Colonial Natchitoches
A Creole Community on the Louisiana-Texas Frontier
H. Sophie Burton and F. Todd Smith
Strategically located at the western edge of the Atlantic World, the French post of Natchitoches thrived during the eighteenth century as a trade hub between the well supplied settlers and the isolated Spaniards and Indians of Texas. Its critical economic and diplomatic role made it the most important community on the Louisiana-Texas frontier during the colonial era.
Despite the community’s critical role under French and then Spanish rule,Colonial Natchitoches is the first thorough study of its society and economy. Founded in 1714, four years before New Orleans, Natchitoches developed a creole (American-born of French descent) society that dominated the Louisiana-Texas frontier. H. Sophie Burton and F. Todd Smith carefully demonstrate not only the persistence of this creole dominance but also how it was maintained. They examine, as well, the other ethnic cultures present in the town and relations with Indians in the surrounding area.
Through statistical analyses of birth and baptismal records, census figures, and appropriate French and Spanish archives, Burton and Smith reach surprising conclusions about the nature of society and commerce in colonial Natchitoches.
H. SOPHIE BURTON earned her doctorate in Latin American history from Texas Christian University. F. TODD SMITH, a professor of history at the University of North Texas, is author of four books on the Indians of the Louisiana-Texas frontier. They both live in Dallas, Texas.
978-1-60344-018-9
cloth: $39.95s
5 5/8x9 1/4. 232 pp.
4 maps. 50 tables.
MARCH 2008
Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539-1542
"They Were Not Familiar with His Majesty, nor Did They Wish to Be His Subjects."
Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint
This volume is the first annotated, dual-language edition of thirty-four original documents from the Coronado expedition. The documents provide a window into the actions and attitudes of members of the expedition and its unwilling hosts in the American Southwest and northwest Mexico.
Using the latest historical, archaeological, geographical, and linguistic research, this volume makes available accurate transcriptions and modern English translations of the documents, including seven never before published and seven others never before available in English. It includes a general introduction and explanatory notes at the beginning of each document.
RICHARD FLINT and SHIRLEY CUSHING FLINT, historians and Spanish paleographers, are among the foremost authorities on the Coronado expedition. They have researched in Mexico, Spain, and the United States and have directed two conferences on the expedition. Separately and in collaboration, the Flints have published many articles as well as three books, including Great Cruelties Have Been Reported: The 1544 Investigation of the Coronado Expedition (SMU, 2002).
Published in cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies
0-87074-496-8
cloth
$75.00s
8 1/2x11. 752 pp.
29 illus. 5 maps.
Notes. Bib. Index.
Western History.
Engraved Prints of Texas, 1554-1900
Mavis P. Kelsey, Sr. and Robin Brandt Hutchison
Introduction by Ron Tyler
Foreword by Donald H. Dyal
For centuries Texas has fired the imagination of artists as well as explorers and settlers. Before modern photography, engravings were the principal type of illustration used by artists to portray images of the state. Now, in this extensive catalogue, authors Mavis P. Kelsey, Sr., and Robin Brandt Hutchison have surveyed all engraved illustrations about Texas published before 1900.
Engraved Prints of Texas, 1554-1900 presents the whole range of early Texas history as portrayed in published engravings: from the first printed representation of a buffalo in 1554 to a 1900 view of the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
Entries include information on more than 2,000 engravings, 470 of which are illustrated in this volume. Presented chronologically by century and decade of publication, each chapter features a brief introduction to the historical background of the era, highlighting key illustrations and placing the art within the context of major events of the period. Several topical discussions address subjects that span decades or recur as pervasive themes in illustration.
Historians, teachers, and scholars will find this catalogue a useful reference for locating pictorial representations of particular events, subjects, or persons. It is an indispensable source for lovers of Texas history and an important contribution to preserving the visual record.
MAVIS P. KELSEY, SR., is a fifth-generation Texan and a 1932 graduate of Texas A&M University who has spent a lifetime collecting rare books, prints, and paintings of early America. He has written extensively on art, history, genealogy, and travel, including two previous books published by Texas A&M University Press-The Courthouses of Texas and Twentieth-Century Doctor. He is a longtime resident of Houston.
ROBIN BRANDT HUTCHISON holds a Master's degree from Texas A&M University. She is an archivist in the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, where she has primary curatorial responsibility for the Mary and Mavis P. Kelsey Collection of Americana and Art. She lives in College Station, Texas.
Number Nine: Sara and John Lindsey Series in the Arts and Humanities
1-58544-270-4
cloth
$60.00
LC 2004002328
8 1/2x11. 498 pp.
471 b&w illustrations.
Bib. Index.
Texas History. Art.
MARCH 2005
February 5, 2008