Palo Alto Battlefield Continues British Document Project

VSFA intern Alena Buckley will use skills learned during the Palo Alto Battlefield project at the National Archives. Alena Buckley

Thanks to dedicated Palo Alto volunteers, the park can now tell a little-known story of Great Britain’s involvement in the final negotiations of the U.S.-Mexican War. During the war, British businesses in Mexico suffered. Therefore, British officials entered secret negotiations with both Mexican and U.S. officials to end the war.

Outreach coordinator Karen Weaver selected political science majors Alena Buckley of Illinois College and Jenna Lugo of Pennsylvania State University to read and review handwritten documents to determine how they pertain to the U.S.-Mexican War.

Interns Buckley and Lugo cataloged their findings, documenting the date, author, subject matter, recipient, and synopses.

“I gained experience with metadata and expanded my ability to read cursive writing,” Buckley said. “This will help with my job with the National Archives in St. Louis.”

Lugo said, “I am utterly thankful for this opportunity and enjoyed researching and bettering my reading of 19th-century handwriting.” Lugo is currently in the McNair Scholars Program to prepare for her doctoral studies.

Many of these negotiations are not found in official U.S. documents. These letters and documents will be an invaluable addition to the Palo Alto Research archives in the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley-Brownsville Special Collections library.

Project Background

In 2018, NPS volunteer David Davenport donated six boxes of U.S.-Mexican War related primary documents to Palo Alto. Davenport traveled to London, poured through the British archives, and photocopied handwritten letters and reports about these secret negotiations.

Palo Alto was thrilled by this donation but didn’t have time to decipher reams of 19th century cursive penmanship. They turned to the U.S. State Department’s Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) internship program. VSFS recruits college student volunteers to work on government projects during the academic year. Since the beginning of this project, six VSFS VIPs have helped with this project. They read, transcribe, and record metadata for each document.

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