The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 486

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

then from sober significance and just enjoy a bit of historical
sideshow that has all the elements of opera bouff? Certainly it is
a tale that has all the elements of lusty humor, sporadic heroics,
and calculated exaggeration that help continue the Texas tra-
dition. JOE B. FRANTZ
University of Texas
Texas Indian Papers, 1825-1843. Edited by Dorman H. Winfrey.
Austin (Texas State Library), 1959. Pp. vi+,298. Illustra-
tions, maps, bibliography. $5.25.
In pursuance of the laudable policy of editing and publishing
significant selections from the manuscript treasures housed in the
Archives Division of the Texas State Library, the Texas Library
and Historical Commission has produced a distinguished and
honored list of titles over the past half century. The most recent
contribution to appear under the Commission's auspices will
assuredly meet the measure of its predecessors.
The need for publishing the Texas Indian Papers has been
apparent for several years. As one of the most frequently used
collections in the Archives Division, the fragile documents have
been subjected to repeated handling, which no matter how care-
ful, has inevitably accelerated the normal aging process to the
point where several of the individual pieces can no longer be used
for ordinary research purposes. Furthermore, so long as the Indian
Papers remained in documentary form, their general accessibility
was rather sharply limited. The decision to publish, therefore,
has effectively solved the two major problems that have increas-
ingly hindered the most efficient use of the collection in the past.
Texas Indian Papers, 1825-1843, the first of a projected multi-
volumed series, contains 219 documents covering Indian affairs
from the colonial period through the first years of the Republic.
Because of the multiplicity of subjects covered, the materials are
presented in simple chronological order, beginning wth a pass-
port issued by Stephen F. Austin to Juan Novale, a Lipan Indian
chief, on January 15, 1825. Any objection that may be raised to
the adoption of this technique of presentation is fairly well
obviated by the inclusion of a functional index that was care-
fully prepared to serve as a reliable guide to the contents of
the several documents.

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