Compiled by Amie Oliver, Brian Simmons, Tiff Sowell, and Amanda Norman
Inspired by the coloring trend and project sponsors New York Academy of Medicine and BioDiversity Heritage Library, The Texas Collection has selected a few pages from our print materials collection for your coloring pleasure. The selections are a good example of the wide range of subjects our collections cover–from botany to dime novels, you will find all manner of Texas topics in our holdings.
Download the coloring pages using the link below, color to your heart’s content, then share your artwork with us on Facebook and/or Twitter, with the hashtag #ColorOurCollections. We look forward to seeing your creativity!
The Texas Collection recently acquired a group of historic documents on the Parker family, including Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah Parker. This amazing collection is one of several record groups on the Parker family already at The Texas Collection. In anticipation of Jack Selden’s February 18 lecture, “Return: the Parker Story,” this blog post will be the first in a series of posts that tell the story of the Parker family in Texas.
Cynthia Ann Parker came to Texas with 38 family members from Illinois in 1833, and the family settled near Groesbeck. By the summer of 1835, the Parkers had a rough wooden fort built that was called Parker’s Fort or Fort Parker. The family tended crops on about 12 miles along the Navasota River, returning as needed to the fort.
Aerial view of replica Parker’s Fort, also known as Old Fort Parker. This historic site, open to the public, is on the same site the original fort was on in 1836.
By 1835-1836, situations in Texas had changed drastically from when the Parkers first came to Texas. Good relations with local American Indian groups had given way to open hostility, as Texans attacked a Kichai village to recover horses thought to have been stolen. For several weeks, this group of Texans used Parker’s Fort as a base to search surrounding areas for Indian groups that they believed had stolen their horses.
Working relationships with the Mexican government had also deteriorated. Military hero Antonio López de Santa Anna overthrew the previous government, put down rebellions that broke out in various Mexican states, and sent military units to Texas to enforce Mexican law. By 1836, Santa Anna himself was in Texas at the head of a Mexican army to put down a brewing rebellion among the colonists, who spoke openly of independence from Mexico. After a string of Mexican victories, Sam Houston led a Texian army to win the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, and the Texas Revolution was over.
Notation in Daniel Parker’s Bible that states “John Parker…was killed by the Indians at Navasot on Parker’s Fort in Texas on the 19th day of May 1836.” Jack and Gloria Parker Selden papers, Accession 3954, box 34, folder 1, at The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Just one month after the Battle of San Jacinto, on May 19, 1836, Parker’s Fort was attacked by an American Indian force of several hundred warriors, long understood by eyewitnesses to be predominantly Comanche. With many of the Parker men out working in the fields, the 30 people in the fort were quickly overwhelmed. Five Parker family members were killed and five others were captured, but the rest escaped. One group of Parker family members, traveling only at night for safety, trekked 90 miles in six nights to the safety of Tinnenville.
Photograph of Cynthia Ann Parker and her daughter Prairie Flower (Topsannah) after their return to Anglo Texan society in the 1860s.
One of those captured was Cynthia Ann Parker. Just twelve or thirteen when taken captive, she was adopted into the tribe and became thoroughly Comanche. She became the wife of Peta Nocona, a noted leader in the Naconi band of the Comanche. They had three children, two boys and a girl: Quanah, Pecos, and Topsannah. Peta Nocona was probably killed in the Battle of the Pease River in 1860. Cynthia Ann was captured by Texas Rangers in this battle, and was identified as the Parker’s Cynthia Ann, who had been with the Comanche for almost 25 years. Though she was returned to Texan society, Cynthia Ann never recovered from her capture and made several attempts to escape back to her life on the plains. She died in 1870, and was originally buried in Fosterville Cemetery, Anderson County, but was reinterred in the Post Oak Mission Cemetery near Cache, Oklahoma, in 1910. Cynthia Ann was reburied a final time in 1957 in the Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma.
Cynthia Ann’s son Quanah Parker became the last major Comanche chief to surrender to United States authorities. A leader in the Quahada subtribe of the Comanche, Quanah for years frustrated the efforts of the United States army to capture his people. After the Comanche defeat in the Battle of Adobe Walls in 1875, Quanah and his people were pursued by the United States army during the Red River War, the last major military campaign in Texas. After their supplies were destroyed, Quanah and his people were forced to surrender, and were taken to the reservation designated for the Comanche and Kiowa in southwestern Oklahoma.
Over time, Quanah adjusted to reservation life and became a very wealthy and influential man. Though increasingly powerful in Indian-government relations, he could not stop the movement to break up the reservations and distribute the land among the individual Indians, who were then forced to sell much of their land by unscrupulous land dealers. Quanah continued his efforts to help his people however he could, including negotiating leases of land to ranchers, which brought in much-needed income for the tribe. After a visit to the Cheyenne Reservation, Quanah became ill and died twelve days later, in 1911. His remains have been moved once, from Post Oak Mission Cemetery in Oklahoma to Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma.
The next post in this series will focus on the restoration of the Fort Parker historic site, and the final post will examine the various creators of the Selden collection. Mark your calendar for Selden’s lecture: Thursday, February 18, at 3:30 pm in the Guy B. Harrison Reading Room of The Texas Collection, located in Carroll Library at Baylor University.
Sources:
Gwynne, S.C. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches. New York: Scribner, 2010.
By Amie Oliver, Librarian and Curator of Print Materials, and Paul Fisher, Processing Archivist
Each month, we post an update to notify our readers about the latest archival collections to be processed and some highlights of our print material acquisitions. These resources are primed for research and are just a sampling of the many resources to be found at The Texas Collection!
Here are November’s finding aids:
When Otto and Hilde left Germany in 1938, they brought a few pieces of Nazi German history with them, including this 1937 deportation letter from the Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police of the Nazi German government. These were sent to German Jews and many of those who did not leave voluntarily eventually perished in concentration camps. Otto and Hilde Rosenfeld Levy papers 3251, Box 1, Folder 2.
García Cubas, Antonio. The Republic of Mexico in 1876. Mexico: La Enseñanza Print. Office, 1876. Print. Exploring social life, customs, habits, and vocations of 19th century Mexican people, The Republic of Mexico in 1876 contains a wealth of information. A unique aspect of this volume is the beautiful, full-color illustrations.A sampling of the beautiful, full-color illustrations from The Republic of Mexico in 1876.
Golden Jubilee Souvenir of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, 1869-1919. San Antonio: The Congregation, 1919. Print. This volume explores the history of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, which originated in Lyons, France, in 1627, and was later in Galveston before coming to San Antonio in 1869. Produced to mark the 50 year anniversary of the congregation in San Antonio, this rare work, one of only two known copies in existence, contains many photographs of the far-reaching work of the Sisters of Charity.Clossin, Jimmy and Carl Hertzog. West Texas Square Dances. El Paso: Carl Hertzog, 1948. Print. Filled with dance illustrations, West Texas Square Dances provides detailed descriptions for anyone wishing to learn a variety of square dance calls, including “Spinning Wheel,” “Texas Star,” and “Zig Zag Through and Around the Ring.” In the inscription, Carl Hertzog writes that only 50 copies were bound in cloth, making this edition rare.
Each month, we post a processing update to notify our readers about the latest collections that have finding aids online and are primed for research. Here are February’s finding aids:
BU records: Baylor Literacy Center, 1946-1988 (#BU/32): Contains the files of Baylor’s literacy center, which helped to teach members of the Waco community how to read. The collection contains brochures, subject files, and student work produced by the staff and students of the Literacy Center.
Photograph of Tom Padgitt, owner and head of the Tom Padgitt Company, a noted Waco-based leatherworking company. Forest Edwin and Edna Lee Sedwick Goodman Family photographic collection, 1870-1918, undated (#3944), box 1, folder 3.
Winter family photographic collection, 1880-1920 (#3945): Mostly unidentified photographs from Waco and Central Texas. The photographs provide insight into the style and photographic practices of American society at the turn of the twentieth century.
Jessie Brown frequently wrote to her sister Lizzie while a student at Baylor, 1888-1891. In this letter, she mentions the local fair and a spat with the president’s wife and disciplinarian of Baylor women, Georgia Burleson, over the oft-discussed topic of fashion. Jesse Breland and Jessie Brown Johnson papers, 1888-1929 (#440), box 1, folder 1.
Alamo postcard, circa 1920s, given by Mrs. J.R. Milam. From The Texas Collection postcard collection
“…Donovan has pulled together one of the best accounts ever of the Alamo siege, the attack, the massacre of James Fannin’s men at Goliad and Sam Houston’s ultimate victory over the Mexican army on April 21, 1836 at San Jacinto.”
—David Hendricks, mysanantonio.com
On a cold December day in 1909, two English professors acted on a common thread of interest—preserving the songs, music, and tales of Texas, known collectively as folklore. John A. Lomax and Dr. Leonidas Payne created the Texas Folklore Society to begin collecting folklore across Texas and the Southwest. Today, the organization still stands as the second oldest such society, behind only the American Folklore Society. Members write papers and articles on different types of folklore and can present their work at the annual meeting that is held in a different Texas town each year.
In recognition of their work and in conjunction with the Baylor University Libraries’ “A Celebration of Texas: Literature, Music & Film,” The Texas Collection is hosting “Texas Folklore Writers,” an exhibit examining the roots of the Texas Folklore Society and its current role. The exhibit displays photographs of the early “pioneers” of the Society, such as Lomax, Payne, Dorothy Scarborough, and J. Frank Dobie; a wide array of the Society’s yearly publications; the story of its symbol, the roadrunner; and the Society’s current activities.
A Baylor literary legend, Emily Dorothy Scarborough, is featured centrally in the exhibit. Ms. Scarborough taught English at Baylor and at Columbia University in New York during the early twentieth century. Ms. Scarborough was passionately committed to preserving folklore and spent summers writing down the “elusive” folksongs of Southern mountain families and African-Americans.
Known for her adept and sensitive portrayals of Texas life around the turn of the century—likely aided by her folklore work—Ms. Scarborough wrote novels set in almost every region of the state. One of her most famous novels is The Wind, written in 1925 and set in West Texas. The book weaves a tale of a young woman from the East driven mad by the howling Texas winds. First published anonymously for media speculation, the book was a hit and made into a movie at MGM studios in 1929, starring Lillian Gish. Original transcriptions, documents and manuscripts, photographs, quotes, and first edition volumes by Ms. Scarborough are on display.
Visit The Texas Collection from March 29–May 31 to see the exhibit. Be sure to drop by the other “Celebration of Texas” exhibits at the University Libraries, including a Texas Writers exhibit at Moody Memorial Library, Texas poetry at Armstrong Browning Library, and Texas works from the Hightower Collection at the W.R. Poage Legislative Library. Check out our calendar of events, too!
Tucked away in an envelope, in a box, on a shelf in the basement of Carroll Library is a tiny book embossed with a picture of a rabbit. Smaller than a smart phone, this wonderful little object is an autograph book that once belonged to Ida Ainsworth of Liberty Hill, Texas. It’s dated 1888 (though a few pages seem to be from 1887), and is signed by her friends and family, and by her teacher.
If you’ve never seen one, an autograph book is meant to be a keepsake. They were customarily filled with rhymes and memorable sayings, each signer choosing a page and trying to come up with a poem that no one else had used. Autograph books’ popularity has declined in recent years, but you can still purchase one for graduation or your next trip to a Disney theme park, and there is even a book of autograph rhymes if you haven’t had a chance to memorize anything beyond “Roses are red, violets are blue….”
Though autograph books may still be found, with a few exceptions, the messages in Ida’s book are strikingly different from those a modern student would write. They are often touching and sober, recalling the passage of time, the parting of friends, and the inevitability of death. They reminded me a bit of memento mori, and I thought of all of Ida’s friends who have long since passed.
Yet, even as it brings to mind the dead, this little book also stands against time’s stream, as each page becomes not only a memento mori but also a memento mei—“Remember me!” Dear Ida, Dear Reader, remember my youth, my laughter, our friendship. Remember me as I was in this moment.
Dust to dust…the saying applies to people and to books. Those of us who work in libraries and archives are in the memory business. Though we do not know who Ida was, or anything of her friends and family, we preserve the memento they have left behind, and hold it for the researcher who may someday come to recreate the story of these lives, and others, that make up the story of Texas.
My Friend Ida A. When this you see remember me. Henry T. Jan 2 [?] 88
July 5th 1888 Dear Ida. Speak of me kindly When life drems are ore. Speak of me gently when I am no more Tinae Gillaspy
Dear Ida A line is enough to Ask rememberance Your Schoolmate Emm H. Liberty Hill Nov. 28 1888
Dear Ida, Poor ink Poor pen poor writer Amen. Your Nephew Walter Lasseberger
Dear Ida- Think often and always kindly of your true friend. Francis
Dear Ida Remember a beautiful life ends not in death.
Little Friend: In the golden chain of friendship regard me as a link. Your friend Hollie Cates Liberty Hill Jan 21 1888
Dear Ida. Will you sometimes think Of me with kindness and Love. Liberty Hill, Jan. 19 1888 Your friend Nora Gillaspy
Dear Ida. Love many trust Few and Always paddle your own canoe. Is the wish of your friend Elie
To Ida If you wish that happiness Your coming day and years may bless And virtues crown your brow; Remain as as you are wont to be Faultless as you’ve been knon to me Remain as pure as you are now. Is the wish of— Sister Mattie
My little student. Always remember with true affection. Your teacher Jean S. Fry. –19, ‘87
To Ida Love me little Love me long Do not flirt for that is wrong.
Dear Ida When you get old and canot see put on your specks and think of me Your friend and Schoolmate Marine
Dear Little Ida, Who does the best his circumstance allows, Does well; Acts nobly; Angels could do no more. Lovingly, Mother Liberty Hill Feb 10th 88
On Thursday, October 20th at 6:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium, James P. Bevill will tell the little-known story of financing the Texas Revolution and the sovereign nation of Texas (1835-1845). A gifted storyteller, Bevill’s powerful 50 minute visual presentation relays the history of Texas from an economic point of view rather than a political one. In the forward to The Paper Republic, Dr. Richard Bruce Winders, Historian and Curator at the Alamo poses the following questions: “How did a credit system based on a man’s word operate? Where did the funds come from to finance the Texas Revolution? What role did Texas’ lack of solvency play in her ultimate annexation to the United States?” Bevill expertly answers these questions and many others as he presents the history of money and finance in Texas—a history that is in some ways eerily similar to the current U.S. debt crisis.
James Bevill’s book, The Paper Republic, was named the 2009 winner of the Summerfield G. Roberts Literary Award by the Sons of the Republic of Texas, and the Best Specialized Book on U.S. Paper Money by the Numismatic Literary Guild at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money in Boston, August 2010.
Come hear James Bevill tell the captivating tale of economic struggle in the Texas Revolution; ask questions at the end of his talk. Meet the author at a book signing and reception at The Texas Collection following the lecture. This program is free and open to the public.
For more information about James Bevill and The Paper Republic, click here.
In the fall of 1900, Baylor University had been in Waco for only fourteen years. Our copy of the Hand-Book of Information from that year is a small, unassuming volume with a faded green cover, a few slightly damaged pages, and some handwritten notes inside. It certainly doesn’t look like much when you first pick it up, but you know what they say about judging books….
Interestingly, it is the railroads that open and close this Baylor handbook. While we rely on highways for most of our transportation today, railways were essential for the vitality of Texas cities and institutions at this time. The lack of rail transportation in Independence, the University’s original location, contributed to Baylor’s move to Waco. The Hand-Book begins:
Waco is the central city of the coming Empire State of Texas and is the point of intersection of five important railways. It is the chief convention city of the State. Every year brings people here from far and near to meetings of political, educational, religious, scientific and industrial character.
Of course, along with all those people coming for meetings, the railroads brought students to Baylor which was “located in the southern part of the city, commanding a magnificent view of the valley of the Brazos and the outlying hills.”
Throughout its 24 pages, the Hand-Book of Information tries to persuade new students to come to Baylor. The young University boasts, “The property of the institution is worth about $250,000….The main building is three stories high and contains twenty lecture rooms, four libraries, laboratories, museum, art rooms, society halls, president’s and registrar’s offices, and the chapel.” One section of the handbook notes the reasons for Baylor’s strong appeal, including the standard of scholarship; its Christian tone; a democratic nature which allows every student to stand on his own merit, not on what his family has or has not done; the purity, wholesomeness and vigor of its student life; and the many opportunities to hear fine speakers and guest lecturers.
The Baylor campus was full of activity at the turn of the century. The Philomathesian, Erisophian, Adelphia, R.C.B. and Calliopean student societies are praised as “vigorous and helpful associations for the general culture of their members….The questions debated are usually those uppermost in the public mind.” Some Societies also maintained libraries which were open to all students.
Early twentieth-century parents were doubtless concerned about the company their children would keep while away from home. Under the heading “General Control” we read:
The students of Baylor University are animated by a fine spirit of “Loyalty, Democracy and Christianity.” Cases of discipline involving serious breaches of public order or morality are rare. The relations between the members of the faculty and students are usually cordially friendly and mutually considerate. Students who are unable to “get along” on this basis usually withdraw or are sent home.
After all the discussions of degrees and expenses, living arrangements, dining and athletic facilities, the railroads reappear at the end of the handbook. Having carried students to Baylor at the beginning of this volume, the railroads close the pamphlet by advertising all the places you can go when you leave Waco: Chicago, New Orleans, Mexico, California, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston. The wide world awaits, and the railroads are ready to facilitate both a young person’s travel and their larger journey. All that is needed is to ride the M.K. & T.–“The Katy Flyer ” or the Cotton Belt Route (St. Louis Southwestern Railway); take the S.A. & A.P Ry. (San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway), The Texas Central Railroad, the H. & T. C. R.R. or the Southern Pacific Sunset Route. Travel in comfort and style in through sleepers, and day cars, reclining chair cars, and Pullman Standards with “Parlor Buffet Service.” An educated man or woman has many choices—just pack your bags and begin the adventure! As they say on the Cotton Belt Route, “All Inquiries Cheerfully Answered by Mail or Otherwise.”
Sometimes people save the most extraordinary things. But then the collector passes, and the object’s meaning or importance becomes hidden. When this happens, years may go by before context is restored. Archivists and librarians are constantly working to understand the materials they preserve and share, but sometimes, even a skilled researcher can use a helping hand.
Included in a collection given to us by Ms. Pit Dodson, were items owned by her great aunt, Mrs. Sadie McConnell of Houston. Among some very interesting ephemera (the subject of a future blog post) were three books written by Englishmen. Mrs. McConnell’s husband was English, so finding books from England was not surprising, but one title did have quite a story to tell. The volume was a pocket-sized book, dating from 1710 and entitled Twelve Sermons Formerly Preach’d by the Reverend Mr. John Cock, Vicar of St. Oswalds, Durham. To which is prefix’d, a short Preface by the Reverend Dr. George Hickes.
Twelve Sermons was a book given to members of the parish of St. Oswald’s in Durham, England by Rev. John Cock. The sermons were meant to be his dying legacy of instruction to them. According to the preface, only about 300 copies were printed. Should a family leave the Parish they were instructed to leave the book as an “Heirloom to the House, for the use of the next Family” and told that the book should “not be carry’d out of the Parish of St. Oswalds.” Obviously, something had happened to our copy, which had certainly left the parish!
Unable to find any other copies of Twelve Sermons online, and having learned only a little about John Cock, we decided to write St. Oswald’s to see what they could tell us. The parish office kindly forwarded our email to Beth Rainey, the secretary of the Parochial Church Council and a retired librarian formerly on the staff of Durham University Library’s department of Archives and Special Collections.
Ms. Rainey was wonderfully helpful, telling us:
“As you’ve discovered, it is a rare book, but Durham University Library has a copy…and I also know of copies in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and in York Minster Library….Like Hickes [who wrote the preface-awc], Cock was a Non-Juror, who was deprived of his living in 1690. He moved to London, but very generously maintained his interest in his St Oswald’s. He seems to have left most of his large and distinguished library behind in the vicarage here and eventually bequeathed it to the parish, where it remained until a vicar blithely sold it off without benefit of faculty in 1929. The sale had taken place before the church authorities woke up to what was happening, and the collection was very thoroughly dispersed…Cock also left money for a variety of charitable purposes in the parish, some of which still survive today.”
The 400 “non-juring clergy” in whom John Cock was included, lived at a very tumultuous time when schism split the Anglican Church after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. George Hickes, who wrote the preface to Twelve Sermons, was the last surviving non-juring bishop. A note by John Cock is recorded as follows:
“March 27, 1666 The vicaridge of St. Oswald’s was this day bestowed upon mee by the Dean & Chapter of the Cathedrall Church of Durham–A.D. 1691 I was deprived of it for not swearing allegiance to William & Maria , as king and Queen of England. Deo Gloria. Amen–John Cock.”
The bequest of which Ms. Rainey spoke, reads as follows
The Rev. John Cock, A.M. vicar of St. Oswald, by his will dated 27 May, 1701, bequeathed to certain trustees a sum of £600, to purchase freehold lands and tenements, and to pay the proceeds thereof to the minister and churchwardens, who are to distribute the same yearly in the following manner, viz. £2 10s. to be expended in purchasing bibles, common prayer-books, “˜Whole Duty of Man,’ “˜Explanation of the Creed,’ &c . for the poor inhabitants; £5 in phisic and other relief for the sick poor; £5 a year for clothes for poor widows and widowers, or other poor-house keepers, and £5 in money; £4 to teach indigent children to read, spin, knit, and sew; £6 for setting out yearly, one boy, being the son of an inhabitant;” and the surplus to be applied to similar charitable purposes.*
* A table of these charities is directed to be read by the minister in St. Oswald’s Church once a year.
It’s easy to look at an old book on someone’s shelf and think it’s “just another old book,” but this new arrival traveled a long and perilous path to get to The Texas Collection. As we retraced that journey we discovered that it had been touched by many hands: priests, parishioners, book dealers, collectors, and librarians. How fortunate for it to survive for three hundred years! How wonderful to know even part of its history.
Compiled by Amie Oliver, Brian Simmons, Tiff Sowell, and Amanda Norman
