Edwin Bonewitz was a lay historian interested in the history of Texas and especially Houston during the Republic and early statehood periods. Ed Bonewitz spent countless hours in the Harris County Court Records and in the Houston Public Library researching various topics with all the intensity of a perfectionist. Although he was an antiquarian concerned with esoteric subjects and completely caught up in detail, the results of his research are impressive.
The Edwin A. Bonewitz Collection is a small holding of manuscripts, maps, drawings, correspondence, and notes of a lay historian relating to the history of Texas and especially Houston during the Republic and early statehood periods.
Although Bonewitz researched most of his adult life, the collection consists of material he compiled after 1950; the rest was destroyed. After Ed's death in 1969, his brother Fred Bonewitz deposited these remaining papers with the Houston Public Library. The collection consists of two segments: the manuscripts and the correspondence.
Bonewitz's seventeen original, unpublished manuscripts give one a great deal of insight into Houston, Texas during the Republic period and early statehood. This segment is the most useful part of the collection and should always be referred to first. The manuscripts describe Houston during the 1830's and 1840's, and explain much about its institutional life.
His voluminous correspondence with other historians comprises the largest part of the collection, but it is repetitious and difficult to use. Nonetheless, much extra material can be gleaned from the correspondence so as to supplement the manuscripts.
The collection also reveals the trials and tribulations of the non-professional historian, and the controversies which antiquarians in Texas dealt with in the 1950's and 1960's.
The first two boxes are arranged alphabetically by subject with the manuscripts and letters concerning each topic filed together. Boxes 3 and 4 consist of correspondence arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The final box contains miscellaneous correspondence and notes taken by Bonewitz.
None.
Permission to publish or reproduce materials from the Edwin A. Bonewitz Collection must be obtained from the Houston Metropolitan Research Center or the appropriate copyright holder.
Edwin A. Bonewitz Collection. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library.
Donated by Fred Bonewitz, 1969.
Processed by Thomas H. Kreneck, 1977.