Women in Baseball

One of three sports cards at the DRT Library featuring female baseball players, circa 1880s.

To mark the convergence of Women’s History Month and the upcoming start of the baseball season, we wanted to feature three sports cards featuring female baseball players. We were excited to discover these intriguing items with a scrapbook containing several hundred sports cards (these were featured in an October blog post).

Female baseball player, playing at third base.

Preliminary research indicates that the women’s baseball cards date to the 1880s. Each card measures approximately 1.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall. In addition to showing a picture of the athlete, the front of each card also lists the position she plays as well as the name “Dixie Cigarettes”; like men’s cards from that era and the early twentieth century, tobacco companies produced baseball cards as promotional tools. Unlike men’s cards, the names of these female players are not included; as a result, at this time they have not been identified and nothing is known about them. The back of each card is blank.

Female baseball player, catcher.

Even though baseball is currently regarded as a sport for men, this has not always been the case. In her article “Transition of Women’s Baseball,” Gai Ingham Berlage writes that “from 1866 to 1935, women and girls were actively involved in amateur, semiprofessional, and professional baseball. On playgrounds, in high schools, in colleges, on industrial teams, on professional barnstorming teams, women and girls played baseball and excelled.” It has only been since 1935 or so that “softball [has] almost completely replaced baseball as a sport for women.” Beginning at that time, “baseball as a male domain and softball as the female equivalent became the cultural norm.” Notably, “this transition from women’s baseball to women’s softball was so complete that the public was no longer aware that women had ever played baseball” (72). As a result, when Phlip K. Wrigley developed the All-American Girls’ Baseball League in 1943, people incorrectly believed it was an “unprecedented idea” (77). Likewise, when A League of Their Own, a film about the league, was released in 1992, “it was a revelation to the public” (72).

To read more about the history of women in baseball, check out Berlage’s complete article, published in the journal Nine in 2000, by clicking here. (Note: article is a PDF document.)

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“Lovely Bluebonnets, More Beautiful Than All the Rest”

“Bluebonnets have inspired the poet’s pen, the artist’s brush, the cowboy’s dream, and the legislator’s eloquence throughout the broad spaces of Texas. Their royal beauty and enchanting fragrance have a particular message which speaks to the emotions with compelling directness.”

–Mary Daggett Lake, 1926

“I like the bluebonnet because a field of this Texas flower seems just to have burst from the ground and it trembles subtly, making it very beautiful.”

–Julian Onderdonk, 1914.

The Battle of Flowers Association's 1992 commemorative pin featuring bluebonnets.

A selection of materials from the DRT Library’s collections demonstrate the accuracy of Lake’s statement, which we are highlighting in this entry to mark the anniversary of the Texas legislature’s March 7, 1901 action recognizing the bluebonnet as the state flower.

In her 1926 work The Legend of the Bluebonnet, botanist and author Mary Daggett Lake describes how this came to be, writing that the Colonial Dames of Texas originated the idea. Passing easily in the Senate, the resolution faced opposition in the House, where many representatives knew the flower by other names and where some proposed other flowers such as the prickly-pear cactus flower and the cotton boll. To strengthen their case for the bluebonnet, the Dames presented a painting of the flower by Miss Mode Walker of Austin. According to Lake, “deep silence reigned for an instant. Then deafening applause fairly shook the old walls.” The bluebonnet had carried the day.

Sheet music cover for the 1936 song "Flower of Texas," poem by Evelyn Hornsby Mims and music by Dot Echols Orum.

Seventy years later, almost to the day, a second piece of legislation was needed to clarify the situation. The initial legislation applied only the the Lupinus subcarnosus species, which some Texans considered to be the least attractive of the bluebonnets. A seventy year argument about the flower was resolved when Governor Preston Smith signed legislation (H. C. R. No. 44) on March 8, 1971, making all six species of bluebonnets and “any other variety of Bluebonnet not heretofore recorded” the official state flower.

Cover art to sheet music for Ida Bassett Botts's song "Legend of the Blue Bonnets (State Flower of Texas)" (1936).

The bluebonnet has been the subject of numerous poems, songs, works of fictions, and art. In fact, the 1933 state legislature adopted a state flower song, written by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett, entitled “Bluebonnets.” While the DRT Library does not have a copy of this song, its sheet music collection does contain scores for other pieces that pay homage to the beauty of Texas bluebonnets.

Julian Onderdonk, Spring Morning, 1911. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 inches. (SC95.015)

Finally, artist Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922) was well-known for his depictions of bluebonnets in his artwork, which earned him the nickname of the “bluebonnet painter.” Indeed, William Rudolph writes in his book Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist that “his paintings of the bluebonnet landscape brought [him] acclaim, his only measure of financial success, and a host of imitators.” While Onderdonk was not the first artist to depict bluebonnets in paintings, Rudolph argues that “it is thanks to Julian that the imagery became both distinct and popular” (37).

Onderdonk first painted bluebonnets in his work Spring Morning (1911), completed two years after returning to Texas from New York. This work is in the collection of the DRT Library and, while currently on loan, is usually on display in the reading room. Rudolph argues that in this painting the “bluebonnets scattered across the middle ground act more as a color-note contrast to the cacti and other vegetation than as the primary locus of attention.” Even though Onderdonk experimented with other plants in his landscape paintings, by the mid-1910s bluebonnets dominated his work (37).

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Newspaper Accounts of the Battle of the Alamo

Last Friday, March 6, marked the 173rd anniversary of the final assault on the Alamo garrison. In 1836, those living in Texas and beyond learned about this event (and the general course of the Texas Revolution) through published newspaper accounts. The information contained in these articles was gathered from named and unnamed sources such as Almaron Dickinson’s wife, Susanna; William Barret Travis’s slave, Joe; Ben, the servant to the Mexican officer Colonel Almonte; and Andres Barsena and Anselmo Bergara, Tejanos who based their statements on testimony given by Antonio Pérez, who was in San Antonio on March 6.

The second page of the Telegraph and Texas Register from March 24, 1836. The article about the Alamo begins on the right-hand column under the heading "More Particulars Respecting the Fall of the Alamo."

The DRT Library’s newspaper collection includes papers published in the spring of 1836 containing “news from Texas.” While the majority of these materials were published in American cities, also included is a photocopy of the Telegraph and Texas Register published in San Felipe, Texas, on March 24, 1836. According to Todd Hansen, editor of The Alamo Reader, this document “is probably the most influential single account of the fall of the Alamo by virtue of being the first in print, its access to authoritative sources, and its near universal dissemination” (551). Indeed, argues Hansen, this account “would be the picture of the fall for Texans (and the United States) and the starting point for all later secondhand accounts” (565).

According to Todd Hansen, the casualty list included in the Telegraph and Texas Register account is "particularly valuable" because it was "based on the most authoritative sources known in Washington-on-the-Brazos" at the time (565).

Another important newspaper account of the fall of the Alamo in the library’s collections can be found in the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana published on March 21, 1836. The draft of a 1968 press release announcing the library’s acquisition of the document states that it is “a rare copy of a Mexican newspaper containing the earliest known official announcement of the fall of the Alamo.”

Front page of the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana from March 21, 1836.

As the official newspaper of the Mexican government, the Diario celebrated the bravery and success of Mexican officers and soldiers in achieving what is described as a complete and brilliant victory. “Long Live the Mexican Republic!” proclaimed the headline of this article, “Long live General Santa Anna and the brave army, victors of the Fort of the Alamo in Texas!”

The report on the fall of the Alamo appears on the fourth page of the March 24th Diario.

A supplement to this edition of the newspaper contained additional details about the Alamo, specifically General Santa Anna’s report about the battle, his March 5th General Order outlining the plan for the assault, and a March 3rd letter from General Urrea to Santa Anna describing the former’s victory over James Grant’s men at San Patricio. The article also includes a Spanish translation of Robert McAlpin Williamson’s March 1st letter to Travis. Taken from Travis’s body or his quarters, the letter concludes with Williamson’s impassioned statement, “For God’s sake hold out until we can assist you.” The Diario supplement may be the first printing of the text of the letter; since the original manuscript of this letter has never been found, the publication is significant for revealing its existence.

First page of the "Suplemento al Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana" for March 24, 1836.

Like other primary sources describing the siege and battle of the Alamo, newspaper accounts contain some confusing, problematic, and contradictory statements that researchers are still exploring, analyzing, and debating. For example, the report published in the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana claimed that more than 600 Texans were killed, an estimation three times the actual number. Additionally, while only seventy deaths are attributed to the Mexican force, actual losses are estimated to be up to 600 soldiers.

An inventory for the entire newspaper collection can be accessed by visiting the DRT library; we are in the process of editing the guide so that it can be accessed and searched via the library’s online catalog.

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The Alamo and DRT celebrate Texas Independence Day

The Alamo and the DRT commemorate Texas Independence Day with a ceremony in Alamo Plaza.

On Monday, March 2, the Alamo and the DRT celebrated Texas Independence Day with a ceremony in Alamo Plaza. The ceremony, held by the Alamo Mission Chapter of the DRT, featured a speech from DRT Library Director Leslie Stapleton. Mrs. Stapleton spoke about the library’s history and collection. Specifically, Mrs. Stapleton discussed the great primary sources that the library has in its archives.

Leslie Stapleton, DRT Library Director, speaks about the library's history and collection.

Among the one-of-a-kind documents is a letter written by Alamo defender Daniel William Cloud on December 26, 1835 to his brother, John B. Cloud. A lawyer from Kentucky, Daniel William Cloud joined David Crockett’s Tennessee Volunteers to help in the fight for Texas Independence. He describes what many of these young men might have been feeling when he writes,

If we succeed, the Country is ours. It is immense in extent, and fertile in its soil, and will amply reward all our toil. If we fail, death in the cause of liberty and humanity is not cause for shuddering. Our rifles are by our side, and choice guns they are, we know what awaits us, and are prepared to meet it.

This letter was donated to the library by the Cloud family in 1979. Click here for a previous post about the Cloud letter.

Another great document in the collection is a letter written by Abishai Mercer Dickson written to his wife from New Orleans on December 29, 1835 on his way to Texas. He writes to her,

My Dear, my lips have not been wet with spirits of any description since I left you and I do hope they never will again and I think this trip will not only wean me entirely from it but will give me a new constitution.

He closes the letter by writing:

I have some hopes of making a little fortune. I feel more anxious than I ever did.

Dickson joined the Alabama Red Rovers and served under Col. Fannin at Goliad, where he was killed by the Mexican army along with more than 340 other Texan soldiers.

Lastly, another unique document in the collection is Samuel Augustus Maverick’s copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Maverick was an early Texas land baron, legislator, and leading citizen of the Republic. He lived at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Houston Street and played a large role in the Siege of Bexar in December 1835. He was chosen as one of two representatives from the Alamo to go to the independence convention on March 1, 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

Maverick left on March 2 but did not arrive at the convention until March 5. By that day, the Declaration had already been drafted and adopted. Maverick printed his name as well as the names of the other late arrivals to his broadside copy of the Declaration. Although one thousand broadside copies were originally printed, today only thirteen are known to exist. The DRT Library is fortunate to have two of these known copies. Click here for a previous post about the Maverick copy of the Declaration of Independence.

After the ceremony, Mrs. Stapleton invited all guests to visit the library, which is not usually a browsing collection, to view these and other special primary sources from the library’s collection.

Library visitors look at items on exhibit from the collection.

Texas Independence Day, March 2

On this day in 1836, the Texas Declaration of Independence was presented to the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the- Brazos. Like the United States Declaration of Independence, the Texas Declaration has a statement on the nature of government, a list of grievances, and a declaration of independence. For more on the content of the Declaration of Independence, go to the Handbook of Texas Online.

After signing the original document, five other copies were made that were sent to Bexar, Goliad, Nacogdoches, Brazoria, and San Felipe (the original is in the collection at the Texas State Archives). In addition to the five copies, one thousand copies of the declaration were ordered in broadside form to be distributed across Texas.

The following is Samuel A. Maverick’s copy of the broadside. Maverick, a representative from the Alamo, arrived at Washington after the order for the broadsides had already gone to the printer. Maverick appended his name, along with the names of the other late arrivals to his copy. In the turmoil that accompanied the advance of the Mexican army after the fall of the Alamo, the retreat across Texas, and the deciding battle of San Jacinto, few printed copies of the declaration survived. Maverick’s copy, which remained in the possession of his descendents, is one of about thirteen known examples. Of the thirteen known copies, the DRT Library has two. The second copy was given to the library by Hamilton and Billy Laster Fish.

Samuel A. Maverick's broadside copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Click on the document to see a larger size.

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