8th Annual Family History Seminar: “Bursting Through Brick Walls”

Join us on Saturday, September 20, for our 8^th annual Family History Seminar. Our topic will be “Bursting Through Brick Walls,” in which we will tackle the various dead ends that genealogists routinely run into when researching family histories. Our special guest speaker will be Mr. Lloyd de Witt Bockstruck.

Registration is $35 per person, which includes a box lunch. Reservations will remain open as long as seating is available. For more information on the seminar, click here or call the library at 210-225-1071.

Battle of Flowers Parades Now on DVD

Our films of the Battle of Flowers parades from 1928 to 2005 have been converted to DVD compliments of Matson Multimedia.

The films comprise just part of a large collection donated to the library from the Battle of Flowers Association. The collection also includes documents pertaining to the association, drawings, photographs, as well as artifacts like tickets, advertisements and programs.

Researchers are invited to view the DVDs on library computers. They provide a rare glimpse of downtown San Antonio through time.

New Additions to the Catalog

Here is a sample of some titles recently added to our catalog:

• Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861, by Raul A. Ramos.
• Claiming Their Land: Women Homesteaders in Texas, by Florence C. Gould.
• Jerry Bywaters, Interpreter of the Southwest, edited by Sam DeShong Ratcliffe.
• Wings Over San Antonio: Images of Aviation, by Mel Brown.

In addition, the library acquired two books on Mexican military strategy published in 1854:

• Tactica de artilleria de Montana, redactada en virtud de la suprema orden de 16 Febrero de 1854, written by Colonel Bruno Aguilar.
• Tratado teórico y practico de fortification pasajera, y del ataque y defensa de los puestos de campaña: con un resúmen de las pequeñas operaciones de la Guerra, para uso de los oficiales y sargentos del ejercito, written in French by Captain Ernest de Neuchèze and translated into Spanish by order of President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Transition & Continuity

Elaine Davis and Leslie Stapleton

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Committee announces with regret the retirement of Elaine B. Davis, Library Director for the past ten years at the DRT Library at the Alamo and with anticipation the appointment of Leslie Stapleton to that position July 31, 2008. This promotion from within ensures continuity for patrons and donors.

The Library Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of Leslie Stapleton, DRTL catalog librarian, to the position of Library Director. Since her employment in May of 2000, Mrs. Stapleton has served in various capacities. In addition to cataloging new acquisitions, her current responsibilities include planning the library’s annual family history seminars; establishing the library’s catalog in a new web interface; and maintaining the library’s web presence.  A 1986 graduate of Floresville High School, she graduated from Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State University San Marcos, in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications, specializing in print journalism with a minor in English, and the University of North Texas, Denton, in 2007 with a master’s in library and information science. She and her husband Jeffery reside near Floresville in Wilson County with their son Charlie.

 

Archivist Announced

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Committee announces with anticipation the appointment of Caitlin Donnelly as archivist of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library on July 28, 2008.

Caitlin Donnelly

Ms. Donnelly, of St. Louis Missouri, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a master’s in public history from North Carolina State University at Raleigh, North Carolina, and a master’s in library and information science with a concentration in archival studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She was a processing archivist at the Missouri State Archives in the NEH Civil War Records Project in St. Louis, Missouri.