San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-09
Rexar Archives Classified
and Important Paper Found
c. E. Castadena Writes
Masters Thesis From
Musty Documents a /
Court House-Finds Rec
ord of 1919 Flood-Does
Valuable Work in Pre-
serving Records.

A record of the disastrous flood of
1919, the worst flood in the history
of San Antonio, and documents relat-
ing to the five missions of San An
tonic and the disposition of their prop
erty during the latter part of the
eighteenth and the beginning of the
; nineteenth century, have been brought
' to light by c. +. Castaneda, a stu
, dent of the University of Texas, who
has made a study OF the Bexar ar
chives. Mr.. Castaneda was stu
dent of the university from 1917 to
: 1921, and received his MA. degree
August 81 of this year. His research
among the Bexar archives was incor-
. porated in his thesis for the degree.
During the last year he was an in
structor in Breckenridge High School
in San Antonio, and next year he will
be instructor in Spanish at William
and Mary College at Williamsburg,
/. Virginia.
The collection of Spanish archives
at the courthouse consists of over 2100
pieces of manuscripts varying in size
from one page 10 so pages. They
date from 1876 to 1886 and include
land grants, deeds, transfers, bills of
sale, royal orders, DEGREES, laws, pc
titions, and many other interesting
documents regarding the government
of San Antonio both under the Span
ish and Mexican regimes. 1t is the
most extensive and complete collection
in the state excepting the collection
of the University of Texas and that
in the state library. In the state
library are the Lamar papers and the
! Nacogd,ches archives.
/, Oldest Paper in 1885.
Mr.. Castaneda .rralged all of the
land grants, deeds, transfers and other
documents in alphabetical order, while
the miscellaneous material, which in
cludes royal orders. DEGREES, laws. ce-
dulas and private letters to officials,
were arranged in chronological order.
! Heretofore the records have never
. been segregated but were all in one
objection marked miscellaneous.
The oldest record in the files was
i made February %, 1876. At that
! time two missions were the centers of
! settlement in the region where San
Antonio now stands. These were the
Mission San Fernando and the Mis-
. sion San Antonio de Valera, now
; known as the Alamo. 1t was at the
) first-mentioned mission that the doc
ument was made granting permission
for the use of lot to build house.
!. The petition was granted by Juan
|. Vamrl. governor of the Spanish prov.
. ince of Texas, and the act of posses
!. sion was given by B. A. Travieso,
alguacil or judge.
A Phi Beta Kappa.
. San Antonio became store house
.. of these departmental and government
> tai documents under the Mexican re-
gime when it was the capital of the
province OF Texas. A complete record.
. almost unbrOken, of everything relat-
, ing to the government of the city and
> the entire province of Texas. is to be
found in the archives. In 1886. after
the battle of San Jacinto, the archives
. fell into the hands of Tex ms. In 1871
. they were sent to the secretary of
. state and were mixed with the Nacog-
doches papers. In 1898 they w-,e
given to the University of Texas. but
over 1000 of them were left in San
Antonio, where Castaneda has rear
ranged them. The records, consisting
of official correspondence and other
papers were found by Mr.. Castaneda
in tin boxes, while the mission rec
ords were found in pasteboard boxes.
! These mission records are fairly com
, plete for the last few years of the
, missions.
: These records have been indexed and
I visitors are not allowed to go through
all the records promiscuously. They
must first look up the subject they
!. are interested in in the index before
~they are allowed to see the documents.
: which ere locked in the county vaults
/, IN the county clerks office.
! Mr.. Castsneda was born IT, Mexico.
I November II, 1896. and went TO
I school in Brownsville. where he grad
Z uated in 1916 with honors. receiving
I scholarship to the University of Tex.
1 as. Here he was elected a member
4 OF Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. He
: graduated in 1921 and in 1922 taught
y in the Breckenridge High School. On
August 81 of this year he received
! his masters degree after completing
I his thesis on the Bexar archives.