Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
various archives in Mexico. Such had been the industry of the members of the Committee within the period of a year that when the State Conven- tion met at Taylor, May, 1927, it was already found imperative to make definite arrangements to house the accumulation of material, and to make such provisions to guarantee their safekeeping. It was thought most prac- tical to make an agreement with the Congregation of the Holy Cross that St. Edward's University become the custodian of the Knights of Colum- bus Archives. An agreement was therefore entered into on November 23, 1926, by and between St. Edward's University at Austin and the State Council of the Knights of Columbus in Texas, which stipulated that "all archives and library collections and everything of historical nature and worth that may be received at the University for the Knights of Columbus for their use, or for the use of the Historical Commission, existing under the auspices of the State Council of the Knights of Columbus of Texas, shall remain and be preserved at the said University for the term during which material for the history aforesaid will be collected, and until the same will have been prepared for publication, and the said history will actually have been published, except insofar as in the discretion, or at the direction of the said Commission, withdrawal of archival matter may be permitted ..." "This contract is to remain in full force and effect until March 2, 1936, when all rights of, in and to the archives so gathered, as hereinabove set forth, shall be divested out of said Council of the Knights of Columbus of Texas, and be vested in the said St. Edward's University, upon the one condition that the said archives shall be open to the use of the State Council, or its duly authorized committees or agents, if the said history of the Catholic Church in Texas will not have been completed nor published." While the gathering of information was making good progress the financial cost of the undertaking was necessarily a matter of concern to the Commission. To add some funds to the appropriations authorized by the State Council, it was thought possible to obtain some substantial donations by the establishment of the Catholic Historical Society. Its declared purpose was "to awaken interest in the work of the Historical Commission, to make known the nature and the scope of its work, and to secure the assistance of thousands of individuals all over the State who will search for data that may be used, or will display that interest among themselves in their respective Chapters which will cause them to discuss historical matters of Texas, to write articles thereon, and in other
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