NEWS NOTES

Miss Elizabeth H. West, archivist of the State Library of Texas, spent the month of June and part of July, 1914, in Havana, searching in the Archivo Nacional de Cuba for documents bearing upon the colonial and Indian trade policy of Spain in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. A number of documents were copied for the State Library, the Library of Congress, the University of California, and the Historical Society of Wisconsin. The letter-books of Bernardo de Gálvez, 1778-1781, are of the most general interest. The one contains letters Nos. 1-462 to Josef de Gálvez, the Spanish Secretary of State, the other, letters Nos. 1-304 to the Captain General at Havana. Written as they were, at the time when Gálvez was governor of Louisiana, these letters throw much light upon colonial policy and conditions, as well as upon the expeditions which resulted in the capture by the Spanish of the English posts in the lower Mississippi Valley, of Mobile, and of Pensacola.

Contrary to the usual impression, by no means all of the important historical material was transferred from Cuba to Spain before and during 1896; in fact, practically the entire Hacienda archive remains intact in the Archivo Nacional; allowing, of course, for the losses sustained through the insect pests of the tropics and through the confusion resulting from the Spanish withdrawal in the first place and the American interventions in the second. Much material for the study of Spanish-American history, notably the slave-trade, remains there as yet practically untouched by American investigators.

During the summer of 1914 Mr. William E. Dunn, of the University of Texas, secured from the Archivo General de Indias at Seville some three thousand pages of transcripts, copies of which are deposited in the Library of Congress, the Texas State Library, and the libraries of the Universities of Texas and California. Among the subjects covered by the documents are the intrusions of the French and English in Texas and New Mexico during the eighteenth century, English contraband trade and alleged settlements along the Gulf coast, the complete autos of the campaign of Diego Ortiz Parilla of 1759, complete reports of the San Xavier, San Sabá, and Nueces River mission enterprises, several previously unknown diaries of explorations in Texas, including those of Bernardo de Miranda to the Los Almagres mines in 1755 and of Pedro de Rabago y Theran in 1756, plans for the opening up of communication between Texas and New Mexico, new material on the settlement of San Fernando de Béxar (San Antonio), and some material on Coahuila. Several interesting maps, of value for the history of Texas, were obtained. These documents will completely clear up several chapters in Texas history that have previously been obscure and known only through fragmentary material.

A prize of $200 will be awarded by the American Historical Association in 1915 for the best unpublished monograph in military history submitted to the committee before September 1, 1915. The monograph must be based upon independent and original investigation into some field of the military history of the United States, preferably of the Civil War. It must be a distinct contribution to knowledge, must (1) be based upon exhaustive research, (2) conform to the canons of historical criticism, (3) be presented in scientific form, (4) contain exact references to sources and secondary works, and (5) be accompanied by a full critical bibliography. Correspondence relative to the prize should be addressed to Captain A. L. Conger, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The University of Texas Library has purchased from Mr. John Rutherfoord, of Richmond, Virginia, for the Littlefield collection of Southern history a file of the Richmond Enquirer, 1847-1865, Richmond Examiner, 1849-1865, the Union (Washington, D. C.), 1845-1854, and odd volumes of the Southern Press, the New York Herald (weekly), and other papers.

Judge Reuben R. Gaines, formerly Chief Justice of Texas, died at Austin, October 13, 1914. He was born in Sumpter County, Alabama, October 30, 1836, and was a graduate of the University of Alabama. He served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1886 to 1894, and as Chief Justice from 1894 to 1911, when he resigned.

George H. Hermann, of Houston, Texas, died in Baltimore, October 21, 1914. The Houston papers contain brief sketches of his life. His will, published in the Houston Post, November 15, makes provision for public charities aggregating several millions of dollars.

The Dallas News of November 15 contains a tribute by J. B. Cranfill to Rev. B. H. Carroll, who died at Fort Worth on November 11, 1914. He is called “the most majestic man the Baptists of the world have known in this generation.”

The death of Judge Lee Young occurred at his home in Stephenville, Texas, on November 15, 1914. He was a student of progressive agriculture, helped many tenants to become home owners and took an active interest in better laws. Farm and Ranch, November 21, contains a brief tribute to him.

Harry Lee Marriner, endeared to thousands as “The News staff poet,” died at Kerrville, Texas, December 8, 1914. Each day for nearly five years he contributed a bit of cheery verse to The Galveston-Dallas News. Some account of his life and labors appears in the News of December 9, and in Eagleton's Writers and Writings of Texas.