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Harris Finley & Bogle Honor Jenkins Garrett
By Brenda S. McClurkin
The partners of the Fort Worth law firm of Harris Finley & Bogle desired to honor the venerable legal career of Jenkins Garrett, Of-Counsel to their firm since 1986. Mr. Garrett and his wife, Virginia, have for decades been important collectors of the history of Texas and the U.S. War with Mexico, as well as the cartographic history of Texas and the Southwest. In 1974, Jenkins Garrett donated some 10,000 items to The University of Texas at Arlington Library. The Garrett materials, combined with the UT Arlington University, Labor, and Political Archives to create Special Collections, have continued to forge the program area’s collecting interests for thirty-five years. What better way to recognize Mr. Garrett than to present a significant manuscript collection to the UT Arlington Library in his honor.
At a reception held in the UT Arlington Library Parlor on September 11, 2008, Harris Finley & Bogle did just that--they made the gift of the Phillips Texan-Santa Fe Expedition Papers to Special Collections in honor of Jenkins Garrett. This collection is comprised of twelve original and transcribed copies of letters and documents pertaining to Robert B. Phillips, a member of the Texan-Santa Fe Expedition (1841-1842) and the concern of his father, Dr. Michael Phillips of Syracuse, New York, for the welfare of his son while imprisoned in Mexico. Robert B. Phillips, along with the other 320 other members of this ill-fated expedition which included George Wilkins Kendall, departed Kenney’s Fort near Austin on June 21, 1841, destined for Santa Fe. Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar initiated the expedition, without Republic of Texas Congressional approval, as a political, military and commercial venture to divert some of the trade coming over the Santa Fe Trail to Texas, and to establish Texas' jurisdiction over the Santa Fe area. Lamar’s mission failed and most expedition members were marched to Mexico, where they endured long, grueling imprisonment. Original letters include correspondence from New York Congressman Victory Birdseye to Dr. Phillips (July 24, 1842) accompanied by a letter from U. S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster to Birdseye (February 15, 1842) regarding diplomatic efforts to free expedition members from a Mexican prison; a letter to Dr. Phillips from R. W. Baker of Houston (February 15, 1842) reporting that Mr. Swett, just returned from Mexico City, had seen his son and that Swett felt prisoners would be kept in forced labor rather than be executed; and a letter from George Wilkins Kendall to Dr. Phillips reporting his son’s arrival in Galveston (January 7, 1843). A ten- page unattributed narrative [by R. B. Phillips] of the expedition, “Notes Taken on Sight,” is also among the original materials.
Transcribed items include three letters written by R. B. Phillips to his father from Puebla, Mexico--two from prison (March-April, 1842), and one reporting his release (June 19, 1842); a lengthy narrative written by R. B. Phillips to George Wilkins Kendall, pointing out the errors in his reporting of the death of Lt. Hull and party (March 8, 1843); and Kendall’s letter of reply to Phillips (January 25, 1844). Notes on the transcribed materials indicate they were copied in 1879 by F. K. Phillips, the son of R. B. Phillips. Some indicate that the originals were sent to Mr. V. O. King, Commissioner of History in Austin. Valentine O. King served, beginning in 1876, as the first Commissioner of Insurance, Statistics and History, the agency responsible for overseeing the Texas State Library. The originals of most of the transcribed materials have been located in the Valentine O. King Papers at the Texas State Archives and copies obtained. For further information on the Phillips Texan-Santa Fe Expedition Papers, contact Brenda McClurkin at 817-272-3393 or mcclurkin@uta.edu.
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