Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2015 Issue

Second Battle of the Alamo Begins at the Alamo Library

The Alamo.

Remember the Alamo? Of course. Everyone remembers the Alamo. It was the site of the Texas rebels last defeat in their fight for independence from Mexico. It was a slaughter – no Texian survivors, but it also coined a battle cry. Just six weeks later, the Texians turned the tables on Santa Anna, forcing the Mexican leader to grant them independence or lose his life. The Mexican General chose the former. The Republic of Texas was born.

 

What you may not remember, or perhaps never knew existed, is the Alamo Research Center, a library adjacent to the Alamo grounds. It contains 38,000 books, documents, and other historical items. Now, according to a lawsuit recently filed in Texas, someone is trying, in effect, to steal that massive collection. The alleged thief is none other than the State of Texas.

 

Over a century ago, 1905 to be exact, the Alamo was at risk of being destroyed. A public-spirited group, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, stepped in to save it. The Daughters were descendants of those who fought for independence. Their mission is to preserve historic relics from the Texas Revolution and Republic days. The Daughters purchased the Alamo and gave it to the State of Texas. However, they have maintained and operated the historic site on behalf of the state for all of these years, until a short time ago. At that time, the state decided to take control of the Alamo itself, as was its right as the owner.

 

Now, the state has taken another step toward control, and the Daughters are crying foul. The state has said it will take over the library and most of its contents. This, the Daughters say, was never given to the State of Texas. They built the building, raised funds to operate it, and most of the items in it were given to them, not Texas. “Hands off,” they said, in many more words, in a suit filed in Texas asking a court to declare they are the legal owner of the library and the material within, except for any items specifically given to the state.

 

The suit was filed against the Texas General Land Office, which has announced its intention to take the property, and its Commissioner, George P. Bush. For those not familiar with George P. Bush, he is slated to be the third President George Bush, and the fourth President Bush, after his father, Jeb Bush. This, of course, presumes he can defeat Chelsea Clinton.

 

When the State took over the Alamo, the Daughters were evidently less than pleased, but could do little except, perhaps, regret their decision to give the property to the state over a century earlier. However, in a joint statement with Commissioner Bush, they made their intentions with regard to the library clear. Their President General stated, “While we regret our changing role in its daily management, it does not diminish our unending passion for the preservation of the Shrine of Texas Liberty, and we look forward to maintaining our library collection as a historical resource for all Texans to enjoy.” They may have looked forward to “maintaining our library collection,” but it took just a few days for the state to look forward to seizing its library collection.

 

In their suit, the Daughters said that the Land Office ordered them to shut down the library on weekends, save one Saturday a month. It says the Land Office further warned them that the San Antonio police would make “special patrols” to make sure they didn't remove anything from the collection. One imagines this comment did not sit well the gentleladies of Texas.

 

As to why the state is taking control of the Alamo, and claiming ownership and control of the library, it is not totally clear. Presumably, the state feels it can do a better job of maintaining and preserving the site and its artifacts than can the Daughters. Interestingly, when it took over the Alamo, the state said it would seek an outside management company to develop a strategic plan for the site, an indication that it did not have a specific plan in mind when it took control of the property.

 

While the Daughters of the Republic of Texas has made its sentiments known through its lawsuit, a link to which is posted on their website, the Land Office declined to make a comment. We will have to wait to see how this all plays out. But someday, a new generation of Texans may enshrine the memory of the Second Battle of the Alamo against a tyrannical government with the battle cry, “Remember the Alamo Research Center!”

 

 

Editor's Note:  We thank Michael Widener of the Yale Law Library for his perspective concerning this controversy in a letter we received.

 

"I read with interest Michael Stillman’s article, “Second Battle of the Alamo Begins at the Alamo Library.” The article gives the impression that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas are victims. For context and a different light on the controversy, I suggest reading pages 30-32 of the 2012 report by the Texas Attorney General, as well as the Bergman article (attached) and this April 6, 2015 article in Texas Monthly:

 

www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/never-surrender-or-retreat

 

During my 14 years as a special collections librarian in Texas I heard from colleagues about the DRT’s management of its library, but since that is only hearsay I won’t repeat it.

 

Regards,

 

MIKE WIDENER

Rare Book Librarian & Lecturer in Legal Research

Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School

P.O. Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520-8215

 

 

Writer's Comment:  It was not my intention to take sides. The Daughters of the Republic do not have the greatest reputation for care of the Alamo with some Texans. Then again, the state of Texas does not have a wonderful reputation for concern for public interests vis-a-vis private ones. Putting such assets in the hands of a government that hates government if chancy. All hat and no cattle. Where is Davy Crockett when you need him?

Rare Book Monthly

  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions