Pickings in this volume, sponsored by the University of Colorado Centennial Commission, are disappointingly slim. Only three essays out of fourteen contain original data. The first of these is Professor José de Onís’ review (pp. 33-42) of the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty, based largely on the family papers of his diplomat-ancestor, Luis de Onís.
The second worthwhile essay is Professor Arthur Campa’s sprightly account (pp. 153-162), written in Spanish, of the domestic economy of Ysleta, Texas, largely applicable to Colorado. The third original contribution is Anne Lucero’s ethnohistory of Aguilar and Trujillo, communities near the Spanish Peaks (pp. 163-182).
Most authors used secondary sources, some of them obsolete, erroneous or only marginally applicable to Colorado. Simmons’ Spanish Government in New Mexico, 1968, and Swadesh’s Los Primeros Pobladores: Hispanic Americans of the Ute Frontier, 1974, would have been useful.
Essayists bypassed unpublished materials, such as the manuscripts of the Colorado Writers’ Project (WPA), the Cragun Collection, the Western History Library of Colorado University and Professor Omer Stewart’s archive of documents microfilmed during his years as co-Director of the University of Colorado’s Tri-Ethnic Project. These sources document dynamic Hispanic-Indian relations which, for two centuries, drew explorers and traders to Colorado, while inhibiting Hispanic settlement. There are also sources on labor history and Hispanic community organizations.
