Browse Collections (12 total)

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  Thomas Falconer Correspondence

  Thomas Falconer (1805-1882) was an English jurist and explorer who immigrated to the Republic of Texas in 1840. In 1841, he joined the Texan Santa Fe Expedition as an observer. On the trail towards New Mexico, the expedition leader decided to take some of the party to San Miguel to gather provisions, while the rest remained in camp; Falconer, whose horse had been stolen, stayed in camp. The camp party was attacked multiple times by Native Americans, almost starved to death, and when the other party finally returned as prisoners of the Mexicans, they were also arrested. The group of explorers was taken to Mexico City, where Falconer was immediately released at the demand of the British minister. He published his account of this experience in the 1842 book <em>Expedition to Santa Fe: An Account of Its Journey from Texas through Mexico, with Particulars of Its Capture</em>. Falconer would go on to publish more accounts of his travels and return to work as a judge in England until his death. <br /><br />The Thomas Falconer Collection includes correspondence related to this ill-fated journey to Santa Fe. The letters from Falconer describe his involvement in the expedition and give a glimpse into both the life of an explorer on the frontier and the experience of being a prisoner. The sketches and amount of detail in his writings lend themselves well to his future occupation as a chronicler of explorations. Letters from other correspondents indicate the larger political implications of the expedition and its connection to the contemporary relationship between Texas and Mexico. The political motivations of the expedition are evident in one of Falconer’s letters, in which he states that he was told that the expedition’s purpose was for trade, when in fact it was to capture Santa Fe. The expedition was unofficially initiated by the then President of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, in an attempt to gain control over the lucrative Santa Fe Trail and further develop the trade links between Texas and New Mexico. <br /><br />You can also view these items on the University of North Texas’s <a title="Portal to Texas History" href="http://texashistory.unt.edu/" target="_blank">Portal to Texas History</a>.

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  World War I at Southwestern University

  In 1918, during World War I, the United States War Department created the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) program to help fill positions in the military with trained men. Implemented at hundreds of universities across the nation, the SATC combined both practical and lecture-based military instruction with the general college curriculum. The intended goal was to create a viable population of educated and trained young men who would then join the U.S. military and fight in the war. Southwestern University was one of the colleges with an SATC chapter, which was only active during the fall semester of 1918; Germany’s formal surrender in November rendered its purpose moot. However, as the World War I collection shows, the SATC was a highly valued part of campus life during its existence. <br /><br />The collection of World War I materials from Special Collections prominently features documentation related to the SATC, which is highlighted here on our site. This collection gives us a clear idea of the amount of effort it took to establish, organize, and run this federal military recruitment program. Among these items are correspondence between individuals and institutions, grade reports, photographs of SATC students, curriculum outlines, and pamphlets. Although military instruction was the impetus for the creation of the program, academics were meant to be the central component of the SATC, as shown by the many education-related pamphlets, notices, and letters. The amount of highly detailed correspondence between various agencies, including Southwestern University, the University of Texas at Austin, the U.S. Naval Reserve, and the War Department, is tangible evidence of the value placed on this program by its founding institutions. <br /><br />You can also find these items on the University of North Texas's <a title="Portal to Texas History" href="http://texashistory.unt.edu/">Portal to Texas History</a>.

  View the items in World War I at Southwestern University