The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 291

rexas Collectiot
H. BAILEY CARROLL
AS A consequence of inadequate methods of preservation,
numerous significant sources of Texas history have lost
their potential historical value and, if they survive at all,
have become at best merely antiquarian curiosities. The Associa-
tion, one of whose basic functions is to serve as a collection agency
for materials of this nature, could do much to rectify this situation
if its services were fully utilized by the members and other inter-
ested persons. An excellent example of the positive contributions
that could be made is the thoughtful presentation to the Associa-
tion of a copy of the November 30, 1877, issue of the Sherman
Patriot by Edward Weldon Bailey, a member of the law faculty
at the University of Texas.
In a real sense this copy of the Patriot, which has been placed in
the archives of the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, is an
important historical acquisition. The tenor of Texas political life
in 1877 is reflected in numerous pointed articles which comment
on current national politics and, more locally, on the disposition
of public lands in Texas. Of particular interest to Texans in 1954,
the centennial year of the state's public school system, are several
articles which discuss free public education in 1877. Despite a
few examples of outstanding educational progress, the editor is
constrained to contrast negatively the condition of education in
Texas with that in other western states.
Among the fascinating articles of a more general nature con-
tained in this issue of the newspaper, the following notice, entitled
"The First Five-Dollar Greenback," is especially interesting and
worthy of note:
The first $5 bill issued by the government, known as greenback
money, turned up not long since in a deposit of the Third National
Bank of Nashville, being letter A, No. 1, dated Washington, March io,
1863. Mr. J. E. Goodwin, the teller, called attention to the fact and
the note was sent to the Treasury Department for identification as the
original $5 issued. The bank was answered that it was, and the officers
and directors immediately decided to present it to the Tennessee His-
torical Society. E. D. Hicks, Secretary of the Commercial Insurance