAM-CRS C000308
  • Collection
  • 1837-2002

This collection follows the African American experience here at Texas A&M and consists primarily of secondary materials such as biographies and timelines of Black American Aggies. There are also primary materials in the media section of the collection, which consist of cassette tapes filled with interviews.

Republic of Texas Stock Certificates and Confederate States of America Notes

  • US TxAM-C 261
  • Collection
  • 1838-1862

This collection contains one Treasury Warrant (February 13, 1861), one $100 share in the Consolidated Fund of Texas (September 1, 1837), one $10 treasury note (December 10, 1838), one $100 stock certificate in the 10 percent Consolidated Fund (June 15, 1840), and one $2 Confederate note and a $3 Confederate note (both dated July 7, 1862).

Everett F. Bleiler Collection

  • TxAM-CRS C000015
  • Collection
  • 1839-2008

This collection consists of documentation relating to the life and editorial/bibliographical career of Everett Franklin Bleiler (1920-2010), including correspondence, subject files, notebooks, files documenting Bleiler's editorial reviews of works for Dover Publications, and other materials.

All materials dating before 1938 are photocopies of originals.

Series I: Correspondence, includes letters exchanged between Bleiler and such literary luminaries as Jacques Barzun, Anthony Boucher, Jack Chalker, August Derleth, L. Sprague De Camp, Philip Jose Farmer, James Gunn, A. Langley Searles, and Colin Wilson. There are also numerous letters to and from Bleiler's friend Martin Gardner.

Series II: Subject Files, and Series V: Other Materials, both consist of various subject files. The former were alphabetically organized in boxes into distinct subject files at the time of processing, whereas the latter were distributed throughout the collection in no particular arrangement.

Series III: Potential Publications Files, consists of individual reviews by Bleiler of works being considered for publication (or republication) by Dover Publications, for whom Bleiler worked in various capacities from 1955-1978.

Series V: Other Materials, includes, among other items, issues of the notorious pro-Nazi newspaper The Free American and Deutscher Weckruf und Beobachter, from the German American Bund. It is unknown when, why and how Bleiler acquired these, although we know he had no connection of any kind to the Bund.

Series VII consists of numerous 3 1/2 ' floppy disks, containing files that were created in various versions of Microsoft Word.

(C000015)

Bleiler, E. F. (Everett Franklin), 1920-2010

Charles B. Richardson Collection

  • US TxAM-C 1317
  • Collection
  • 1840-1959

This collection contains various articles, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia collected by Charles B. Richardson over his lifetime. Interesting pieces in the collection include Richardson's letter of promotion to Captain of the Louisiana militia (1848), newspaper clippings concerning various Civil War events, and a poster advertising agricultural combines dating from the mid-1870s. Another interesting piece in the collection is a payment receipt from October 26, 1863, for the services of a slave named Mike who worked on public defenses in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Richardson, Charles B.

Roger Asselineau Walt Whitman Collection

  • TxAM-CRS 94
  • Collection
  • 1842-2002; Undated

This consists, aside from the group of 900 or so monographs collected by Asselineau, chiefly of correspondence, accompanied by handwritten drafts of reviews written in ink or pencil by Asselineau on slips of paper, apparently placed in the relevant book on his shelf as a file. The correspondence and draft of reviews are often associated with clippings, photographs or snapshots, offprints, programs, newsletters, and a few postcards.

Most of these manuscript materials were found in the process of cataloging the monograph collection, apparently filed by Asselineau in volumes of his monograph collection, usually related to the author of the book into which he inserted the materials over a period of years. A title page of the relevant book into which the manuscript materials were found inserted is now clipped to the materials in the collection folder and the call number of the book written on the photocopied title page in pencil. Also present are musical scores of adaptations of Whitman's poetry, and quite a few copies of the Walt Whitman Circle quarterly newsletter, published by composer and Whitman enthusiast, Robert Strassburg.

Series 1 includes notable correspondents such as Gay Wilson Allen, V. K. Chari, Betsy Erkkila, Ed Folsom, Donald D. Kummings, Jerome Loving, Robert Strassburg, and Leandro Wolfson.

Series 2 consists of a bound manuscript book entitled "Walt Whitman on Burns and a Portrait Gallery of Walt Whitman". The book measures 21 cm by 13 cm and is bound in green half-calf with marbled boards. According to a letter pasted into the book, it was apparently purchased by Roger Asselineau on August 20, 1942, from Alfred F. Goldsmith of New York, NY. Twenty-seven leaves of the manuscript book are filled with mostly photographic portraits of Walt Whitman, a few obviously cut from published works, and one leaf containing a section from a page of a handwritten manuscript in pencil and ink, labeled "Rough draft of a page in 'Robert Burns as poet and person' in November Boughs (p. 61)." Twenty other leaves of the book are left blank.

Series 3 consists of four folders with programs, offprints, and newspaper clippings collected by Asselineau. Contains manuscripts with commentary and suggestions (1856-2000), programs, announcements and catalogs (1963-2000), and clippings collected (1962-1992) regarding the life of Walt Whitman, his writings, collections, and offprints.

Series 4 contains over 900 monographs collected by Asselineau, these materials are cataloged separately in the Library of Congress classification and housed in the Cushing repository stacks as part of the Lit/Whitman collection. These monographs include first editions of Walt Whitman's works, particularly Leaves of Grass, many translations of the poem into an incredible variety of languages, biographies, and other scholarly works. The breadth of Asselineau's scholarly activity and acquaintance is well represented by the amount of correspondence and other memorabilia which was found inserted into these volumes.

Asselineau, Roger

J. W. Batts

  • TxAM-CRS C000492
  • Collection
  • 1843-1952

This collection contains the personal and business documents of Joseph Woodyard Batts. The majority of the documents, around 600, are handwritten duplications of land abstracts that track the distribution of land from the founding of Texas. Other documents included are correspondence of land and loan agreements from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Lastly, there are personal tax receipts for himself and his son, J. W. Batts, Jr.

Notable documents include land granted to Texas A&M, land granted from the Mexican government before Texas was a part of the U. S., land granted to the Confederate war efforts during the Civil War, and land granted from Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.

Batts, J. W.

US Passport of John Livezey and Wife

  • US TxAM-C 296
  • Collection
  • 1846

The US Passport of John Livezey and wife, signed by Secretary of State James Buchanan.

Livezey, John

Edward Everett Papers

  • US TxAM-C C000024
  • Collection
  • 1846-1906

This collection dating from 1846 to 1906 (bulk: 1846-1847) consists chiefly of handwritten letters, journal entries, a memoir, a proof copy of a report from the U. S. Secretary of War on Army operations in Texas and on the Rio Grande during the Mexican War (1846-1848), as well as plans, maps and nine hand-colored copies of lithographic engravings drawn by Everett, which vividly chronicle southwest Texas cultural as well as military history during the late1840s.

Series 1, Letters (1847-1863), mainly handwritten in ink by Edward Everett to his brother, Samuel W. Everett, from 1846-1847, while Everett was serving in San Antonio de Bexar with the U. S. Army during the Mexican War. A few letters from other correspondents pertain to Everett's disability and eventual official discharge from the Army. Three letters written in the period 1852-1863 are about business or from family members.

Series 2, Journal and Memoir (1846-1899) contains three sets of journal entries for Sept. 1846-Jan. 1847. All are handwritten in ink on loose sheets of paper. The memoir, also handwritten in ink, on machine-ruled paper measuring about 8 x 5 inches, covers the years 1846-1848, with additional material added and dated, on at least one page, with 1899. This memoir is edited in pencil by Everett, evidently for publication, since one note suggests that the memoir was donated in 1899 to the Quincy Historical Society, later known as The Illinois Historical Society. The memoir was actually published, at least part, or possibly all of it, under the title "Military Experience," in Transactions of the Illinois Historical Society for 1905.

Series 3, Engravings, Maps, and Plans (ca. 1846-1849) includes nine copies of lithographed illustrations drawn by Edward Everett and engraved by C. B Graham Lithographers in Washington, D.C. The engravings were to be published in a report on U.S. Army operations in Texas during the Mexican War. A proof copy of this 67-page report, titled Report of the Secretary of War, communicating ... the Operations of the Army of the United States in Texas and the Adjacent Mexican states on the Rio Grande (31st Congress, 1st Session, Senate. Executive Document 32), published in 1850, is annotated throughout by Everett in pencil. For this publication Everett was at least responsible for eight illustrations: seven engravings of the San Antonio de Bexar area, including the Alamo church, as well as locations in Mexico; a plan of the ruined Alamo as it was in 1846, before being renovated according to Everett's direction, as a U. S. Army supply depot and workshops.

Engravings include nine copies of the lithographed prints. Notations made in ink on the separate prints, and on p. [4] of the proof copy of the published government report, indicate that: illustrations numbered for publication 2, 3-6 were engraved from original drawings made by Everett; those numbered 1, 7-8 were engraved from drawings made by Everett based on pencil sketches by other individuals, particularly no. 1 titled "Watch Tower Near Monclova," which was drawn by Everett from a sketch by Lieutenant McDowell of the U.S. Army.

Everett's proofs of the lithographic prints have all been exquisitely hand-tinted, in contrast to the severe black-and-white reproductions in the printed report. Of the nine hand-colored prints, two are duplicates of two illustrations, one titled "Church Near Monclova," and the other "Watch Tower Near Monclova." These identical prints are each hand-colored in two versions, apparently to represent the depicted buildings' appearances during the daytime, as well as at dusk or sunset.

Maps include one copy of a published map, possibly also by Everett, though it has been attributed to Josiah Gregg, which also appeared in the 1850 Army Operations report, titled "Map Showing the Route of the Arkansas Regiment from Shreveport La. to San Antonio de Bexar Texas," which is annotated with a penciled in route drawn from San Antonio to Austin, and a town location labeled "New Braunsfels." Also included are two manuscript versions of a map by Edward Everett, one copy titled "Plan of the Vicinity of Austin and San Antonio, Texas."

Plans are represented by two copies of an illustration drawn by Everett for the 1849 Army operations report showing plans of the Alamo before the renovation, titled "Plans of the Ruins of the Alamo near San Antonio De Bexar, 1846." Also present is one manuscript plan, titled "Plan of San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, 1848," which is labeled as "Drawn from recollection by E. E." The legend states that locations number 1-5 on the plan show, for instance, the spot near the Plaza in town where Everett received his disabling gunshot wound in the leg, the Hospital where he convalesced, and the Quartermaster's Office, to which he was assigned to work after being declared disabled from active service in the field.

A handwritten loose-leaf page kept with the proof copy of the report is titled "Index to Col. Hughes Report," and lists subject divisions and page numbers, though these divisions are not present in the published report by Hughes.

Thus Everett's accounts of frontline actions in the Mexican War mainly rely on reports from occasional volunteer soldiers or scouts, or Mexican nationals, returning back to Texas from the front lines of battle in Mexico. As much as he is able, however, Everett produces very detailed accounts of the various battles and skirmishes in and around the Texas-Mexico border, including battles at Monterrey, Saltillo, San Luis, Camargo, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, and Tampico, recording a large number of casualties on both sides.

Of particular interest is Everett's extensive first-hand description of the ruins of the Alamo, and how it was converted for U.S. Army use as a military headquarters, according to plans drawn up by Everett. He deplores the vandalism already wreaked by relic seekers and stressed the respect shown to the mission church by the U. S. Army restorers, who refused to plunder it for building stone but instead merely cleaned away the debris. In the process, skeletons were uncovered, which Everett assumes to be from the time of the siege and Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Everett's accounts of frontier life in the rather rambunctious confines of San Antonio, complete with ambushes, shootouts, rough and ready court trials, and various local characters are often riveting.

Everett also pictures the moods and attitudes of the soldiers toward a variety of issues. Everett describes their arduous marches, unsavory living conditions, often dire medical care, and the cruel climate tormenting them. Having been left behind in San Antonio with all the stores rejected by the army, which had proceeded on into Mexico, Everett's men were faced with nursing broken down mules and horses back to usefulness, salvaging wagon parts from several damaged ones to make a serviceable one, and generally, trying to make do with what could be had in the vicinity, or easily transported from the Quartermaster at New Orleans.

According to Everett, communications on the Texas frontier often proceeded through "solitary express riders." He describes Mexican culture co-existing with "the Indians" and their horse-stealing. He also gives an excellent but pejorative account of the Texas Rangers and their activities, calling them desperados. Everett describes Mexican Generals Santa Anna, Torrejón, and Woll, the exceedingly unpopular U. S. Army Colonel Churchill, officers George W. Hughes, 1st Lieutenant W. B. Franklin, 2nd Lieutenant F. T. Bryan, General Zachary Taylor ("Old Rough and Ready"), General Winfield Scott, and General James Morgan, Captain J. H. Prentiss, Brigadier General John E. Wool, Major General Worth, Captain James Harvey Ralston, Captain L. Sitgreaves, as well as Edward Everett's own two brothers Charles Everett and Samuel W. Everett (Sam).

Full of absorbing narrative and elusive details often lost in larger historical works, the content of Everett's narratives and letters may be summed up in his own words from the handwritten memoir: "Mine is not a tale of battles, or of the movements of great armies, but the details will show some of the hardships and vicissitudes of a soldier's life, the exposure to which causes a greater sacrifice of life than that ensuing from wounds of death received from the enemy."

Everett, Edward

William Wallace Burns Papers

  • US TxAM-C C000023
  • Collection
  • 1848-1910

This collection consists mainly of correspondence (1858-1888) in which Brigadier General William Wallace Burns, of the United States Army, gives detailed accounts of Civil War battles fought during the Peninsular Campaign (March-August 1862), particularly the Seven Days Battles (June 25 - July 1, 1862 ), including Peach Orchard, Allen's Farm, Savage Station, Glendale, Nelson's Farm, and Malvern Hill. Burns discusses topics such as military strategy, troop movements, military surgeons, weather conditions during battles, building pontoon bridges, building defense works and, and capturing Confederate works. One letter is present from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).

Also included is personal correspondence with high-ranking officials such as President Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Secretary of War Charles Stanton, General Henry W. Halleck, General Winfield Scott Hancock, General George McClellan, General William Starke Rosecrans, and Major General Edwin Vose Sumner, as well as Emil Schalk who was a war journalist. The latter correspondence concerns political viewpoints on the causes of the war, primarily slavery, as well as the conduct and outcome of the war.

Some correspondence (1888-1904) was written just before and after Burns' death among family members, notably his grandchildren Lloyd Burns Magruder, who was a cadet at the United States Military Academy, and Pauline Magruder, as well as William Wallace Burns' sister Mabelle Burns, usually called "Mab." A substantial group of letters to Mabelle Burns is from her suitor for marriage, B. L. Prince. A few of the family letters from Pauline Magruder to her Aunt Mabelle Burns are written in French from Paris, France.

Also present is a substantial group of copies of military orders and official reports focused on Burns' thwarted ambitions to become Major General, and lead a Division in the Army of the Cumberland under the command of General Rosecrans. Apparently Burns believed political maneuverings of high governmental officials obstructed his promotion to Major General and precipitated his resignation as Brigadier General in 1863.

A few financial records and documents from legal proceedings are included concerning disputed rights to the "Sibley Tent," an invention whose patent royalties were eventually shared by Burns with Henry Hastings Sibley. Also present are a few documents concerning Texas real estate transactions.

Burns, William Wallace, 1825-1892

Matthew Arnold Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 186
  • Collection
  • 1848-1887; Undated

This collection contains 54 original handwritten letters by Arnold, one page of poetry, one page of prose, and two pieces of paper with his signature. Each letter includes a typed transcription within its folder.

Warrington Penn Portraits

  • US TxAM-C C000576
  • Collection
  • 1848-1876

These two volumes documents feature the personal and political reminiscences of journalist William S. Robinson and were edited and published by his wife in 1877. In the first edition, the first volume was expanded to two with extra illustrations (142 portraits and 53 autograph letters from prominent Americans of the time). Writing as “Warrington,” the journalist was especially noted for his reform positions and radical anti-slavery voice. The portraits and views represent a wide range of 19th-century American historic events, sites, and public figures.

Penn, Warrington

Johnnie Mae Hackworth Papers

  • TxAM-CRS 776
  • Collection
  • 1849-1980

This collection contains the personal papers and writings of Texas religious figure and sometime-political candidate Johnnie Mae Hackworth. The collection documents Hackworth's life; her political campaigns for Governor, Senator, and President;  her conservative political views; and her colorful and unorthodox religious beliefs.

Hackworth's papers contains correspondence to and from Hackworth, Hackworth's notebooks, her various political and religious/prophetic writings, religious and political writings from others that were collected by Hackworth, photographs, and various pieces of ephemera. Notable and predominant among her correspondence are long and rambling letters that Hackworth wrote to political, media and law enforcement figures in Texas as well as on the national level.

Also included is correspondence and other materials from Hackworth's second husband Edwin A. Schaufler, a longtime railroad executive.

Hackworth, Johnnie Mae

G. A. Ames Diary

  • TxAM-CRS 828
  • Collection
  • 1850-1873

The diary starts with an account of a voyage from Southampton to Barbados on the auxiliary sailing ship "Severn."  The bulk of the diary details the author's life in the new West Indies, the purpose of his visit being a bit obscure, but apparently involved with the building of machinery on the sugar plantations.  The diary makes fascinating reading with great detail about the way of life of the English settlers in mid-19th century West Indie, with much on the social side, including accounts of yachting trips, etc.  The final fifty or so pages include accounts of a voyage to and tour in India and European travels.  The diary concludes with a 20 page log of the voyage of the yacht "Urania," from Cowes to the Mediterranean and back from January through July 1872.

Anonymous Journal of the Clipper Ship Stag Hound

  • US TxAM-C 1598
  • Collection
  • 1851

This journal was written by an unknown person on board the clipper ship, Stag Hound with entries dating from January 31 - May 21, 1851, during which the Stag Hound traveled from New York to San Francisco under the command of Captain Josiah Richardson.

Five days out from New York she lost several of her masts, and the crew spent the next several days making repairs. On March 1 they picked up the captain and crew, nine in number, of the Russian brig Sylphide bound from Rio de Janeiro to Helsingfors, Finland. The rescued men landed at Valparaiso when the Stag Hound stopped there for four days to obtain fresh provisions, especially water. While in Valparaiso, many of the crew deserted and had to be replaced.

According to The S. F. Daily Alta Californian from May 26, 1851, the following seven individuals were passengers on board the ship upon its arrival in the harbor: A. F. Macy, Harriet Macy, J. P. Otis, H. R. Helper, J. E. Manning, W. Helman, and W. Mason.

The passenger's experience of frustration usually associated with entering San Francisco on a sailing vessel is apparent in the last few entries. In view of the fact the journalist mentions the name of four of the passengers, A. F. Macy, Harriet Macy, J. P. Ottis, and H. R. Helper, the journalist must be one of the other three, J. E. Manning, W. Helman, or W. Mason. From some of the entries while in Valparaiso, it seems conclusive that the author was from Boston.

The author devoted a considerable amount of space to weather and on each day recorded the latitude and longitude, possibly copied from the ship's logbook kept by the first mate. They gave very little attention to the actual life of the passengers. There are brief references to reading, worship services on Sunday, and a couple of jokes and games. There are also a few references to difficulties in eating during bad weather, but not a thing was written about what they ate. It is mentioned that their cabin got wet a few times, however, there is no mention of what the accommodations were like. Nor was anything written of the fact that there was one female among six male passengers.

Crawford Family Letters

  • TxAM-CRS MSS00164
  • Collection
  • 1852-1900

This collection comprises twenty-seven autograph letters from various family members, three autograph documents written by Joel Crawford, additional unsigned correspondence, fout vintage photographs, five black and white photograph reprints, thirteen mailing envelopes, and a number of other address panels on the letters, some with quite scarce postal stamps from small towns in Georgia and Florida. Short excerpts of some letters are included in the description listing.

The collection also includes biographical information on the Crawford family, a photocopy of a marriage certificate for Charles P. Crawford's marriage to Anna Ripley Orme, and a page from the estate of Joel P. Crawford, signed by his executors James Buchanan and Charles P. Crawford admitting it into the record.

Postal history envelopes contained throughout the correspondence: cancellation stamps from La Grange, Fort Gaines (1855), Bainbridge (1855), Blakely (1855), and Macon (1858), Georgia, Orange Mills (1858), Florida, and Richmond (1862), Virginia. There are also five additional undated envelopes from members of the Crawford family.

Crawford, Charles P.

Hernan Contreras Papers

  • US TxAM-C 25
  • Collection
  • 1852-1993

This collection contains correspondence throughout the life of Hernan H. Contreras, both personal and professional, descriptions of his family home, a warranty deed on property owned by the Contreras family in Starr County, a map of these lots, photographs of family and coworkers in the U.S. Department of Immigration office in Starr County, an autograph book from his public school career, utility bills, receipts, junk mail, and oil and gas leases.

The collection also contains a multitude of papers from Mr. Contreras' wife's family, particularly those of her father, Casamiro Perez Alvares. The contents of these papers include oil and gas leases, utility bills, newspaper articles, correspondence with the U.S. Marshal's office in Galveston, subpoenas, arrest warrants, witness testimonies, receipts, government bulletins, poll tax receipts, land and city tax receipts, family photographs, marriage licenses, wedding invitations, funeral notices, personal letters, business letters, bank statements, checks, deposits, Christmas cards, a pamphlet on communism, a report card, ration sheets from World War I, Letters to the Editor of Newsweek magazine, articles on Estela Contreras' run for political office, and a picture of Estela Contreras from 1993. There is also a collection of reels accompanying all the paper items.

Contreras, Hernan, 1902-197?

Ackerman and McMiller General Store Account Books

  • US TxAM-C 1031
  • Collection
  • 1854-1856

This collection consists of two large leather account books from the old store owned and operated by David Verplank Ackerman and James McMiller that was at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas. The account book labeled "ledger" [box 1] dates from 1855 to 1865 and lists the accounts of individuals while the other one labeled "journal" [box 2] records the chronological expenses beginning in April 1854 and ending in January 1861.

William C. Macready Letter

  • US TxAM-C 658
  • Collection
  • 1854

This collection contains one handwritten letter from Macready to "sir" dated 1854 (1-page, ALS with a typed transcription), and another letter to "William Simpson" (1 folio with a typed transcription).

McDaniel Family Papers

  • US TxAM-C 1292
  • Collection
  • 1855-1916

This collection contains personal letters of the McDaniel family from 1855-1916 along with civil war letters from Confederate soldiers. The letters originate from the McDaniel family in Texas and Mississippi during and after the civil war. Many of the items in the collection are fragile, and transcriptions were made of the letters. This collection also contains family recipes, remedies, along with stereoscopic view plates.

The McDaniel family spans across Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Julius and Minerva (Rodgers) McDaniel were farmers who lived in Ben Hur, Texas during the 1800s.

William Clark Manuscript

  • TxAM-CRS 214
  • Collection
  • 1857

This collection consists of Clark's original, handwritten manuscript of "A Trip Across the Plains in 1857" which was published in "The Iowa Journal of History and Politics" as an article, and a xerox copy of a handwritten transcription of the manuscript, due to its age.

Thomas S. Gathright Letters

  • US TxAM-C 1213
  • Collection
  • 1861-1883

This collection includes several letters from Gathright, who was the first president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University), to several different correspondents during his Presidency. Although the writing is not very clear, most of the letters are written to Judge Louis McInnis and the Governor of Mississippi during that time. Some of the letters were transcribed in Early History of Texas A&M College Through Letters and Papers (1952), by David Brooks Cofer.

John W. Anderson Diary

  • US TxAM-C 16
  • Collection
  • 1861-1866

This collection contains the original diary handwritten as a fair copy by John W. Anderson in 1867, in a notebook made by A. Drury, measuring approximately 24 x 19 cm. The notebook is bound in cardboard, covered in paper, with quarter leather corners and backstrap. Pages are machine ruled in blue, almost all filled with entries handwritten in ink. An albumen photographic print of Richmond before the Civil War is included as a full-page size frontispiece.

An extremely ornate calligraphic title page drawn by Anderson dedicates the diary "To His Beloved Sister, Minnie (Mrs. M. L. Hopkins) ... By John W. Anderson, M.D. 1867." The entries, dated 1861-1866, were copied over in 1867 after the end of the Civil War (1861-1865), from various other journals Anderson kept during the war, as a commemorative record of historical events, including his personal experiences and observations. Sections are enhanced with decorative initial letters and given titles such as "First Year of the War. 1861," with the last section, dated 1866, entitled "Reconstruction."

In the manner of a scrapbook, the journal is profusely illustrated with: pasted in photographs of military and political figures, as well as Anderson family members; pasted in Confederate money and stamps; pen and ink, mostly humorous sketches by John W. Anderson, some hand-colored; hand drawn and colored rebuses, with pasted on, or pen and ink drawn sections; as well as two hand-drawn maps, one showing the First Battle of Bull Run, annotated in red ink with the location of Alabama companies, and of the deathsites for those soldiers well known to Anderson, the other a map in a circular format, showing, at the center, Richmond, Virginia, with roads, railroads and fortifications radiating from or surrounding it. The photographs of family members are particularly interesting as they are included to accompany sketches of the "dramatis personae" of Anderson's narrative.

The original diary pages were numbered 2-300 in pencil on the upper outer corners of each page by Mrs. Robert W. Barnett, whose husband's great-great-grandfather, John W. Anderson had written the diary in 1967, as a fair copy compilation of journals he kept throughout the war and its immediate aftermath.

The original diary is very fragile and housed in a phase box under Restricted access. Permission must be requested from the Cushing Memorial Library Director and an appointment made to view the original diary.

Anderson's reporting skill is evident in the pithy, often vivid diary entries, evidently written by a quite well-educated and informed individual. As a member of the more privileged Southern classes, he is adamantly opposed to what he views as Northern tyranny and does not criticize the institution of slavery. While under siege in Richmond, Va., Anderson and his family, and particularly his fellow soldiers, face hardship in obtaining adequate shelter and food. Although often lighthearted, the entries betray an increasing awareness of the grimness of a drawn-out war and siege on Richmond.

Comments on battles include disparagement of Beauregard's failure to pursue the Federal forces at the battle of Shiloh, as well as mixed evaluations of General John Bell Hood and his Texas Brigade. On a more personal note, during one of Anderson's trips outside of Richmond on business to Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, or Maryland, Anderson's beloved daughter dies. In contrast, there is a charming account of his little boy's birthday party, complete with a pen and ink sketch of the child tearing into a rare treat of a meat pie. The death of a friend, wounded and without the comfort of family, is told without the usual light touch, but full of sympathy.

Events described expressing public opinion on the part of the Southern citizens under besiegement in Richmond include a "bread riot," illustrated with a sketch of women stealing bacon, with one shooting a policeman. Currency values are often mentioned. The flogging of Missouri Representative George Graham Vest by Mrs. Dowell in the House of Representatives is recorded, as is the 1865 New Year's feast prepared by Richmond citizens for the soldiers. After the war, the decision to institute cleaning of the Confederate graves and place flowers on them every 31 May foreshadows the official designation of Memorial Day to commemorate all U. S. soldiers killed in battle.

Also included with the original diary as Item 2. is a black and white photographic copy of the diary pages made by the repository in 1988. This photographic copy includes a few colored enlargements of illustrations in the diary.

Each 8 by 10-inch photograph of a page in the original diary is numbered on the back in pencil. The photographs are inserted in photograph sleeves, two photographs inserted back to back in each sleeve, and bound in three three-ring clamshell box albums holding approximately 50 photograph sleeves each. The black and white photographs of the diary pages are thus divided between the three clamshell box albums, with the colored photographs of selected illustrations added as a group in the back of the third clamshell album box (Item 2. Box 4/album 3). All photograph sleeves clearly bear in print marking pen the Collection ID number and the appropriate page number from the back of the print on the margin of the sleeve.

Negatives for the photographic copy of the diary are included in Box 5, folder 1. As with the photographic prints of the pages, the negatives are also inserted in sleeves and labeled with the Collection ID number and page numbers. The pages were obviously photographed in groups of all "Even" and "Odd," corresponding to recto and verso pages; therefore, the sleeves are labeled with the page numbers and either "Even" or "Odd." It is preferred that this copy of the diary be used as a surrogate copy.

Item 3. of the Diary is a photocopy made on archival quality paper in 2002 of the photographic prints of the original diary. This copy is also suitable for a surrogate copy.

Anderson, John W.

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