Robert Bruce Blake

Blake began as a newspaperman. The Handbook of Texas says his family moved to Jasper, where his father bought the weekly News Boy, which Blake later owned and published. In 1925 he moved to Nacogdoches as court reporter and county clerk and began researching the Spanish and Mexican borderland between San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Over about three decades he transcribed Nacogdoches and Bexar archives and family collections covering 1744 to 1837. Historian Charles Bacarisse called them "the bed-rock for a history of East Texas." Duplicate copies are held at the State Archives, SFA and Houston Public Library.

What the plaque says

Robert Bruce Blake Born in Moscow (Polk Co.), Texas, to Robert Bruce Blake Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth (Pratt) Blake, Robert Bruce Blake Jr. (1877-1955) was an important historian, translator and compiler of early Spanish, Mexican and Republic of Texas documents and archives in east Texas. Robert Jr. married Belle Patten in 1921, and the couple moved to Nacogdoches where Robert took a position as court reporter and county clerk. At the courthouse, he was exposed to the rich history of the old documents in the archives. He was inspired to painstakingly translate and type these old documents. During the approach of the Texas Centennial in 1936, the State of Texas authorized publication of numerous historical materials and tasked Blake with writing a booklet on Nacogdoches. Additionally, he was selected to determine the locations for granite markers honoring three Spanish missions, a presidio and other historic sites. Several took notice of Blake's work, and in 1942, Blake and his family moved to Austin where he continued his research at the Texas State Archives and the Barker Texas History Center Archives, where he was most likely assisted by Winnie Allen and her team. The cumulation of his research, 93 volumes of 300-400 pages each, is known as the Robert Bruce Blake Collection. In total, the collection is about 35,000 pages in length. Among the collection are documents relating to the Nacogdoches County clerk (1792-1837), the entire minutes of Nacogdoches town council (1828-1835), correspondence of Governors Salcedo and Martinez, applications for land grants, muster rolls for the Texas Revolution, boundary disputes and much more. Robert Blake's contribution to early Texas history has proven invaluable to the generations of historians who benefit from his monumental work. (2022)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Old Spanish Cemetery — steps away
• Site of the Home of William Clark, Jr. — steps away
• In Memory of Thomas F. McKinney — steps away
• Old "Red" House — steps away