Mission Espíritu Santo

The Mission Espiritu Santo exhibits were written by Dr. Tamra Walter, TBH Editor Susan Dial, and V. Kay Hindes. TBH Editorial Assistant Heather Smith developed the exhibit and collages. Nola Davis at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (a partner of TBH) provided numerous images, and Beth Ellis, historical interpreter at Mission Espiritu Santo Historic site, also provided helpful insights. Kristi Ulrich, archeologist at CAR-UTSA, scanned many of the artifacts and photos from TARL collections used in the mission at Goliad section as well as A. T. Jackson's 1933 report (this report was published as Appendix A in a 2005 report by CAR-UTSA and TARL).

Tamra Walter is an assistant professor of anthropology at Texas Tech University. She received her MA degree from the University of Montana at Missoula, and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Texas in Austin. Throughout her career, much of her research has focused on Spanish Colonial archeology. Walter has led field schools for students and for members of the Texas Archeological Society at both Mission Espiritu Santo (41VT11) as well as Presdio San Saba in Menard, Texas.

Kay Hindes is an archeologist for the City of San Antonio. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and has conducted a variety of cultural resource studies. A specialist in Spanish Colonial mission archeology and archival research, Hindes was instrumental in the locating the site of Mission San Saba as well as identifying the second location of Mission Espiritu Santo (41VT10) in Victoria. She is the author of The Rediscovery of Santa Cruz of San Sabá, A Mission for the Apache in Spanish Texas (Texas Historical Commission and Texas Tech University).

Print Sources

Almaraz, Felix D., Jr .
1979    Crossroad of Empire: The Church and State on the Rio Grande Frontier of Coahuila and Texas, 1700- 1821. Archaeology and History of the San Juan Bautista Mission Area, Coahuila and Texas. Report No. 1. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio.

Bolton, Herbert E.
1915   Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Campbell, Thomas N.
1988   The Indians of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico. Selected Writings of Thomas N. Campbell. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, the University of Texas at Austin.

Eaton Jack D.
1989   The Gateway Missions of the Lower Rio Grande. In Columbian Consequences: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West, Vol. 1, edited by Thomas D. H., pp. 245-58. Smithson Institution, Washington, D.C.

Fox, Anne A., editor
1991   Spanish Borderlands Sourcebooks 21: Archaeology of the Spanish Missions of Texas. Garland, New York.

Gilmore, Kathleen
1984   The Indians of Mission Rosario. In: The Scope of Historical Archaeology, edited by D.G. Orr and D.G. Crozier, pp. 163-91. Temple University Laboratory of Anthropolgy, Philadelphia.

Hester, Thomas R.
1989   Perspectives on the Material Culture of the Mission Indians of the Texas-Northeastern Mexico Borderlands. In: Columbian Consequences: Archeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West, Vol.1, edited by David Hurst Thomas, pp. 213-230. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Hindes, V. Kay, Anne A. Fox, and E.H. Schmiedlin
1999   An Overview of Test Excavations and Documentary Research at 41VT10, the Tonkawa Bank Site, Victoria City Park, Victoria, Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Vol. 70:79-96.

Hindes, V. Kay
1995   Primary Documentation Evidence for Three Locations of Mission Espíritu Santo de Zuńiga: Clarifying the Historical Record. The Newsletter of The Friends of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory Vol. 3 (2):8-9,28.

Ivey, Jake and Anne A. Fox
1980   Archaeological Survey and Testing at Rancho de las Cabras, Wilson County Texas. Archeological Survey Report 104. Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Linn, J. J.
1883  Reminiscences of Fifty Years in Texas. Sadlier, New York.

Newcomb, W. W., Jr .
1983   The Karankawa. In: Southwest, ed. A. Ortiz, pp. 359-67. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 10, edited by W. C .Sturtevant. Smithson Institution, Washington, D.C.

Ramsdell, C.
1949   Espíritu Santo: An Early Texas Cattle Ranch. Texas Geographic Magazine 13:2: 21-25.

Ricklis, Robert A.
2000   Archeological Investigations at the Spanish Colonial Missions of Espíritu Santo (41GD1) and Nuestra Seńora del Rosario (41GD2). Coastal Archeological Studies, Inc. Corpus Christi, Texas.

1996   The Karankawa Indians of Texas: An Ecological Study of Cultural Tradition and Change. University of Texas Press.

Rinker, J. I., Wayne Cox and C. Britt Bousman
1998   The Dam and Acequia Systems of Espíritu Santo de Zuńiga: Construction, Use and Abandonment. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Vol. 70: 123-132.

Thomas, David H., editor
1989   Columbian Consequences: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands West. Vol. 1. Smithson. Institution, Washington, D.C.

Ullrich, Kristi M., Antonio L. Figueroa, Jennifer L. Thompson, Anne A. Fox, Johanna M. Hunziker, Steve A. Tomka, and Cynthia M. Munoz
2005    Archeological Investigations at Mission Espiritu Santo (41GD1) , Goliad County, Texas. Archival series 3, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, the University of Texas at Austin, and Archaeological Report 356, Center for Archaeological Research, the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Walter, Tamra L., V. Kay Hindes, and Douglas K. Boyd
2005  Spanish Mission Architecture: Examples from the Second (41VT10) and Third (41VT11) Locations of Espiritu Santo, Victoria County, Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 76:1-28.

Walter, Tamra L.
1997   The Dynamics of Culture Change and its Reflection in the Archeological Record at Espíritu Santo de Zuńiga, Victoria County, Texas, 41VT11. Special Publication 7 and Studies in Archeology 23. Southern Texas Archaeological Association and Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin.

1999   Archeological Investigations at the Spanish Colonial Mission of Espíritu Santo de Zuniga (41VT11), Victoria County, Texas. Unpublished dissertation, University of Texas, Austin.

2007   Espiritu Santo de Zuniga: A Frontier Mission in South Texas. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Links

Mission Espiritu Santo State Historic Site and Goliad State Park
Brief history, descriptions of parks and facilities, and calendar of events.

Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga Mission. Handbook of Texas Online article.

Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas
Substantive historical background about the people and politics of the DeWitt colony 1700-1846.