The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974 Page: 423
568 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
to "organize ethnohistorical and historical sources so that they will be use-
ful to archeologists and historians who wish to cooperate in a program of
research" (p. xii). She has not accomplished this.
Just where to begin pointing out the numerous difficulties with this mon-
ograph is a problem. Skeels's style is awkward, and the text abounds in
factual errors. For example, on page i I the author discusses the "Jumanos
of East Texas," and on pages i i and 12 she mentions explorers who "went
up the Colorado River from New Mexico"-an interesting geographical
feat. On page I2 she implies that the Pueblo Revolt occurred in 1659 and
that refugees from New Mexico settled at San Juan Bautista on the "east
side" of the Rio Grande! And this is just the beginning of the list.
Even given these errors, however, the point can be made that they are
tangential to the major purpose which is to prepare a survey of "available
historic records" (p. 40) and information. Professor Hole suggests that
Skeels has prepared a "comprehensive bibliography" (p. v), but here again
it is a promise unfulfilled. The ten-page bibliography, although combining
historical and anthropological publications, adds nothing to the bibliogra-
phy in Newcomb's Indians of Texas. The author notes that she included
only secondary and published primary material, but even given this limited
range, Skeels leaves out a number of pertinent references. Her choice of
secondary materials, at least in regard to historical works, is often poor,
and the list is uneven. Although she cites the reprint editions, and thus gives
the bibliography an up-to-date appearance, nearly 90 percent of her his-
torical references were published before 1930. Although Hole implies, as
does Skeels, that this monograph includes an analysis of the sources, the
bibliography is not annotated. In fact, the author makes no critical selection
of, or comment on, the works cited and in at least one instance uses a sec-
ondary account (Morfi) as a primary source (p. I9). For the eighteenth
century, she relies almost entirely on Castafieda's translation of Morfi's Me-
morias quoting verbatim for some twelve pages.
Several things about this monograph are right. The maps, as Hole sug-
gests, are useful (easily available) and the two articles (not documents as
Hole states, p. v) published in the appendix are difficult to find elsewhere.
Both Hole and Skeels make some excellent suggestions for interdisciplinary
studies. Nonetheless, from the historian's viewpoint, the text is uneven, in-
accurate, and unuseable. However, if it serves to motivate historians to begin
work on a sound ethnohistorical study, then it has not been a total
waste.University of Texas, Arlington
423
SANDRA MYRES
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974, periodical, 1973/1974; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117148/m1/473/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.