urn:taro:utexas.cah.01471 A Guide to the Texas Legislature Committee Proceedings, 1919 Original EAD encoding by Jessi Fishman according to TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions. April 2010 Finding aid written in English. Descriptive Summary Texas Legislature Committee Texas Legislature Committee Proceedings 1919 Materials are written in English. 8 in. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin The Texas Legislature's Joint Committee of the House and Senate in the Investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force was created in January of 1919 and functioned during January and February of that year. The purpose of the Committee was to investigate the actions taken by the Texas Ranger Force during the period from 1914 to 1919. The proceedings are of this Joint Committee, 1919, Volumes I-VIII. Historical Sketch

The Texas Legislature created the Joint Committee of the House and Senate in the Investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force in January 1919 after Texas State Representative José T. Canales of Brownsville filed charges against the Texas Rangers. The committee was organized to investigate the actions of the Texas Rangers from 1914 to 1919 with regard to the killings of about 5000 Hispanics after the 1910 Mexican revolution, Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico, and other events along the Texas-Mexico border intensified tensions.

After two weeks of testimony, the committee submitted its report, recommending a reorganization of the Texas Ranger Force. Later that session, the legislature passed House Bill 5 (36th Legislature, Regular Session), authored by Canales, to reduce the number of recruits per unit, institute more competitive salaries, and outline specific procedures for citizens to make complaints against ranger misconduct. The investigation is frequently referred to as the Canales Investigation after Representative José T. Canales, who instigated it.

Source: Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Texas Legislature, Joint Committee of the House and Senate in the Investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force: An Inventory of the Transcript of Proceedings at the Texas State Archives, 1919. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/50062/tsl-50062.html (accessed May 24, 2010).

 Scope and Contents

The Texas Legislature Committee Proceedings, 1919, contain 8 volumes of the proceedings for the Texas Legislature's Joint Committee of the House and Senate in the Investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

 Index Terms Subjects (Persons) Canales, J. T. (José Tomás), 1877-1976 Subjects (Organizations) Texas Rangers Texas. Legislature (36th : 1919) Subjects Police misconduct--Texas. Governmental investigations--Texas. Legislative bodies--Texas--Committees. Places Texas Mexico Mexican-American Border Region Preferred Citation

Texas Legislature Committee Proceedings, 1919, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

 Related Material

See also Texas Legislature, Joint Committee of the House and Senate in the Investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force, 1919 at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

 Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project, 2009-2011.

 Detailed Description of the Papers Inventory 2R208 Texas Legislature, proceedings of the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House in the investigation of the Texas State Ranger Force, Vol. I, II, III, IV 1919 2R209 Vol. V, VI, VII, VIII