DRT Library Closing As of June 1 for Move
The DRT Library will be closing as of Wednesday, June 1st to prepare the collection to move in time to meet the State’s deadline to vacate our current building near the historic Alamo Shrine.
We sincerely thank you for your continuing trust and support. Please know that we will make the collection available to researchers again as soon as possible. Follows us on our website, Facebook, and/or here on our Blog for future announcements.
The DRT Library is moving, and we need your help!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| www.DRTL.org |
The DRT Library Needs Your Help!
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas need your support as we fight to maintain ownership of the DRT Library Collection. The DRT is now collecting donations for a Legal Defense Fund to help us cover costs as we move forward with the legal process. 100% of donations to this fund will go directly to saving the library.
Every dollar matters! You can click on link above, which will take you to our Legal Fund webpage. From there, click the yellow DONATE button to make a contribution using your credit card or PayPal account.
Thank you so much for your support!
Catch up on the legal battle over the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Collection.
The library collection held by the DRT includes more than 38,000 items of Texana, going back to 1519 with the kings of Spain.
Happy 229th Birthday, Colonel Crockett!
One of the Alamo’s most famous heroes would be 229 years old today. Colonel David Crockett was born on August 17, 1786. You can read his autobiography for free as an ebook on Google Books to find out about his early years in the back woods of Tennessee. Here at the Alamo Research Center, we like to talk about how much he loved Texas!
Masthead of the Essex Register (Salem, MA), Sept 10, 1835. This edition contains a portion of the letter that David Crockett wrote to the National Intelligencer. DRT 12 Newspaper Collection, DRT Library Collection.
Crockett was beginning to wear out his welcome during the elections of 1835. He was an excellent political stumper as well as one of the early master political propagandists. He cultivated the image of himself as a backwoods buckskin-clad Indian fighter and “Everyman.” However, his lack of results during his first three terms as well as his vehement opposition to Andrew Jackson cost him the 1835 Congressional election. In response, Crockett declared that he would be headed for Texas to participate in the rebellion there and take advantage of the possibilities afforded by the amount of land on offer. He became the best known person to join the Texas cause.
In a portion of his letter printed on the 10th of September, 1385, in the Essex Register (Salem, MA), Crockett declares “I do believe Santa Anna’s Kingdom will be a paradise, compared with this in a few years. The People are nearly ready to take the yoke of bondage…” The full letter appears in a different newspaper, the National Intelligencer. Crockett was so famous, though, that other newspapers through the United States picked up his letter and printed it. He and his unit of Tennessee Volunteers traveled to Texas over the fall and winter of 1835. They ended up at the Alamo in San Antonio and died with the rest of the defenders on the morning of March 6, 1836.
Portion of a letter written by David Crockett to the National Intelligencer, appearing in the Essex Register, Sept. 10, 1835. DRT 12 Newspaper Collection, DRT Library Collection
Resource Round-Up #4
One of the very important functions of an archives is to serve communities and histories that have not always been included in public discourse. We pride ourselves on the Daughters of Republic of Texas Library Collection’s content related to underrepresented groups. In particular, we house a great deal of material that illuminates women’s history and the history of women’s groups. Here’s a brief guide to some of the women you can learn more about in our collection!
Photograph, Duchess Mary Milby Giles (Beckmann), Courts of Carnival Flowers and Lilies, 1911 and 1912
Collection: Col 14629 Adolph Guenther and Milby Giles Beckmann Family Papers
Milby Giles Beckmann (1890-1956)
Mary Milby Giles was born at Vance Ranch near San Antonio on 1890 January 22. She was the daughter of famed architect Alfred Giles and Annie Laura James. An accomplished pianist, Milby was also involved in a several local organizations, including St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and the Military-Civilian Club, San Antonio Conservation Society, and King William Area Conservation Society.
Mary Ann Adams Maverick married Texas revolutionary Samuel A. Maverick in 1836 and accompanied him to San Antonio in 1838. They had ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood. Four of her sons fought in the Civil War. Mary kept diaries of her experiences on the Texas frontier, including the Runaway of ’42 and the Council House Fight. She was also a dedicated correspondent and political observer in the dozens of family letters contained in the Maverick Family Papers.
After her 1934 marriage to M.H. (Martin Harold) Pugh, May Eckles moved to Donna, Texas, where she and her husband were involved in the fruit industry. She moved back to San Antonio after her husband’s death in 1945. Begun on her sixteenth birthday, her diary was maintained without significant interruption until two days before her death at age 82.
Elizabet Ney was one of the first professional sculptors in Texas. Her sculptures appear at the Texas Capitol, the United
Elizabet Ney, reknowned Texas sculptor, wearing a high collar traditional dress, undated. General Images Collection, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
States Capitol, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Art. In addition to her sculpting, Ney took an active role in artistic and civic activities in Austin, where she died on 1907 June 29. Four years later a number of her supporters founded the Texas Fine Arts Association in her honor.
Ellen Schulz Quillin (1892-1970)
Ellen Dorothy Schulz moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she taught science at Main Avenue High School. She soon became interested in establishing a museum in San Antonio and helped organize the acquisition of a large natural history collection, which was housed in Main Avenue High School. The collection was the nucleus of the Witte Memorial Museum, which opened in 1926 with Schulz as its director, a position she held until her retirement in 1960, while continuing to pursue her interest in botany.
The Sultanas de Bejar (1948-present)
The Sultanas de Bejar is a women’s organization that was formed in San Antonio, Texas, in 1948. It serves as a social auxiliary to Bejar Caravan No. 56, the local chapter of the International Order of the Alhambra. Solely social in nature, the organization’s mission is to foster fellowship among members of Bejar Caravan No. 56 and their wives and to assist in furthering the aims and objectives of the Caravan.
There are many other collections that include information about Texas women and women’s organizations. You can try our catalog, use the subject guide on our website, or search our manuscript finding aids in TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online). We’re here to help in person from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. So give us a call or send us an email to set up your research appointment today!
Summer in San Antonio is hot, sweaty, and a whole lot of family fun! For residents looking for entertainment in the summer of 1906, nighttime provided a new source of recreation.
Electric Park activities during the daytime in 1906. General Images Collection, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
Samuel Weiss opened the Electric Park Company across the street from San Antonio’s oldest public park, San Pedro Springs Park. Electric Park included all manner of attractions including a carousel, a toboggan track, a Ferris Wheel, shooting gallery, pool hall, and boat rides, among other exciting activities. In the 1950s, Renwick Cary’s “Around the Plaza” feature in the San Antonio Express recounted the exploits of “The Girl in Red” from Doc Carver’s Diving Horse act (one of the traveling companies that inspired the Disney movie Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken) that performed at Electric Park for several seasons.
Electric Park fully illuminated at night! This was a trend inspired by the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and later Coney Island-type theme parks. General Images Collection, DRT Library, Alamo Research Center.
The star of the Electric Park show came on after twilight fell. The theme park was fully electrified! Many of San Antonio’s children recalled summer nights at riding the circle swing and the roller coaster. The majority of electric parks would close by 1917 due to competition, increasing operating costs, and fires, but the memory of have fun at them would live on.
Beer Garden and Circle Swing during the daytime at Electric Park. General Images Collection, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
Circle swing lit up at night at Electric Park. General Images Collection, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
Come visit us tomorrow for a First Saturday exhibit all about summer fun in San Antonio! Some of our Texas Treasures will also be on display.
“The Alamo is not ancient history. It is no more ancient than love is an old story, for nothing is ancient and nothing is old which every day teaches something that is fine and beautiful and brave.” –Richard Harding Davis, 1892
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas have been dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of Texans since their inception in 1891. Many of their most visible activities occurred at the Alamo Shrine in San Antonio. In response to Clara Driscoll, Adina de Zavala, and other women who called for the rescue of the neglected and decayed site of the 1836 battle, the Texas legislature made the Daughters of the Republic of Texas the custodians of the Alamo in 1905. Without state assistance (prior to 2011), they operated and improved the Alamo using the proceeds from the gift shop. They transformed the Alamo into a tourist site that introduces Texas history to millions of school children and visitors from around the globe while at the same time supporting preservation efforts of the historic structure.
One hundred and ten years later, their last day as the official caretakers of the historic shrine is July 10, 2015.
Their Alamo legacy, however, will live on.
Sarah Riddle Eagar, the second Shrine Hostess, in the interior of the Alamo Chapel. In the early days, donated documents and paintings hung on the walls and artifacts were displayed in cases. The Shrine Hostess greeted visitors from her desk. Sarah Eagar and Florence Eagar Roberts Alamo Papers, Doc 14408, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
Shrine Hostesses
Because they needed a representative to be the face of the Alamo to the public, the DRT installed a desk in the chapel for the volunteer Shrine Hostess. She answered questions and explained the history of the battle and the site to visitors. The first hostess was Florence Eagar, who held the post from 1905 until 1907. After she married Major Harris L. Roberts, her mother, Sarah Riddle Eagar, took over the duties of hostess. A citizen of the Republic of Texas herself, Sarah had been the first Anglo American child born in San Antonio.
1906 contract for one of the first Alamo postcards to be sold as a souvenir to support the upkeep of the Alamo. Florence Eagar, the Alamo hostess, was in charge of the contract.
The 1905 legislation required that the DRT operate and preserve the Alamo “without charge to the state.” Prior to 2011, the DRT provided all of the funding used to maintain and operate the Alamo historic site through the proceeds of souvenir sales. In the early years, the Daughters sold small trinkets such as vases and crockery from the Shrine Hostess’ desk. The hostess logged inventory and sales in her ledger. The souvenir shop was moved into the Alamo Sales Museum in 1936.
![Interior of the Alamo Sales Museum. [Alamo Museum interior] / Harvey Patteson & Son, 1958. DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center, San Antonio, Texas](https://drtlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/sc14352wtmk1.jpg)
Interior of the Alamo Sales Museum. [Alamo Museum interior] / Harvey Patteson & Son, 1958. DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center, San Antonio, Texas
John F. Kennedy signs the guest register at the in the Alamo. To his left is his sister Patricia Lawford and to his right the DRT hostess, Jacqueline Runnels Espy. General Image Collection, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
The Shrine Hostess continued to be an important figure for the DRT and the Alamo. For eleven decades, these ladies have presented the public face of the history of the Alamo, the Texas Revolution, and the Texas Republic. The last shrine hostess, Anne Burney, retired in March of 2015. As the Mission Chapter put it in their tribute to Leita Small: “May these words…serve as a reminder…to learn the lesson of the Alamo as she learned it- ‘to carry on loyally and unafraid, never surrendering even though she must ask to have the cot lifted across the line.'”
Finding Aids: Your Roadmap to the Archives
Welcome to Resource Round-Up #3!
If you are interested in doing research in a library or archive, the chances are that you will encounter what archivists call a finding aid. So what is a finding aid, what can it tell you, and how can you use it? Let’s look at an example. For this exercise, we’ll be using the Bustillo Family Papers, a fairly large collection in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Collection.
So you’ve already checked out the vertical files on your topic that we have at the Alamo Research Center. If you also explored our catalog, you might have come across an entry with an active hyperlink. Clicking on this link will take you to the digital copy of the finding aid hosted on TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online).
Click on the hyperlink to go to the digital finding aid. From here, you can see the contents of the collection.
A finding aid is the chief tool that we use to figure out what is in a particular archival collection. The finding aid can be index cards, an inventory or box list, or any other format that documents the general contents of a collection. There are professional standards for what to include the type of finding aid we use at the Alamo Research Center. Here, we are referring to finding aids that include information about the creator of the collection, the scope (breadth) and content (topics covered) contained within the collection, the administrative history of the collection, and other information about the collection. One of the main functions of the archivist is processing, arranging, and describing a manuscript collection using these standards so that it is usable to the public. The finding aid will be your guide as you navigate the collection.
The finding aid is like a road map that lists information about the creator of the collection as well as the contents, physical size, primary language, and more. It is organized so that you can find the document or group of documents that are important to your research project.
The first division you may see in a finding aid is the “Series.” Depending on the materials in the collection, the series may indicate different types of documents- i.e. a Series for Correspondence, Personal Papers, Business Materials, Photographs, and more. Alternatively, the collection may be separated by creator–this is particularly true in family papers, where each family member may have their own series. Within each series, collections are commonly processed down to the “folder level.” For a collection processed to that level, you can see folder designations (i.e. Correspondence, 1860-1865), but not individual items within the folder. In the case of the Alamo Research Center, many of our finding aids are processed down to the “item level.” This means that you can see individual documents listed on the finding aid. You can see this on the finding aid for Bustillo Family Papers. When you locate an item that you would like to look at, you can request it by providing us the collection name (Bustillo Family Papers) and number (Col 879) plus the box and folder number. It’s like providing coordinates on map that tells us exactly where we need to go!
You can request items by listing the collection name and number plus the box and folder number listed on the finding aid.
Here’s a little tip if your catalog search takes you to an entry that links to a large finding aid. If you are looking for mentions of a particular person, place, or event, click on Edit–>Find or use the Ctrl-F shortcut to open the “find” box, type the name in the box, and search for each instance of that term appearing on the web page. It will save you from having to scroll through every page to look for your person!
You can do this! If you get stuck, you can always send us an email (there is a contact option in TARO, or send it directly to drtl@drtl.org) or give us a call. We’re here to help. Schedule your research appointment today!
“From Mountaintop to Mountaintop of Knowledge:” Willie H. Maverick graduates from the University of Virginia
Congratulations to all of the recent and upcoming graduates out there! The Alamo Research Center would like to salute your achievement. So here’s to you, 2015 Graduate!
Commencement program, University of Virginia, June 30th, 1870, Col 11749, Maverick Family Papers, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
You are joining historic company. In June of 1870, William H. (Willie) Maverick graduated from the University of Virginia with the degree of Bachelor of Law. Willie was the second son of prominent San Antonian Samuel Maverick, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He had to pass rigorous examinations that include questions such as:
State the doctrine in Virginia as to private statutes; the definition of an ex post facto law; the doctrine in Virginia as to Retrospective Laws; the power of the Courts of England and in Virginia severally, to declare a statute void and why; of what the laws of Virginia consisted previous to the Revolution; Sheriff’s civil liability for escapes; and the coroner’s ministerial duties.
And that’s just one question out of over two dozen for Willie’s four classes!
University of Virgina Commencement Program. Inset shows William Maverick on the list of graduates with a degree in law. Maverick Family Papers, Col 11749, DRT Library Collection, Alamo Research Center.
You can explore more about Willie and the rest of the Maverick family by reading their extensive correspondence, school papers, business records, and other documents in the Maverick Family Papers here at the Alamo Research Center. Schedule your research appointment now!
Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.
Inside the Gates 