MinerAlert
“Colonial Connections: People and Places Across New Spain’s Frontier,” will make the social and physical associations between the residents of Spanish Texas visible. Using network and geospatial analysis, the project will place the over 8,000 known individuals on an interactive map and highlight who and how those individuals are connected to the larger borderland community. It will also link each individual to the digitally available eighteenth-century documents in which they appear using the Bexar Archive, a collection of Spanish documents held at the Briscoe Center for American History (UT-Austin).
The project will use the reference book, The Bexar Archives (1717–1836): A Name Guide, as its initial database. While the reference book is an incredible tool, its usefulness is limited because of its current book form. My project will expand on the guide’s data by connecting people, colonial documents, and locations on an interactive digital map. By mapping out the data and creating direct links to the primary sources on Bexar Archives Online, the project will not only serve as a valuable tool for researchers; it will serve as a teaching device by which students of all ages can interact with and learn about Texas history, the Spanish Borderlands, and genealogy.