W. B. Stephens Collection
Scope and Contents
Manuscripts and printed material focusing on the area of the southwestern U.S. (especially California and Texas) before 1836, then under Spanish and Mexican control, and on Mexico. The collection is arranged in three series: manuscripts, pamphlets, and imprints.
Manuscripts includes correspondence, legal documents, reports and other literary productions, appointments, instructions, printed material, and other items relating to the governance and history of New Spain and the Catholic Church. Topics represented are Indians, missions, the Inquisition, Mexico's Wars of Independence, relations between Texas and Mexico (1820-1845), the U.S.-Mexican War, and commerce and foreign trade. This series is arranged by its entry numbers and is described in the Castañeda guide and has a date range between 1488-1868.
Pamphlets consists of a collection of pamphlets published 1820-1822 concerning political conditions in Mexico, and ten bound volumes of Mexican government documents, decrees, broadsides, fragments of books on history and law, and other materials dated 1811-1851 concerning the history and governance of Mexico. (Four volumes deal primarily with Texas, California, New Mexico, and Coahuila). This series was formerly referred to as Imprints
and these materials are comprised of pamphlets dated from 1820-1822 and bound documents dated between 1811-1851.
Imprints contains printed decrees, proclamations, reports, circulars, etc. dated 1655-1936 and covering the same general subjects as Series I and II, with emphasis on the empire of Iturbide and the early Mexican republic. This series is arranged chronologically and was formerly referred to as Uncataloged Imprints
and the items are dated between 1655-1936.
Dates
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1559-1848
- Creation: 1488-1936
Language of Materials
Spanish
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply.
Biographical Note
William B. Stephens was a geologist by profession and a student of Spain's role in North America. While working for the Huasteca Oil Company in Mexico, he amassed a collection of manuscripts, rare books, and other printed materials in his area of interest. Stephens died in 1937.
Full Extent
12 linear feet
Abstract
Manuscripts and printed material related to the history of Mexico and southwestern United States (California, New Mexico, and Texas) before 1836.
Other Finding Aids
Series I of the Collection is described in the following guide, available in the Benson Collection Rare Books Reference:
Castañeda, Carlos Eduardo, 1896-1958. Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts in the University of Texas Library. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1939.
In 2019 the card file entries for Series II and III were incorporated into this updated online finding aid. The physical card file for Series II and an item list for Series III remain available in the Benson Collection Rare Books Reference. Other cited titles for this colleciton include WB Stephens Collection and W.B. Stephens Collection.
Acquisition Information
The W. B. Stephens Collection was purchased by the Benson Latin American Collection in 1939 from Virginia Stephens de Mariscal, the daughter of W. B. Stephens.
Alternate Form Available
Series I is also available on microfilm at the Benson Latin American Collection.
Processing Information
The collection was described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project in April 1994.
Prepared by the Mexican Archives Project, February 10, 1995.
Finding aid improved and expanded by Dylan Joy, 2019.
Topical
- California--History--Sources
- Indigenous peoples--History--Sources
- Inquisition--Mexico
- Mexican War, 1846-1848--Sources
- Mexico--Economic conditions
- Mexico--Foreign relations--Texas--Sources
- Mexico--History--Sources
- Mexico--Politics and government--Sources
- Missions--New Spain--History--Sources
- New Spain--Church history--Sources
- New Spain--Social life and customs--Sources
- Southwest, New--History--Sources
- Texas--History--Sources
- Title
- W. B. Stephens Collection
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Date
- 2001
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- February 21, 2003: Edited with XMetal3 by Bob Stewart following TARO EAD V.1 Editing for BLAC Finding Aids.
- Tue Jul 22 14:58:35 CDT 2003: urn:taro:utexas.blac.00062 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505).
- December 2019: Box and folder inventory created by Dylan Joy. Incorporated encoded Series I descriptions from Castañeda-Dabbs guide and encoded descriptions for Series II and III (previoulsy only card file entries) into this updated online finding aid. The physical card file for Series II and an item list for Series III remain available in the Benson Collection Rare Books Reference.
- April 2021: Edited by D Ryan Lynch to fix compliance check errors to prepare for the migration to new TARO website.
- 2021 November: Edited by Devon Murphy to update control access terms and formatting based on the TARO Control Access List.
- 2025 July: Revised by Ryan Sullivant to fix validation errors prior to ingestion into ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu