Battle of Flowers Association Records are now live!
Just in time for the Battle of Flowers Parade 2014 this Friday!
Two women in a decorated carriage, circa 1900-1910.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library Collection at the Alamo Research Center is the official repository of the Battle of Flowers Association Records. Since 1895 (they became the Association in 1909), this group of primarily San Antonio women have organized and hosted the centerpiece of San Antonio’s biggest celebration- The Battle of Flowers Parade during Fiesta! Although this collection is always growing as the Association donates new material, the ARC archivists have worked hard to ensure that the collection is processed, organized, and made available to the public. Previously, information about the collection was available only in the library reading room. As part of the 2014 celebration of Fiesta, the finding aid for this collection has been posted online to help researchers from all over the world discover this unique material.
The Finding Aid for this collection is now available online here:
A Guide the Battle of Flowers Association Records, 1895-2011
A Finding Aid provides a summary of the collection as well as details about what is contained in the collection. The Battle of Flowers Association Records is a large collection that includes committee reports, officer reports, printed material from all eras, photographs, films, speeches, artifacts, and newspaper clippings, among many other types of materials. We anticipate that this will be a very useful collection for researchers of all levels as well as people who are interested in San Antonio and Fiesta history.
Battle of Flowers pin, 1895.
Interested in Fiesta and Battle of Flowers Parade history? Check out these links for previous blog entries that highlight parts of this fabulous collection.
A Look Back at the 1911 Battle of Flowers Parade
It’s Enough to Make One Want to Live Here Always
Battle of Flowers Parade on Film
Related Collections in ARC:
Reynolds Andricks Fiesta Scrapbooks and Photographs
We look forward to your visit!
Black Gold!!!
A 1937 article announcing a gusher at the Alamo!
According to the article, drilling had been done in secret by the Ew Meloof (We Fool ‘Em) Company. Secret, that is, until the well turned into a San Antonio Spindletop!
Enjoy your April Fool’s Day! Join us this Saturday at the Alamo Research Center for First Saturday at the Alamo. We’ll have an exhibit on the Battle of Flowers Parade and Fiesta San Antonio. We can’t wait to see you!
Featured Researcher: Joel Kitchens
Today we’d like to introduce you to the intrepid Joel Kitchens. He has spent the whole week researching at the Alamo Research Center- and this is not his first visit! Joel is a library professional at Texas A&M University in College Station. He is now gathering the research for his dissertation (and ultimately a book!) on collective memory–how communities create and use historical memory.
Mission San Jose front entrance, Ernst F. Schuchard Papers, Col 926, DRT Collection at the Alamo Research Center.
What is your topic of interest and what collections are you using? Tell us about your experience at the Alamo Research Center.
Joel says: The collective memories of the Spanish mission of San Antonio, which were used to market San Antonio as a romantic and exotic tourist destination. Also, the discourse of sacred space and identity. I am using the Ernst F. Schuchard Papers, the Claude B. Aniol Subject Files, and the San Antonio Guidebook Collection. I have been very surprise (pleasantly!) at how much material the ARC has that goes well beyond “just the Alamo.” I have always found the staff at the ARC to be very friendly, helpful and professional.
Thanks, Joel! We’ve enjoyed having you here and wish you all the best of luck as you continue with your work.
Joel is right. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Collection at the Alamo Research Center touches on all parts of Texas history with a special focus on San Antonio history. We love being part of the historical collective memory of our local and regional community. Schedule your research appointment today by calling us at (210)225-1071 or email us at drtl@drtl.org. We can’t wait to help you explore our collections!
First Saturday at the Alamo!
February 24 through March 6 this year marks the 178th anniversary of the Alamo siege.
The Alamo Research Center will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a special exhibit of Texas Revolutionary treasures from our archival collections. Please come by and join in the fun!
- “Ruins of the church of the Alamo” by Edward Everett.
Everett made this drawing a number of years after the Battle of the Alamo, but the crumbled condition of the front and interior of the church was very similar to how it would have looked in 1836.
Jaime Goes to Washington
By the way, it was really cold for a South Texas native!
The Alamo Research Center’s Interim Archivist, Jaime Espensen-Sturges, recently returned from the Modern Archives Institute at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
I had a wonderful time at the two week workshop. We had eight hours of class time each day. We learned about archival principles and theory as well as received a lot of practical advice- since the real world is often much messier than theory! The best part was that the instructors for the Institute are all professionals at the top of their field. Several did, in fact, “write the book” on their area of expertise. It was an all-around excellent experience for developing as a professional archivist.
Practicing arrangement- how to find order in messy papers- at the Modern Archives Institute
I also met a lot of wonderful people from across the country and who work in all kinds of archives. I’m so grateful that I was able to attend this course!
Talented and beautiful attendees of the 2014 winter edition of the Modern Archives Institute
New Technology Comes to the ARC
A Google Hangout with the Alamo Librarians!
The Alamo Research Center participated in an exciting new event this week. On Tuesday, January 14, we held a Google Hangout to present a virtual tour of the ARC to students across the state (and in fact, across the country!). 761 students from seven Texas fourth grade classes and one fifth grade class from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania attended the tour.
One past summer, Borchardt Elementary librarian Nancy Jo Lambert of Frisco, Texas, visited the DRT Library where staff showed her some of the fabulous documents and artifacts that we house here. She left wishing that her students from Frisco could visit the Alamo, but Dallas is a long way from San Antonio! She contacted the ARC director, Leslie Stapleton, this fall with a great new idea. Would we be interested in doing a Google Hangout with her students? A Google Hangout is a free video conferencing service with a live video and audio feed. Leslie said that we’d love to!
Leslie and Jaime first presented a Powerpoint presentation that included information about the ARC, a discussion of primary and secondary sources, and items from the DRT collection that could enhance what the students have been learning in the classroom about the Texas Revolution and the Alamo. Leslie was on the ARC’s main feed, and Jaime used her tablet to join as a secondary feed that the students could watch to see the artifacts live as Leslie talked about them. Jaime also took the students on a virtual trip to the vault where they could see how the documents are stored and cared for! Then we switched to a question and answer session. The students were able to submit questions on a website called Todaysmeet , and Leslie and Jaime answered as many as they could. We had so many questions submitted that we couldn’t get to them all!
Thanks to Tina Berumen from Cannon Elem. in Grapevine, Texas, for this image!
Our first ARC Google Hangout was a huge success. It is also a creative use of new, readily available technology that allows students from all over the country to visit the Alamo! Librarians from Curtis Elementary and Borchardt Elementary who attended have blogged about the experience if you’d like to read more. We even got our own twitter mention at #AlamoGHO! If you are interested in working with us to hold a Google Hangout with your school, send an email to drtl@drtl.org or give us a call.
We had so much fun with the Google Hangout! Thanks, Nancy Jo!
Funding a Revolution
The Alamo Research Center houses many documents that help us understand Texas history. Often, these items come from different collections, but careful reading links them together and let us tell a story.
In October of 1835, tensions flared into outright fighting between Mexican and Texian forces at Gonzales. Texians also won a victory by capturing San Antonio de Béxar in December.
After Gonzales, delegates met for a Consultation but failed to achieve a quorum, or sufficient representatives to present a vote. By the time they were able to hold meetings later in 1835 and in January of 1836, it became clearer that Texas was likely to declare complete independence from Mexico. As rumors began to swirl about Santa Anna himself leading an army north to retake Béxar, leaders became aware that they had no funds with which to support a revolution. Their forces desperately needed supplies, but the provisional government had no money for arms, ammunition, fodder for the animals, food for the men, or pay. They also could not see a way to raise any significant amount quickly.
This is an 1835 Mexican “Freedom Cap” coin for ocho (eight) reales. These would have been in circulation in Texas in the 1830s, primarily used to pay Mexican soldiers’ wages. Santa Anna recovered a large trove of these coins from a regional mint in Mexico, and he shipped many of them north to pay for his Texas campaign. DRT 7, Mexican coin 1835.
Several enterprising men realized that the provisional government did in fact have a form of vast wealth at their disposal. The wealth was in land. These commissioners hammered out an agreement to float a loan wherein Texas would offer investors prime land at fifty cents an acre. Stephen F. Austin, Robert Triplett, and William Wharton went to New Orleans to see if they could persuade businessmen there to take on the risk of purchasing land that the new government may or may not end up with the title to sell.
The first loan issued was for $100,000. A second was later offered that would bring $20,000. Unfortunately, the representatives at Washington on the Brazos later changed their minds about the land offering at fifty cents an acre as land values fell during the Runaway Scrape. This meant that the consortium of investors that the three Texian commissioners had arranged withdrew their interest and failed to purchase more than the first $20,000 of the original $100,000 loan.
The three commissioners offered these scrips to investors in New Orleans. The initial loan amount was issued for $100,000, of which only about $20,000 ever came through. The triangle cut into this certificate is a cancellation mark, showing that the certificate was redeemed. DRT 9 Folder 907.
With the failure of the Texian loan, private citizens offered what they could to help raise funds. The burgeoning Republic might have had no liquid capital at all without Robert Triplett advancing substantial sums himself in exchange for prime real estate on Galveston Island. The agreement with Robert Triplett was actually signed on a riverboat to Galveston after the government and Governor Henry Smith fled both Washington on the Brazos and Harrisburg in advance of Santa Anna’s army.
Gail Borden printed this appeal for Texians to donate land, goods, and money to the cause of Texas Independence. Gail Borden Papers, Col 874, Folder 61.
References
VF-TEXAS HISTORY—TexasRepublic 1836-1846—Appropriations-Expenditures
“The Finances of the Texas Revolution,” Eugene C. Barker, Political Science Quarterly, 19 (4), December 1904.
The Paper Republic, James Bevill. Bright Sky Press: Houston, 2009.
The Fiscal History of Texas, William M. Gouge. Lippincott, Crambo, and Co.: Philadelphia, 1850.
A Financial History of Texas, Edmund Thornton Miller. University of Texas: Austin, 1916.
Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.
Featured Researcher
For the holidays, we’re bringing back our Featured Researcher column. This week’s Featured Researcher is Joanna Labor.
Joanna came by the Alamo Research Center on December 23, 2013 to get started with a research project. Joanna is working on her Master’s Degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio. One of her class assignments is a 40-page seminar paper. She said she was very grateful that we were open after walking three miles from her home here in San Antonio!
The DRT Collection here at the Alamo Research Center is helping Joanna out. Joanna used Texas Archival Resources Online {TARO) to find references to her topic: women’s reproductive health in the 19th century. She searched the finding aids of repositories across Texas for mentions of terms like pregnancy, birth control, abortion, women’s health issues, and more in letters and diaries. She found some items that might be helpful right here at the Research Center. She’s started with the Andrews family papers, and she also looked at material such as the McKinney Cookbook. She found some interesting information in the Maverick family papers.
The staff at the ARC wishes Joanna all the best on her project, and we hope that we can be of help as she continues her work.
Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year to everyone! We look forward to serving you in 2014.
To Serve Once Again- Sam Houston Becomes Governor of the State of Texas
Sam Houston (1793-1863) is often known as the Hero of San Jacinto. He certainly loomed large as General and Commander in Chief during the Texas Revolution and as President of the Republic of Texas. He was also, however, a congressman and a senator for Texas after its annexation into the United States in 1846. After his Senate term, Sam Houston was sworn in as governor of the state of Texas in 1859. He believed in the Union, but during his term as governor of the state of Texas, he was forced to confront Texas’ secession from the Union in 1861.
This image shows Sam Houston in about 1861 while he was governor of Texas. It was painted by Gustavus Behne (1828-1895). Photograph, [General Sam Houston by Gustavus Behne, 1861], General Photo Collection, DRT Library.
Houston appeared the ready to return to the family home in Huntsville and retire when his thirteen-year career in the U.S. government ended in 1859. On February 28, he reported to Margaret that he was relieved to have delivered his last official speech on the gallery floor (Roberts, 340). As late as March 5, Houston unequivocally repeated that he “learn[ed] from Texas, that there [was] a general wish, that [he] should again enter the Arena of Texas politics. [He was] poor, but Texas [couldn’t] buy [his] services” (347). He even purchased some sheep to begin a flock that he would tend during his retirement from public life.
Houston soon changed his mind. The governorship of Texas was the one office (besides the Presidency of the United States, a role to which Houston did at one time aspire) that had eluded him. Shortly after he arrived in Texas, Governor Runnels was re-nominated on a secessionist platform. Houston decided not to go into the “sheperdizing business” but instead, when Governor Runnels was re-nominated, “announced his candidacy as an independent ‘opposed alike to the Black Republicans and the little less dangerous fanatics and Higher law men at the South.'” (The Raven, Marquis James, 392). He would run on a relatively moderate platform as what he called a “Union Democrat” (396). He managed to scrape out a victory this time, 33,257 to 27,500, despite the increasing unpopularity of his stance against secession. The Fire-eating Southern Democrats decried his election.
According to Marquis James in his biography of Houston, The Raven, the extremists in the Texas legislature reacted negatively to the new governor. He writes, “In the legislature an appropriation for furnishings for the Executive Mansion was obstructed by a controversy whether Sam Houston, who had lived in a wigwam, should be surrounded by civilized luxuries at public expense. The House debated whether it should offer its quarters for the inaugural ball and, if so, whether the carpet should be removed” (393).
Invitation to Sam Houston’s Inaugural Ball, 1859. Due to partisan interference, the inauguration was held publicly on the steps of the Capitol in Austin. A full formal ball was the popular way to celebrate an official occasion. Invitation to Inaugural Ball, DRT 2 Ephemera, DRT Library.
James continued, “Houston made his own inaugural arrangements. Instead of taking the oath in the House chamber before the Legislature and a select few, he delivered his inaugural address on the portico of the Capitol” (393).
“[I] made the state of Texas, but [I] did not make the people.”- Sam Houston, quoted in the San Antonio Herald, April 17, 1858.
Once in office, Houston continued to oppose secession. As rhetoric ramped up throughout 1860 and leading to the firing of shots at Fort Sumter in 1861, he stuck to his guns. His position ultimately led to his ouster from office. You can read more about the secession crisis and Houston’s response to public pressure in this previous blog entry.
References and Further Reading:
James, Marquis. The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1929.
Roberts, Madge Thornall. Sam Houston: The Personal Correspondence, Volume IV, 1852-1863, University of North Texas Press, Denton, 2001.
VF-Biography–Sam Houston, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.
First Saturday Exhibit on December 7- Los Pastores
You’re Invited!
The Alamo Research Center will host an Open House for this upcoming First Saturday at the Alamo on December 7! We will be showcasing a special holiday-themed exhibit as well as some of the treasures from our Vault. You can also enjoy the artwork displayed on the Research Center’s walls.
Inside the Gates has previously detailed some of the images from our Dia de los Muertos Collection. Today, we are profiling another part of that collection that relates to the Christmas-time play Los Pastores, a San Antonio tradition steeped in history.
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Los Pastores: A Folk Play for San Antonio
One of the classic folk plays of South Texas is the nativity drama Los Pastores. “Los pastores” means “the shepherds,” and the play recounts the journey of the shepherds to the birthplace of Christ. Along the way to perform their Adoration of the Christ Child, they encounter angels, demons, and Luzbel (Lucifer) himself. Thanks to the oral component of its tradition, Los Pastores is truly a work of folk art that resonates with both young and old.
Photographer Dick McConnaughey wrote: Young and old alike appear both startled and amused by this devil’s appearance during Los Pastores. In some version of the play, devils throw firecrackers among the audience; only in recent years have San Antonio officials forbidden the practice. Los Pastores 1033, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
History of Los Pastores
Los Pastores descends from a tradition of medieval Spanish passion plays. The original version was purportedly written by a famous Spanish dramatist, Lope de Vega. Spanish friars imported the play as a means of teaching Biblical lessons to the native Indians who populated their missions in northern Mexico and south Texas. Legend has it that the first friar to bring the play to the New World was Father Margil in the early 1700s.
Los Pastores is part of the oral tradition of South Texas and northern Mexico. This means that for more than two hundred years, no one wrote down the story. Instead, actors learned their lines from those who had gone before. They had to memorize the staging and the dialogue. Often, details were altered in each retelling. Because of this, we ended up with many different details and encounters although the main storyline is always the same. There are reportedly at least seventy-four published versions of the play outside of Texas and 28 versions from inside the state. No particular iteration is better than another; this is the nature of oral tradition. Written versions did not begin to appear until the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
This is an early written version (ca. 1894) of the passion play Los Pastores. This page shows dialogue between the Angel Gabriel and Luzbel (Lucifer). Los Pastores, 1894, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Photographer Dick McConnaughey writes: “Father Carmen Tranchese is shown with Don Leandro Granada, grand old man of the Guadalupe Church’s Pastores troup. He is shown holding his second copy of the original Pastores. It is from this copy that Father Tranchese made his translation which is being printed in both Mexican and English.” Los Pastores, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Components of Los Pastores
The primary characters of the play include many of those familiar from the Biblical nativity story. The main protagonists are the Three Wise Men and the twelve shepherds, trying to find their way to Bethlehem to greet the other characters, Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus (represented by a statue in some versions). The Wise Men encounter Luzbel (Lucifer) and his seven imps or demons who attempt to prevent them from reaching Bethlehem. Luzbel fights and is defeated by the Archangel Michael, who has been often played by a girl. Additional characters include Gila, the daughter of one of the shepherds and known as the Cook, Bartolo the Hermit, and Cucharon, and Indian character who plays a comedic part (the Jester). Cucharon is a distinct addition from the classic Spanish version of the play, reflecting the development of a tradition that sought to incorporate recognizable symbols and characters from the society built around the New World missions.
Photographer Dick McConnaughey writes: “Although nearly blind, 76 year old Juan Aregano remains the comic hermit in Los Pastores. Actually, his dialogue is quite serious; however, he performs in such a manner that laughter is bound to follow. Aregano’s sight is so poor that he is led to his position and does his performance recognizing no other cast member.” Los Pastores 971, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Los Pastores is often performed in a backyard or meeting hall. The staging area is usually long and rectangular. The demons enter at one end of space, decorated in brimstone as the mouth of Hell, and the shepherd performers travel toward the other end, decorated to represent the “Nacimiento” or manger of the Christ Child at Bethlehem.
Photographer Dick McConnaughey writes: “An uncanny ‘underground telegraph system’ seems to advise the Mexican population of San Antonio whenever a pastores is to be presented. At the presentation photographed, no word was given of the evening’s production. Before the lantern was lit, however, an audience was waiting for the play.” Los Pastores 1000, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, San Antonio, Texas.
Today, many of the costumes are elaborate and store-bought, but this wasn’t always the case. In small neighborhood productions, this play was performed by people with few resources. They often attached decorative objects from around the home to embellish their devil costume with horns and elaborate cloaks, and the angels dressed all in white. Luzbel and his devils dress in black while the Archangel Michael often wears makeshift armor and wields a sword. Most of the characters, but especially the demons and the Hermit, wore masks. Shepherds each carried a tall staff called a “gancho” that they decorated themselves.
Photographer Dick McConnaughey writes: “Through every method in his means, the chief Devil tries to talk the shepherds out of continuing their journey to Bethlehem. He even succeeds in getting one of them to accompany him as far as the entrance of his cave. Just in the nick of time, however, the Hermit intervenes and brings the Shepherd back to his flock.” Los Pastores 998, Col 928, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Los Pastores in Modern Times
Performances of Los Pastores can take place at the level of families and neighborhoods as well as being presented as events of public spectacle. Individual performances are called “Pastorelas.” In the early parts of the 20th century, small neighborhood productions were the most common form in which to present the play. Most of these occurred in someone’s backyard, attracting crowds from a few dozen to several hundred. Newspaper reports from the 1910s and 1920s report visitors scouring the streets of Mexican neighborhoods to find a group performing the play.
Eventually, however, the masters of the play grew old and a younger generation lost some of their interest in carrying on the oral tradition. In an effort to retain a unique piece of San Antonio’s cultural heritage, the San Antonio Conservation Society has often sponsored productions of Los Pastores. One of the most popular performances is enacted by the Guadalupe players and takes place each year at Mission San José. This performance is being offered once again this year as it has nearly every year since 1947.
References and Further Reading
VF—Los Pastores- Alamo Research Center, San Antonio, Texas.
Los Pastores: History and Performance in the Mexican’s Shepherd’s Play of South Texas, Richard Flores, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC., 1995.
Los Pastores de San Antonio: An Interpretation, Sarah King, San Antonio, 1908.
A Companion to Los Pastores, the Granados-Tranchese Version, San Antonio, Texas, John Igo, San Antonio College, 1986.
Click here for a full citation of the documents and images included in this entry.
Inside the Gates 