The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 74

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Southwestern United States" was never printed. No typescript re-
mains. The only version available seems to be the handwritten first
draft which follows here, with his many deletions and interlinear addi-
tions.
SPECIAL HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE
SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES
E. W. WINKLER
Austin, Texas
When do old documents, letters, journals, diaries, etc., and news-
papers, pamphlets, broadsides, maps, &., cease to be rubbish, and when
do they become material suitable for historical collections? For many
people regard them as so much rubbish to be discarded, while, on
the other hand, there are those who are continually on the alert to
acquire such material for their libraries. The quality that makes the
difference in their appraisal is not in the material; it is in those
making the choice. Perhaps you have heard stories of how in the
early days fine walnut trees were burned to clear the land to plant
corn.
The Southwest is old and potentially rich in historical material.
However, the historical collections are few in number and compara-
tively small in size. Nowhere else in the United States are the histori-
cal sources quite so complex. First, there is the history of the Indian.
That is overlaid by the history of the Spanish and the French. Finally,
this history of the Indian, Spaniard, and Frenchman is overlaid
by that of the Anglo-American. This succession of races resulted in
conflicts that retarded progress. When the American finally dominated
the entire area, the Civil War came on and before it ended such
ruin resulted that the efforts of more than a generation were needed
to recoup the losses sustained.
In order to give you a general idea of the growth of interest in
Southwestern history, and to present the status of historical collections,
I will trace the movement in one State-Texas.
Texas has an interesting history. Texans take pride in some of that
history. To the victor belongs the spoils; one of the spoils is the
writing of history. The first general history of Texas was published
in the [eighteen] fifties. The author, Colonel Yoakum, was a lawyer