A Scrap of History
An 1836 order to print the Texas Declaration of Independence and circulate it throughout Texas and the rest of the U.S. has been recently discovered in the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University.
Houston author James P. Bevill found the five-by-eight-inch scrap of paper. He says the note reveals investors in New Orleans had demanded Texas pass the declaration before they would provide money to carry out the war with Mexico. Publishing and distributing the declaration was the key to the cash.
This particular paper has had a long, strange trip. It was first placed with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office and then moved to the state archives in the early 1900s. At some point, somebody stole it for a private collection.
Collector John N. Rowe III bought it 20 or 30 years ago. Then he donated it and other documents to DeGolyer. Bevill rediscovered it. The order has been returned to the Texas archives.
512-463-5455 • www.tsl.state.tx.us
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