The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938 Page: 113

Book Reviews and Notes

dubious meanderings. . . . Pike, Wilkinson, Long, Fowler . . .
trailing in the footsteps of the French, . . . but continued a tra-
dition of western exploration already several centuries old."
C. E. CASTAl"EDA.
Inventory of the Colonial Archives of Texas, 1821-1887. Prepared
by the Historical Records Survey, Works Progress Adminis-
tration. No. 3, Municipality of Brazoria, 1832-1837. (San
Antonio: Historical Records Survey, 1937. Pp. v, 120.
Map.)
This little mimeographed volume represents the first published
results of the work which has been in progress in Texas since
March, 1936, under the auspices of the Historical Records Survey.
As is pointed out in the preface, "the chief work of the Survey in
Texas has been the inventorying of state, county, and municipal
archives," as a part of the nation-wide program of discovering,
preserving, and making accessible basic materials for research in
the history of the United States. In the case of Texas this task
is complicated by the fact that part of the records found in the
courthouses of the older counties antedate the establishment of
the county itself, and must be divided into at least three groups:
Spanish records, covering the period from 1718 to 1821; colonial
records, for the period of Mexican rule and Anglo-American col-
onization, 1821-1836; and county records, for the period of the
independent Republic and statehood, 1837 to the present. The
supervisor of the Texas survey has wisely decided that the his-
torical importance of the colonial period justifies the giving of
detailed attention as well as priority to its records. Hence this
inventory of the colonial archives of the municipality of Brazoria
inaugurates a series which will cover each of the units of local
government set up under Mexican rule and out of which some
of the present counties evolved during the period of the Republic.
If this may be considered as a typical case, the completion of
the series promises to furnish the basis for a more nearly definitive
study of the men and events of the period immediately preceding
the Texan Revolution. Here, for example, is an index of the
land records, showing ninety-two transactions, of which only
twenty-nine represent grants directly from the Mexican govern-

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