Texas History

Use this guide to find primary and secondary sources for the study of Texas history.

The John Peace Collection of Texana

Texas history is a central focus of UTSA Special Collections, with particular concentration in the areas of South Texas, the Texas-Mexico border region, and the history of Texas immigrants.

The John Peace Collection of Texana includes approximately 1,500 books collected by Mr. John Peace of San Antonio, covering the Spanish Colonial (1519-1821), Mexican Republic (1821-1836) and Republic of Texas (1836-1845) periods.

Among the rare works from the Spanish Colonial period is the 1792 Chronica of Fray Juan Domingo Arricivita, which describes the Franciscan operations in Texas, as well as the topography, hydrology, natural resources and Indian tribes of Texas during the late 1700s. The collection also includes many 19th century imprints, including Raines' 1898 edition of Enduring Laws of the Republic of Texas, several travelogues and guides for immigrants; and an 1830 government circular from Nuevo Leon promulgating the April 6 Ley de Colonización, which restricted further colonization of Texas by settlers from the United States.

View a complete list of of holdings in Library QuickSearch by doing a keyword search for "John Peace Collection" in quotation marks.

A taste of the collection:

De los veinte i vn libros rituales i monarchia indiana (1723) by Juan de Torquemada
Call Number: John Peace F1219 .T68 1723
Publication Date: ca. 1557-1664.
Early chronicle of New Spain focusing on the indigenous peoples of the region and including material obtained from manuscript codices and oral history interviews. First published in 1615 in Seville and reprinted in Madrid in 1723 (this edition), de Torquemada's chronicle was widely read in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
An account of expeditions to the sources of the Mississippi, and through the western parts of Louisiana, to the sources of the Arkansaw, Kans, La Platte, and Pierre Jaun, rivers; performed by order of the government of the United States... by Zebulon Montgomery Pike
Call Number: F592 .P637 1810
Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Pike and his party were sent by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson to explore the region's southern border with New Spain. In 1810 he published a narrative describing that expedition, as well as his his earlier journey up the Mississippi. Pike offers some of the earliest substantial descriptions of Texas in English, although the information is scattered throughout the journals, statistics, and appendices of the book.
Texas: Her Resources and Her Public Men (1858) by Jacob de Cordova
Call Number: F391 .D41 1858
The first attempt at an encyclopedia of Texas, De Cordova's book includes biographies, laws, climatology, statistics, articles on railroads, churches, counties and more. In Basic Texas Books, Jenkins describes it as "some of the first scholarly research done in Texas," since De Cordova relied not only on his own 20 years of experience in the state, but also interviews, newspaper files, and court records.

Related Manuscript Collection: John Peace Collection, 1800-1973

A Guide to the John Peace Collection, 1800-1973
John Robert Peace, Jr. (1917-1974) was a Texas lawyer and public official, who served on the University of Texas Board of Regents from 1967-1973 (Chair, 1971-1973) and is credited with being a driving force in the establishment of the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Peace also was an avid collector of Texana. MS296 is comprised of materials he collected that document Texas history, including the publication of the De la Peña diary (La Rebelión de Texas). Historical manuscripts comprise more than 350 documents--both original manuscripts and printed material--related to Texas history, concentrating on the periods before 1860.

Bibliographies

Cracker Barrel Chronicles: A Bibliography of Texas Town and County Histories by John Holmes Jenkins
Call Number: F386 .J436 1965
Arranged alphabetically, this source provides a listing of periodical articles and books on the history of Texas counties.
Texas Counties: A Catalog of In-Print and Out-of-Print Books, Pamphlets, Maps, Memoirs, etc. Relating to Texas Towns and Counties by Tom Munnerlyn
Call Number: Z1339 .M824 1985

Geographic Search Terms

Try one of these geographic terms in a Library QuickSearch advanced search in subject and "Texas" in subject, while limiting the location to "special collections."

Austin
Big Bend
Big Thicket
Coahuila and Texas
Dallas
Edwards Plateau
El Paso
Fort Worth
Galveston
Gulf Coast
Hill Country
Houston
Rio Grande
San Antonio
Texas, East
Texas, South
Texas, West

Subject Search Terms

Though by no means comprehensive, these subject terms give an idea of our rare book holdings. Try one in a Library QuickSearch advanced search in subject, and "Texas" in subject, while limiting the location to "special collections."

Remember to search for related terms. For example, in addition to ranch life, try ranchers, ranches, or ranching. As well as outlaws, try law enforcement.

Subject Terms:

African Americans
Agriculture
Archaeology
Architecture

Baptists
Bibliography
Biography
Businessmen

Catholic Church
Cattle
Civil War
Commerce
city planning
civil rights
Comanche
Cowboys

Education
Episcopal Church
Ethnic relations

Farmers
Festivals
Floods
Folklore
Football
Franciscans

Geology
German Americans
Germans
Governors

Hispanic Americans
Historiography
Hurricanes

Immigration
Indian captivities
Indians of North America
Irrigation

Jews

Karankawa

Land grants

Medicine
Methodist Church
Mexican Americans
Mexicans
Military
Missions
Music

Natural history
Newspapers

Oral history
Outlaws

Petroleum
pioneer life
Politicians
Presbyterian church
Printing
Public lands

Railroads
Ranch life
Revolution
Rivers
Roads

Schools
Shipwrecks
Slavery
Sources
Spanish Texas

Teachers
Transportation

Water
Women