Special Collections Division the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Vol. XV * Nos. 1 & No. 2 * Spring & Fall  2001

Table of Contents
Spring and Fall 2001

Spring 2001

A Geographic Truth
By Katherine R. Goodwin

The Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library (VGCHL) recently acquired the Murray Hudson Atlas and Geography Collection. The collection consists of 626 items dating from 1736 to 1988. The majority of the materials come from the nineteenth century and constitute a significant addition to the founding goals of the VGCHL. Goodwin relates how UTA acquired Hudson's atlases, describes the scope of the collection, and highlights a few of the treasures found in the collection.

You've Got Guide
By Shirley R. Rodnitzky

Special Collections has recently published Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the Special Collections Division compiled by Shirley Rodnitzky and edited by Gerald Saxon (Arlington, Tx., 2000). The Guide contains descriptions for more than 1,000 collections received from 1967 through 1999.   Rodnitzky tells how the Guide is organized and what is contained within its pages, and the future direction of the Guide. Included in the article are several images taken from the collections.

Samuel Maas and the Galveston Experience
By Alexandra M. Perkins

Galveston, Texas, ca.1852.

In this extensive review of the Samuel Mass Papers, Perkins writes about the early history of this prominent Jewish German business man and his adventures when he moved to Galveston in 1839. Maas invested his money and life in the prosperity of Galveston and those ventures quickly aided in the development of Galveston's economy, politics, culture, and growth.  The article is rich with views of life in early Galveston as well as the people involved in it's development.

  "The Grape and Canister Shot Poured Down on Them Like Hail"
By Gary Spurr

"Flight of Santa Anna from the Battle of Cerro Gordo," (Philadelphia: R. Magee, ca.1848). Battle of Cerro Gordo," (Philadelphia: R. Magee, ca.1848).

The article features the recent acquisition of the journal of Thomas Lindsay, a soldier from Pennsylvania who landed with the forces at Vera Cruz during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. The journal, purchased by Special Collections with the assistance of Jenkins and Virginia Garrett, is an important addition to the well known Mexican War collections of the division. Spurr relates the events of the Vera Cruz landing and gives us the Lindsay's perspective on well-known battles Lindsay saw first hand. The journal covers one year of the war from the landings at Vera Cruz to June 25, 1848, when the war ended.

Fall 2001

Special Collections Snags Two Grants
By Ann Hodges

The library has been successful in raising external funds in support of two projects to improve access to Special Collections materials. Hodges describes the two projects. The first, an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant, provides $3,839 to purchase supplies to rehouse a portion of the photographic negatives in the W. D. Smith, Inc. Commercial Photography Collections. Photographs from the collection are included. The second award is from the TexTreasures program of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission which awarded the division $20,000 to increase access to its holdings of oral history interviews with Tejano leaders. Photographs from the 

Special Collections Acquires L'Amerique Atlas
By Katherine R. Goodwin

An extraordinary seventeenth century atlas by Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville, has recently been acquired by the division. Goodwin describes the atlas and its value to the collection

Libraries Reach Halfway Point in Endowment Campaign
By Gerald D. Saxon

The Endowment campaign is in response to the challenge that accompanied the 1998 donation of more than 900 maps of Texas and the Gulf Coast by Virginia Garrett of Fort Worth. The donation, the largest such collection in private hands at the time, stipulated that UTA guarantee the historic collection be processed, cataloged, enhanced, and the focus of public and academic programs. Saxon reports on the progress of the endowment campaign to raise the funds and, in the process, describes the assets that have made UTA a  leader in cartographic education.

Seek and You Shall Find
By Shirley R. Rodnitzky

I

In this popular column, Rodnitzky describes the most recently processed collections available for research in the division. This time, she describes the Robert Hanks Brister Papers, 1890-1965; the C. A. (Ce Estus Adam) Sharp Papers, 1868-1954; the University of Texas at Arlington, Office of the President, 1954-1975 (in two separate collections); and the Ed Watson Papers, 1966-2001. The article, as usual, includes some intriguing photographs.

The Texas Electric Railway
By Gary Spurr

Through the courtesy of S. W. Johnson, the Texas Electric Railway Collection came to the division as a group of negatives largely taken in the late 1940s. Spurr describes the shots and notes that in the backgrounds are scenes of Dallas and other other Texas cities and locations. A sampling of the photographs are included in the article.

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