The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 346
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Because he has done such a splendid job of discerning and presenting
this history, the king of Spain has honored him uniquely.
At the Rayburn Library in Bonham, Weddle's friends gathered on Au-
gust 27 for the occasion. Juan Romero de Terreros, Spanish cultural min-
ister to the United States, presented the Texas rancher-scholar a medal
and scroll that express the Spanish government's gratitude. The honor
accorded Weddle is one of the highest that the Spanish government can
bestow. The Order of Isabel la Cat61lica originated early in the nineteenth
century, and is named for the queen who sponsored Columbus's voyage
of discovery in 1492.
This knighthood is a culminating honor for a much-honored scholar.
Weddle's books have won numerous awards. One of them, Changing
Tides: Twilight and Dawn in the Spanish Sea, 1763-z8o3 (1995), was nomi-
nated for a Pulitzer Prize. After Weddle gave his papers to the Catholic
Archives of Texas in 1999, the Texas Catholic Historical Society named
two awards for him: the Robert S. Weddle Manuscript Award, a book
award that comprises a cash prize and publication of the manuscript in
the Studies in Southwestern Catholic History series; and an article award,
which consists of a smaller cash prize and publication of the article in the
society's journal, Catholic Southwest. Weddle is a fellow of the Texas State
Historical Association and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
He has had a storied career. He was born in the community of Ash
Grove, near Bonham, in 1921. He and his six siblings all graduated from
Texas Tech. He got started as a journalist when he took a night job as a re-
porter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. After naval service in the Pacific
during World War II, he worked as a correspondent for the United Press.
He was subsequently an editor at the Sherman Democrat before moving west
to become owner and publisher of the Menard News.
Menard: It must have been the proximity to the site of Mission San Sabi
de Santa Cruz that led Weddle to begin researching and writing the his-
tory of Spanish Texas. His first book (1964) was on this eighteenth-cen-
tury mission outpost. When he received the award of knighthood last
month, he remarked that he started the story of Mission San Sabi for
newspaper columns. But it grew to include, he said, the whole account of
Spanish history in the Gulf region-"a story too big for any newspaper."
Weddle has extended this story through thirteen books, the latest of
which is The Wreck of the Belle, the Ruin of La Salle (Texas A&M University
Press, 2ool). What's more, in addition to innumerable contributions to
scholarly and popular publications, he made a signal contribution to the
New Handbook of Texas.
Weddle has also left his mark on the government-indeed, on the very
highways-of Texas. During his tenure as president of the Texas Old Mis-346
October
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/376/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.