Documenting the Past: The Spanish Archives of Laredo, Semi-Paleographic Transcriptions and English Translations of Selected Texts
Abstract
This thesis transcribes, translates and studies four selected manuscripts from the Spanish Archives of Laredo, a collection of primary sources from Spanish Texas. The four texts selected are among the oldest documents in the collection (1773, 1776, 1783, 1790) and to provide information about Indian raids in Laredo. The Spanish-language documents were first transcribed in the 1930s by the Works Project Administration (WPA) of the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency. Several of the manuscripts have been transcribed, translated into English in summarized form, and published by Robert D. Wood in the past 25 years. However, new guidelines and best-practice norms have been established by scholars in the field to guarantee high standards of textual integrity and readability. The new Spanish transcriptions found in this thesis adhere to strict guidelines. The original spelling is rigorously maintained following philological criteria. The new translations are of the entire text, not just summaries, and provide important insight while correcting several transcription and translation errors.
