The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 88, July 1984 - April, 1985 Page: 247

Notes and Documents
The Austin-Leaming Correspondence, 1828-1836
Edited by ANDREAS REICHSTEIN*
AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF HIS Life of Stephen F. Austin AND OF
A his three-volume edition of Austin papers, Eugene C. Barker
received by mail a collection of papers closely related to the history of
Stephen F. Austin, his family, and Texas in general.1 Probably be-
cause of lack of time Barker was not able to use this material in an
article and so, after they were transcribed in October, 1933, by Earle B.
Estill and filed away at the University of Texas, these letters seem to
have passed into oblivion. They are, however, able to shed some new
light on Stephen F. Austin and his family.
The collection-"Thomas F. Leaming Letters and Papers, 1796-
1847, Correspondence with Moses Austin Family"-originally con-
sisted of fifty-nine documents (forty-seven letters and twelve memo-
randums and other papers) with 160 pages in all. The most important
documents are a letter from Moses Austin to Thomas Leaming of
Philadelphia; three letters from Mary Austin (wife of Moses Austin) to
Rebecca Leaming (wife of Thomas Leaming); eleven letters from
James F. Perry (brother-in-law of Stephen F. Austin) to Thomas Fisher
Leaming (son of Thomas Leaming); a letter from Thomas F. Leaming
to Stephen F. Austin; and fourteen letters from Stephen F. Austin to
Thomas F. Leaming. The most significant letters of the last group are
presented here. Two additional letters from Stephen F. Austin to
Thomas F. Leaming that are not in this collection were known to
*Andreas Reichstein completed the requirements for his doctorate in American history
at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau, West Germany, in 1984. He has published
several articles and a book, Der texanzsche Unabhingigkeitskrieg, 1835/6: Ursachen und
Wirkungen [The Texas war for independence, 1835/6: causes and effects] (Berlin, 1984),
which he is currently translating into English.
1Eugene C. Barker, The Life of Stephen F. Austin, Founder of Texas, 1793-1836: A
Chapter in the Westward Movement of the Anglo-American People (Austin, 1969), ix.