Hackett, Charles W. (Charles Wilson), 1888-1951

Charles Wilson Hackett was born June 19th, 1888 to James Franklin Hackett and Matilda "Mittie" Greer Hackett of Chilton Texas. After graduating high school, Hackett went to the University of Texas to study history. At Texas, Hackett met his long-time mentor and friend Herbert Eugene Bolton. Bolton introduced Hackett to Spanish American history before leaving the University of Texas to teach at Stanford and eventually the University of California Berkeley. Hackett followed Bolton, first to Stanford and eventually to Berkeley, where he finished his doctorate in history in 1917.

Charles Wilson Hackett began his teaching career in 1918, as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Aside from a few stints as a visiting professor at Harvard, Radcliffe and Stanford, Hackett remained at the University of Texas, where he climbed the ranks in the history department, becoming Distinguished Professor of History in 1944. During his tenure at Texas, Hackett also helped establish the Garcia Library, one of largest and most important collections of bibliographic and archival documents in the United States. The Garcia collection-which the University acquired from the widow of the Mexican senator Genaro García--was integral in molding the University of Texas into a major research center for Latin American Studies. In the early 1940s, Hackett was able convince the administration that UT's strong Latin Americanist faculty combined with the resources of the García Library warranted the creation of an international center for Latin American Studies. Hackett served as the UT Institute of Latin American Studies' first director.

In addition to his administrative work, Dr. Hackett was a prolific scholar. He authored, edited and translated thousands of pages during his forty-year career. Some of his more notable work includes Prichardo's Treatise on the Limits of Louisiana and Texas (4 volumes, 1931-1946) and Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin's Attempted Reconquest, 1680-1682 (1942). He also contributed more than fifty original articles to several journals, including the Hispanic American Historical Review, The American Historical Review, and Southwestern Historical Quarterly, where he served as editor from 1937-1939.

Hackett's service extended well beyond his teaching and scholarship. The government of the United States recruited Hackett for a number of scholarly missions in Latin America. In 1926, Calvin Coolidge appointed Hackett as the United States' delegate to the Pan-American Congress held in Panama City, Panama. Fifteen years later, Hackett served as the American delegate to the third Pan-American Institute of Geography and History in Lima, Peru. He also served on a preparation committee for the Seventh American Scientific Congress held in Mexico in 1932.

Charles Wilson Hackett's career came to an end on February 26th, 1951, when he passed away in his home in Austin, Texas.

From the guide to the Charles W. Hackett Papers 2010-22., 1911-1985 (bulk 1911-1950), (Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin)