Inventing Texas: Early Historians of the Lone Star State

6 Every Texan an Historian

6 ★ Every Texan an Historian Discernible changes took place in Texas history writing during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Whether they constituted progress depends on one’s definition of the term. Civil War and Reconstruction contributed to these changes in two important ways. The aftermath of the Civil War produced a nostalgia for the triumphant revolutionary era and a kinship with the states of the former Confederacy that had not previously existed even during the war itself.1 But other events in the intellectual history of the United States, generally, also contributed to developments in Texas historiography after , among them the growth of the profession of history and the profound effect of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis.2 By the early s, the shift in dominance from the amateur to professional historian had occurred, yet the traditional American view that history was entertainment or moral instruction remained a powerful influence. A new generation of historians trained in scientific methods scoffed at George Bancroft’s romanticism and religiosity. They applied the latest scientific methods , but they still tried to assimilate American history to a pattern of unchanging principles. The main difference, at least one historian has suggested , had more to do with method than conviction. The idea of moral progress persisted, but the mode changed from literary artistry to scientific procedures.3 Earlier historians had transcendental faith in progress; the newer generation had facts to support the hypothesis. The assumption remained the same. Scientific history, nevertheless, involved more than a critical approach to evidence; it subordinated romantic values to a scientific spirit that was impersonal , collaborative, secular, “impatient of mystery,” and concerned with the relation of things to one another rather than their relation to some ultimate reality. These new realistic historians did not necessarily exceed the romantic historians in factual accuracy. They sought to correct the subjective errors of romantic history by letting facts speak for themselves. They welcomed specialization and monographs on limited subjects. In order to handle subjects beyond the research of a single specialist, they published large collaborative works. They detached themselves from their subjects and did not immerse themselves in the mood and emotions of historical situations. To avoid the pitfall of subjectivity, they refrained, with varying degrees of success , from passing moral judgment on their subjects.4 They were university trained, and perfect objectivity was the “noble dream” they set as their goal. Evidence of both the paradigm shift and resistance to change manifested itself in Texas historical writing in the last two decades of the nineteenth century . While professional history found its way into the university, the impulse toward romantic nationalism devolved into nostalgia during the Gilded Age. Americans, including Texans, turned to nostalgia not just because it provided escapism, but also because, as one intellectual historian has explained, nostalgia , in its creative manifestations, helped people legitimize new political orders, rationalize adjustments and perpetuation of old social hierarchies, and construct acceptable new systems of thought and values. These creative manifestations took the form of all kinds of public monuments in Texas and throughout the United States, the refurbishment and perpetuation of myths, and sometimes, the development of conflicting or contradictory traditions in the same locale.5 Just as Americans looked back nostalgically to the Revolutionary War, Texans turned to their own revolution and produced an impressive list of heroes now worthy of memorializing, even some of previously dubious reputation, such as Sam Houston. Such heroes, burnished in the sentimental glow of the past, belonged more aptly to the romantic history of the patricians than to the new historians of the scientific age. Patrician history, exemplified by the romantic historians Motley, Bancroft, Prescott, and Parkman, retained the discursive, narrative form, whereas professionals eschewed all literary pretensions. The stylistic ornaments, vivid scenes, and epic subjects of romantic history, however, were simply more captivating to general audiences than were the unembellished scientific facts. As romanticism gradually gave way to realism, professional historians would find an audience, but it would not be the contemporary reading public, who had overwhelmingly preferred fiction for generations. Statistics tell the story. A phenomenal increase in reading occurred in the United States between  and , as indicated in the estimates of book production in dollars prepared by historians of American publishing, and historical novels ranked high among the popular best-sellers of their day. The single Texas book to make the list (meaning it sold more than , copies) was Kendall’s Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, in . The...