| Abstract: | The disciplines of history and anthropology constantly re-view and re-evaluate the past, in an attempt to remove the western European bias which permeates much of the history written on the indigenous populations conquered by the societies of western Europe. Since the first Europeans entered what is today the state of Texas, descriptions of the area's Native American inhabitants, or Indians, have been preserved, not only in oral tales, songs, legends and myths, but also in written diaries, autobiographies, reports and journals. Much of the information found in these sources is rarely accurate, at best, and often, at worst, total fabrication. However, certain types of these records, namely the diaries, autobiographies and journals, do, in many instances, contain valuable ethnographic information. While many historians have used portions of this data set in their investigations of past events and peoples, few have utilized more than a fraction of the available material. Anthropologists have, with-notable exceptions such as.W.W. Newcomb, almost entirely overlooked these primary resource of ethnographic knowledge. This paper seeks to extract some of the ethnographic information available in these valuable historical sources. |
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