TEXAS COLLECTION
It is doubtful if all members of the Association have become
acquainted with the activities of the Junior Historians. The
organization was founded three years ago, and last year began
the publication of The
Junior
Historian,
a magazine unique in
the history of American periodicals. Its uniqueness lies in the
fact that practically all the articles in it are written by young
people of high school age. Up to the present time forty-four
chapters of Junior Historians have been formed in the high
schools of Texas, and others are in the process of formation.
The Junior Historian program is the only phase of the activities
of this Association that has continued to grow under the im-
pacts of the war.
It is doubtful if young people could sustain by their own
writings a magazine of art, literature, or science. Their knowl-
edge of these subjects is not sufficient for the purpose. They
can maintain a high standard of achievement when writing
about their own communities. The Junior Historians do just
that. For example, there is in Fort Worth a boot-making estab-
lishment whose products are known wherever American boots
are worn. Jean Justin of the Paschal High School in Fort
Worth wrote the history of Joe Justin, who came to Texas in
1877 and established the name of the Justins as bootmakers.
Julia Gill of Henderson High School has likewise told of the
settlement at Harmony Hill in Henderson County.
The Junior Historian movement was launched as an experi-
ment in Texas youth, an experiment based on confidence in the
ability of young people. The experiment is now far enough
along to warrant a final decision. Does the Association desire
to continue the organization? Six issues of the magazine will
be published this year. The printing cost will be approximately
$600, or $100 an issue, and this cost will probably increase.
Income from subscriptions has not been sufficient to cover this
cost, and probably will not be for several years. Should the
Association continue to support the Junior Historian movement?
be a fine thing if a group of five or ten Texans would sponsor
the movement and underwrite the printer's cost for that time.
By then there should be at least two hundred chapters with an
average of twenty-five members each, a total of five thousand
young people engaged in collecting and preserving the history
and traditions of Texas.
The Junior Historian movement has spread beyond Texas.
Chapter 41 was organized at the New Mexico Military Institute,
Roswell, New Mexico. The school sponsor is Captain Charles F.
Ward, and the lay sponsors are Major Maurice G. Fulton and
Captain Paul Horgan. All of these men are recognized historians.
The following brief address was delivered by Dr. P. I. Nixon,
Vice-President of the Association, on behalf of the entire mem-
bership upon the occasion of his presenting a parchment copy
of Lynn Eliot's poem, "The Sixth of March," to the Alamo on
the one hundred and sixth anniversary of its fall:
The heroism and the hardihood of the men who sac-
rificed their lives here at the Alamo has been applauded
in song and story for 106 years. There has been only
one perfect sacrifice. The men of Travis and Bowie
came as near to perfection in their selfless sacrifice as
any group of men has ever done, before or since. They
made the complete sacrifice. Their example has been
an inspiration to all Texans and all Americans in times
of stress, and even now in far-away Bataan Peninsula
it is a source of courage to our matchless MacArthur
and his little band of indomitables.
Natural it was then that men and women should set
out to set down the ideals, the spirit and the achieve-
ments of these men of the Alamo. Some have suc-
ceeded better than others. All have added something
to the story that never grows old with the telling and
all must have been convinced that words are inadequate
as mediums of expression of the deepmost sentiments
of their hearts.
Among those who have made recent contributions to
the ever-growing literature of the Alamo is our fellow-
San Antonian, Lynn Eliot. Mr. Eliot's poem appeared
in the July, 1941, issue of the Southwestern
Historical
Quarterly.
To give this praiseworthy poem a wider
and well deserved recognition, this association has pre-
pared a special printing done on parchment. As Vice-
President of the State Historical Association, it is an
honor to present this framed copy to the Alamo.
A copy of this poem, suitable for framing, appears in the
March issue of the Junior
Historian.
Mrs. William A. Perry, 1620 East Seventh Street, Okmulgee,
Oklahoma, desires information about Robert Montgomery, who
was appointed by Houston as assistant surgeon of Rangers,
December 14, 1836.
Teachers of Texas history in high school should examine
a workbook prepared by Pauline Yelderman of Rosenberg High
School and published by the Steck Company of Austin.
The following letter from Judge O. W. Williams of Fort
Stockton is published not because Judge Williams would want
it published but because it will give genuine pleasure to the
many Texas students who count him as friend and mentor:
I have just received some five or six copies of the
Christmas number of the Junior
Historian,
presumably
from you. I know very little about the affairs of the
Historical Association, and the Junior
Historian,
but it
appears to me very probable that the financial situa-
tion is hard for both.
So I am enclosing my check to you for $100, to be
applied by you to the relief of either or both as you
may elect. And, if you can spare them, please send me
ten or twelve copies of that last number of the Junior
Historian.
The way of the historian is hard, as you may have
learned, and the schools should help.
Dr. Francis Trevelyan Miller, 38 West 73rd Street, New York,
writes that he is collecting material on General Douglas Mac-
Arthur. He states that MacArthur spent his boyhood in the
West and in Southwest Texas. He desires information about
young MacArthur's residence in Texas between 1880 and 1899
when he entered West Point. Dr. Miller thinks that MacArthur
was a Texas normal school student and that he attended West
Texas Military Academy around 1896. Any information about
MacArthur's residence in Texas, either in army posts along the
frontier or in normal school or in West Texas Military Academy
would be welcomed by Dr. Miller.
Waldemar Kuhlmann, Route 4, Fredericksburg, writes that
the last work of the sculptress, Elisabet Ney, stands in the
Fredericksburg cemetery, a marker for the grave of Mrs. Eliza-
beth Schneer. Kuhlmann suggests that a replica of this bit of
Ney art should be made and the original placed in the Ney
Museum in Austin.
If any doubt had ever existed concerning the interest of Texas
people in their local history and the sources thereto, the re-
sponse to the publication of "Texas County Histories: A Bibli-
ography" in The
Quarterly
would unquestionably dispel the
doubt. Each installment has brought forth letters from all over
the state and from other states. Many members of the Asso-
ciation have responded, but what is probably more encouraging
are the letters from those who are not members but who write
now for membership or for information about the Association
with a view to membership. Probably every Texas county has
its resident authority and local historian, and it is encourag-
ing to report that through the County History Bibliography
the Association has contacted some of these lay historians for
the first time. All members of groups having local historical
interests in Texas should become actively identified with the
work of the Association.
Mrs. Ella Stevens Watson of Hillsboro has long been known
to the Association as an authority on Hill County, but corre-
spondence reveals a similar interest and much information in
the hands of Miss Emma Martin, 504 King Street, Itasca, and
Mrs. C. I. Coffin of Itasca.
Letters giving information about theses and local history
researches have been received from the following librarians in
State Teachers Colleges: Gretchen Howell, East Texas State
Teachers College, Commerce; Mrs. Beatrice Gregg, Sam Houston
State Teachers College, Huntsville; E. B. Jackson, Southwest
Texas State Teachers College, San Marcos; Tennessee Malone,
West Texas State Teachers College, Canyon; Mildred Wyatt,
Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College, Nacogdoches; and
the Librarian of Sul Ross State Teachers College, Alpine.
Correspondence received from other librarians includes Guy B.
Harrison of the Texas Collection of Baylor University, Waco,
and Ike Moore, Director of the San Jacinto Museum of History,
Houston, who made numerous helpful suggestions concerning
the listings and furnished the collation of a previously unknown
Colorado County item of 1877.
Scores of Texas newspapers have carried news items regard-
ing the list and its applicability to their particular area. From
several sources it has been called to the Association's attention
that John McCarty, editor of the Amarillo News-Globe,
Ama-
rillo, has a remarkable collection of books, pamphlets, tran-
scripts, and source materials dealing with Panhandle counties.
Other Texas editors and newspaper men who have written
giving specific information and expressing appreciation are:
H. S. Hilburn of The
Herald,
Plainview; Homer Steen of The
Hesperian,
Floydada; Joe Pickle of the Big Spring Herald,
Big
Spring; W. G. Hayden, Big Spring Weekly
News,
Big Spring;
Silas B. Ragsdale of the Galveston Daily
News,
Galveston; the
Rusk Cherokeean,
Rusk; and Sam Acheson of the Dallas Morn
-
ing
News,
Dallas.
On Johnson County helpful letters have been received from
Herman Brown, Cleburne, and from Charles H. Bryant, 1501
West Woodard Street, Denison. Mrs. Max Weinert, Seguin,
gives information concerning Guadalupe County, while August
Oberkampf, Anderson, does likewise for Grimes County. Ar-
thur C. Repp, 3107 Buena Vista, San Antonio, writes regarding
Lee County. Fannie J. Anderson, 7438 Santa Clara Drive, Dal-
las, writes that she is writing an historical novel based upon
the way-of-life in Bosque County in the '70's and '80s.
And interest in history in Texas, as distinguished from Texas
history, is not confined to the state itself. From Clarence C.
Brigham, Director of The American Antiquarian Society, Wor-
cester, Massachusetts, comes information about a new Orange
County item, while Louis Lenz, Box 1406, Shreveport, Louisiana,
reports on a previously unrecorded De Witt County history of
1900. Out-of-state letters of inquiry and comment have also
come from Mississippi, Florida, New York, New Mexico, Wis-
consin, and Washington, D. C.
Wilbert H. Timmons, graduate student in Latin-American
history and assistant in the Department of History, reported
for midshipman training at the Northwestern University Mid-
shipman Training Station on January 22. He is due to com-
plete his training and receive his commission as ensign in the
Naval Reserve in June.
Thomas E. Cotner, graduate fellow in Latin-American his-
tory, left the University in mid-February to go to Washington,
where he will be Assistant Specialist in Inter-American Educa-
tional Relations in the United States Office of Education.
Joe B. Frantz, an assistant in the History Department last
semester, left the University at mid-term to accept a position
at the San Jacinto Memorial Museum.
Nelson Klose, graduate student and assistant in the History
Department last semester, has been accepted for midshipman
training, which he will begin next October. Until he begins his
naval training he will be in the University taking courses in
mathematics and science as a preliminary to his training in
the Navy.
W. R. Hogan passed his final oral examinations for the doc-
torate in History at The University of Texas March 4 and pre-
pared to enter the nation's armed service immediately.
One of our ex-graduate students in history now holds a com-
mission, but not in the regular armed forces. Miss Virginia
Nierman has recently been commissioned as lieutenant in the
Women's Motor Corps, at San Benito, Texas, where she is
teaching this year.
Mary Jane Garrett, who graded in the Department of His-
tory during the last long session and worked toward the
Master's Degree, is now teaching in the Kerrville school sys-
tem. She was on the campus during the last session as sponsor
of a girl's debate squad.
H. G. Van Sickle, graduate student in Latin-American studies,
left the University late in February to take a teaching position
in Tulane University, where he will have classes in Latin-
American history. The position is temporary and Mr. Van
Sickle plans to be back at his studies next fall.
At the present rate of exodus, graduate historians will be
scarce next year. Most of those who have not already gone are
making no plans to be here for the coming year; apparently
the war is taking a particularly heavy toll among the graduates.
Two works of interest to Texas historians are in preparation
by Ph. D. candidates at The University of Texas, but there is
grave danger that the work in both cases will be interrupted
by the war. Raymond Estep is working against time to com-
plete his dissertation on Lorenzo de Zavala before he is in-
ducted into the army in the spring. Because of the exhaustive
nature of the study of de Zavala's political career, both in
Mexico and Texas, Mr. Estep's completed work should be of a
great deal of value. José Antonio Navarro is the subject of the
other study of interest to Texas historians; J. D. Matlock has
uncovered new material of interest concerning this Texas pa-
triot, but apparently he will be unable to complete his work
before going into the armed service.
It is lamentable that two such scholarly works should be
interrupted by the war, and it is to be hoped that they will be
completed at the conclusion of the present conflict.
The relation of automobile tires to history, and to historical
meetings is brought out in a letter from N. C. Belk of Lamar
College, Beaumont. In reference to the spring meeting, Mr.
Belk says, "I am making an effort to get a good delegation down
there. We have a number who would like to make the trip but
tires are old on our cars and we are afraid to take the chance.
Just today, however, lady luck seemed to smile on our effort
and I ... hope that we shall be able to get one car rigged
up with good tires. In that case, four or five of our members,
including one or two juniors, will make the trip."
Estelle Grimeland Nelson, Calamus, Iowa, formerly of Waco,
desires information about Norwegian settlements in Hender-
son and Van Zandt counties.
Members who are teaching history in the colleges of Texas
could render a real service by calling to the attention of their
better students the publications and work of the Association.
Most teachers are reluctant to urge students to "join up" with
any movement; because of this modesty the few who would
make good members are deprived of an opportunity to learn
of the work. Gordon Greenwood of the engineering firm of
Freese and Nichols, Fort Worth, writes:
Thank you very much for making available to me
membership in the Association. I have had several
very interesting hours following the Quarterly,
and I
am sorry that I was denied any contact with the Asso-
ciation during my undergraduate years, due to igno-
rance on my part. I can't understand why the mem-
bers of the faculty with whom I came in contact
did not tell the students of my time more about the
work of the Association.
Those who have taught long realize that students have a good
protective covering against such activities as do not appeal to
them. To the few who have a flair for history and for investi-
gation teachers can render a real service by putting them in
touch with real students and scholars. It is assumed that a
graduate student in history plans to follow the profession of
the historian. If this be true, he hopes, on completing his work,
to find employment as a teacher. At present, owing to war
conditions, employment is no serious problem, but under normal
conditions it is not so easy to find a job. People are employed
because they are recommended by those who know them and
have confidence in them. The graduate student, busy with his
studies for three or four years, has little opportunity to meet
former graduates who are holding positions in various parts of
the state. He feels that there is a considerable gap between
him and his prospective employer. He often wishes that he
could make the acquaintance of department heads and teachers
in the various institutions in a natural manner. The Associa-
tion offers this opportunity and it is the only organization that
does. The employer is equally anxious to know prospective
teachers in order that he may form his own judgments and
not have to depend on written recommendations, most of which
are favorable.
The Association plays its role by bringing the older and
younger historians together in a natural manner. The head
of a department in X College does not need a teacher now,
but he may need one next year. He recalls that excellent paper
read by a graduate student at the annual meeting. He con-
siders first the people he knows. The Association offers an
opportunity for the older students, alumni, to touch hands with
the new. The Association breaks up the isolation of the indi-
dividual and makes him feel that he is a member of a group
brought together for mutual benefit.
The geographic position of Texas with reference to the other
states makes the Association particularly valuable. It per-
forms, or may perform, for Texas what the Mississippi Valley
and the American Historical perform for the region and the
nation. The professors of European history could find some
advantage in attending the meetings of the Association and
might find it to the advantage of their graduate students to
have them attend. European historians have to have jobs, too,
and it so happens that in Texas they usually secure them
through men whose major field of study was either American
or Texas history, and most of these are members of the Texas
State Historical Association. There is no reason why European
historians should not have sections at the annual meeting de-
voted to their field. It will be noted that the spring meeting
has a section on the Far Eastern problem. The Texas State
Historical Association could well be an association of all his-
torians in Texas, though its publications are properly restricted
to Texas and Southwestern history.
Roman T. Kuonen, University of Oklahoma, Norman, is writ-
ing a thesis on "Border Troubles Between the United States
and Mexico, 1915-1917." He desires information about the Co-
lumbus raid, the Pershing punitive expedition and lesser excur-
sions across the international border. Though there is consid-
erable source material in print, this story cannot be adequately
done without much field work. Fortunately, many men are still
living who had experience in this troublesome period, and some
of them will talk.
S. W. Geiser of Southern Methodist University at Dallas de-
sires to know the location in Texas of the following places or
hamlets. The dates indicate the time the places appear in the
records. Knoxville, probably in Cherokee County; "Marzenna,"
1861, possibly Mariana in Polk County; Mormon Mills, 1875,
possibly on the Colorado above Austin in the vicinity of Burnet;
Prairie Valley, 1879, possibly between Fredericksburg and
Mason; Sullivan Springs, 1859; Vermont, 1870.
The story of the Ole Ringness disc plow was told in the
October, 1941, issue of the Quarterly.
F. L. Lewton, Curator
of the Division of Crafts and Industries, Smithsonian Institu-
tion, throws more light on the subject. Dr. Lewton says:
In the periodical Agricultural
Engineering,
v. 7,
pages 172-175 (1926), R. G. Ingersoll has a very in-
teresting article entitled: "The Development of the
Disc Plow." In this article the author says that the
first patent obtained in the United States for a disc
plow was granted to George Page of Washington,
D. C., in 1847. He made a revolving moldboard for a
plow, and is believed to have laid the foundation on
which is built modern disc tillage. Later patentees
were B. C. Hoyt, 1856 and 1858; J. S. Godfrey, 1868;
and J. M. Cravath, 1867, who received the first patent
for a "purely disc plow." Mr. R. G. Ingersoll is vice-
president of the Ingersoll Steel & Disc Division, Borg-
Warner Corporation, Straus Building, Chicago, Ill.,
and I am sure would be glad to know about Ole Ring-
ness. The origin of his idea for a disc plow, as told in
The
Southwestern
Historical
Quarterly,
is most inter-
esting, and I do not believe this story of origin has
ever been brought to anyone's attention before. I shall
bring it to the attention of the Agricultural History
Society here.
While working in the Library of Congress last summer,
Homer L. DeGolyer of Dallas discovered a very interesting
map and guide published in 1859, which is not mentioned in
either Hafen or Wagner-Camp. The map is entitled
"Map of the United States West of the Mississippi
showing the Routes to Pike's Peak, Overland Mail
Route to California and Pacific Rail Road Surveys,
to which are added the new State & Territorial Bound-
aries, The Principal Mail & Rail Road Routes with all
the arrangements &
corrections made by the Congress
up to the date of its Issue. Compiled and drawn from
U. S. Land & Coast Surveys and other reliable sources
by D. McGowan C. E. & Geo. H. Hildt C. E."
The map was published in St. Louis in 1859 and copyrighted
in March of the same year.
Although the map shows the Overland Mail, or Butterfield
route through Texas, it gives but five stops: El Paso, Ft. Chad-
bourne, Ft. Belknap, Sherman, and Preston. The guide which
accompanies it gives a list of twenty-six stops and mentions
another within the bounds of the State of Texas which com-
prises the fifth and sixth divisions of the nine on the route
from San Francisco to St. Louis. They are as follows:
"Fifth Division. Franklin to Waco tanks, 30 miles:
Comulos de los Alamos 30 miles, Piney 56, Delaware
Springs 24, Pope's Camp [Pecos River] 40, Emigrant
Crossing 65, Horse Head Crossing 55, Head of Conche
70, Concho Creek 30, Grape Creek 22, Fort Chadbourne
30, Total 458 miles Time 126 h. 30 m.
"Sixth Division. Ft. Chadbourne to Station No. 1,
12, Mountain Pass 16, Phantom Hill 30, Smith's 12,
Clear Fork of Brazos 26, Francis 13, Ft. Belknap 22.
Murphy's 16, Jacksboro 19, Earharts' 16, Connolly's
16, Davidson's 24, Garnesville [Gainesville] 17, Dia-
mond's 15, Sherman 15, Colbert's Ferry Red River
13½. Total 282½. Time 56 hours 20 minutes.
"Note. Fifth Division. No water on the route be-
tween Franklin and Pope's Camp, and between Horse
Head Crossing and the Mustang Ponds [the 27th,
near the Head of Concho] except at the stations."
Wanted--Information about John Horse. Herschel Boggs,
author of the history of Fort Concho, has sent the following
inquiry from Kenneth W. Porter, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie,
New York:
Dear Mr. Boggs:
In the personal section of the Quarterly
I noted a
statement that you were writing a history of Ft. Con-
cho and in the process of your research had been in-
interviewing members of the Seminole Negro scouts. I
wonder if you happened to hear anything about John
Horse (Juan Caballo), or Gopher John, who was for
about thirty years chief of the Seminole Negroes and
co-leader with Wild Cat in the migration from the
Indian Territory to Mexico, 1849-50. John Horse re-
turned to the United States at Eagle Pass, in Decem-
ber, 1870. He never served with the scouts; as one of
the present-day Seminole Negroes expressed it, "John
Kibbitts commanded the scouts and John Horse gave
advice." It is rather hard to round up information
concerning an illiterate who lived in remote parts of
the country and died about sixty-four years ago, and
that is my apology for approaching you in this matter.
I suppose you saw Joe Dixie at Brackettville, the
first of the "original" scouts to be enlisted and the
last to die--he died less than a fortnight before I
reached the place. I understand that the last of the
old "Indian fighting" scouts, Gregorio Frausto, is still
living in Del Rio; my informant is John Jefferson, also
of Del Rio, ex-scout, ex-cavalryman, and grandson of
John Horse.
This inquiry about the Seminole Negroes brings to mind a
recent visit on the ranch which is managed by J. Evetts Haley.
At the time the cook at the ranch house was one of the Semi-
nole Negroes who originally came from Fort Brackett. His
Indian relation was indicated by a reserved dignity and a
coppery cast, and, according to report, by a refusal to be
crowded too much. The fact that his name was John does not
necessarily connect him with the Horse family.
Around the campfire at night the cowboys began to tell
stories of John. It seems that the owner of the ranch came
out from Houston, bringing with him a rather portly Negro
cook who in John's opinion put on intolerable airs. He kept
coming into John's kitchen and made adverse comment on the
substantial meal that John was preparing. "I don't think that's
the right kind of food to fix fo' lunch," said the Houston cook.
"What kind would you fix?" asked John.
"Oh, some thin sandwiches and sliced ham and salad."
At the next remark by the Houston cook, John seized a long
kitchen knife, and while appraising the breadth of his visitor's
abdomen, said: "I'm running this outfit and if you don't get
out of my kitchen, I'm goin' to git me a mess o' yo' chitlins."
Later, John undertook to measure his prestige with J. Evetts
Haley. The ranch has a new cook.
The Steck Company contributed Yoakum's History
of
Texas
in their reprint edition in the last book auction. Mention of
this was not made in the list of donors.
Robert A. Campbell, 413 South White Street, New Orleans,
wants information about an uncle, Frank Hughes, who owned
"a very large ranch" in Texas, lived in San Antonio about 1903,
and did business with the "Old Cattlemen's bank there."
At intervals Donald Coney, University librarian, sends out a
list of books recently acquired by the mausoleum in which they
are buried. Recognizing that few people wait with bated breath
for the next instalment of a book list, the librarian lightens the
list, if he does not illuminate it, by putting down something
interesting he has thought of or borrowed. His prologue of
December 3 is on book collecting. He calls attention to Colton
Storm's article in Publishers'
Weekly
decrying the attitude of
the collector who buys only for a rise in the market. The fol-
lowing anecdote he quotes from The
Saturday
Review
of
Lit
-
erature,
for November 29:
It seems an English lord purchased a custom-bound
book from the great English binder, Sangorski, for
$5,000. ... A week after the book was delivered the
lord came back to Sangorski with a grave complaint.
"Your precious binding has cracked straight down the
back," he exclaimed. Sangorski grabbed the book from
the lord's hands, examined it for a moment, and turned
on his customer in a rage. "You've been reading
this
book," he cried.
A few days ago the membership of W. E. Justin, Presi-
dent of the Justin Boot and Shoe Company, Fort Worth, was
received in the office. The appropriateness of Mr. Justin's mem-
bership in the Association goes without saying, but the method
by which he became a member, as explained in the letter to
this office, is worthy of note for the good example it sets. The
letter states:
In connection with another matter I happened to call
Mr. Justin's attention to The
Quarterly.
He was pre-
viously unfamiliar with it, but was immediately inter-
ested. I took his check, which I enclose herewith. The
Quarterly
should be a household word in Texas and
men who are as much a part of the Texas tradition as
the sons of Joe Justin, "the Cowboy Bootmaker," ought
to have had it called to their attention years ago.
The program of the Association is best advanced where some
member takes it upon himself to call The
Quarterly
to the
attention of associates or acquaintances who, in the very nature
of the case, ought to be interested in the traditions and historic
past of the state. Especially in the forthcoming months must
the Association rely largely upon the membership for services
similar to the one detailed above.
The Panhandle
Plains
Historical
Review
for 1941 brings to
light a trans-plains expedition that had been practically lost
sight of by historians. On August 9,1845, Lieutenant J. W. Abert
left Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River and on November 12
reached St. Louis. Abert's journal was published in Senate
Documents,
29th
Congress,
1st
Session.
It has been edited
by H. Bailey Carroll in a most able manner. The editor's intro-
duction whets the desire to know about Abert. A possible ex-
plantation of the neglect of Abert's journal is that historians
have been in the habit of following expeditions from east to
west. Abert went from the west to the east, and so almost
marched into oblivion. Some book collector could find himself
a niche by collecting American diaries and journals made by
people who traveled from west to east. It would be a small
collection, a view of the west in reverse. Copies of the Carroll
edition of the Abert Journal can be obtained by writing Editor
L. F. Sheffy, Canyon, Texas.
The exclusive Philosophical Society of Texas has issued its
Proceedings
for 1941. It contains the annual address by Dr.
Eugene C. Barker, "Life in the Republic of Texas." It is unfor-
tunate that this article cannot be available to a wider audience.
The Book Auction will be held. It is scheduled for the spring
meeting, Friday, April 10, at 2:00 p.m. Because of the war, it
was thought at first that the Auction would not be held this
year. Book lovers, however, protested vigorously against the
proposed cancellation. As usual, therefore, some excellent items
will be available for bids. Some members of the Association
have suggested that an effort be made this year to collect and
auction current books, with the Association's sending such cur-
rent items to army camps in the successful bidder's name. If
this suggestion is meritorious, the Association will be glad to see
that current books supplied by members will be appropriately
placed in the hands of soldiers.
Regular monthly meetings of local historical associations
indicate unusual interest and vitality. For over two years the
San Antonio Historical Association, perhaps as an outgrowth
of the sectional meeting of the Texas State Historical Associa-
tion at San Antonio, has presented excellent programs at its
monthly gatherings. The most recent meeting, held Friday,
March 20, was high lighted by Mrs. Donald E. Forker's paper,
"The Heritage of Texas is the Gentleman's Agreement." The
hostess for the occasion was Mrs. E. A. Holmgreen. Non-
member guests are invited to the San Antonio Association's
meetings.
Timely now and possibly a collector's item ten years hence
is the first booklet on one of our naval leaders, Admiral
Chester
W.
Nimitz,
His
Heritage
and
Training,
by Julia Estill of Fred-
ericksburg, Texas, who is a member of the Texas State His-
torical Association and the former sponsor of the Fredericks-
burg chapter of the Junior Historians. The reprint of an article
appearing in the Fredericksburg Standard,
the booklet dis-
cusses Nimitz's background and career. It is profusely illus-
trated with photographs, including one of the old "Steamboat
Hotel," and is an interesting addition to any library.
Attention is called to the appearance of new names on the
editorial staff of the Quarterly.
Four graduate students in the
Department of History have accepted appointment as editorial
assistants for the remainder of this year. They are Charles
Cumberland, James H. McLendon, Andrew F. Muir, and Van
Mitchell Smith. These men have assisted in preparing copy and
news items for the current issue of the Quarterly
and have
answered inquiries that come in to this office. As time goes on
this graduate student staff will have the opportunity of taking
over more of the work of the Association, a sort of laboratory
experience in editing and publishing historical material.
How to cite:
Walter Prescott Webb, "Texas Collection", Volume 45, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v045/n4/contrib_DIVL6633.html
[Accessed Mon Nov 23 23:05:04 CST 2009]
