By
David B. Dodson
July, 2025
Over the many decades I have been investigating the history of Pensacola, Florida and other areas of the northern the Gulf Coast, I have had the opportunity to discuss my work, ideas, and hypotheses with many scholars and authors from various academic institutions as well as those who, like myself, have chosen the freedom as independent investigators not bound by traditional dogma.
One such man was Texas historian and rancher Robert S. Weddle1 who wrote many volumes on both the Spanish and French colonial activities around the Southwest and Southeast regions of today’s United States. Writing and asking an historical question on my part led to a decade long communication with Bob, as he preferred I call him. I even had the opportunity to assist him in one of his French research endeavors personally perusing the local archives in La Rochelle, France for one of his last books published in 2010 titled The Wrecking of La Salle’s Ship Aimable and the Trial of Claude Aigron.2
In our many discussions of my research, Bob recognized that with the uncovering of more documents from archives and libraries, both Spanish and French, that more insightful translations could be made of previous documents, which led to a different analysis or conclusion concerning historical events. Bob acknowledged that even his publications needed to be modified if not changed to reflect an updated view. Importantly, he recognized that much of the most recent histories published decades after his first volumes were issued, always seemed to just regurgitate what had already been written utilizing the published volumes as the “sources employed” in lieu of going back to looking at the original documents to verify what had already been put in print, even by renowned university presses.
Recognizing the continuation of these past “mistakes,” Bob wrote that we should make a concerted effort to revisit the original documents with new eyes and a more insightful approach to translations in order to write more precise histories. Bob encouraged me to continue my “revisionist” translations in hopes that others might also do the same in hopes that newer volumes could be published that added to the historical record instead of just repeating it with different titles and book covers.
In essence, Bob called for the rebuilding of the foundation of the historical record with the BEST resources available—not just the latest university press or historical journal publications. Although it would be time-consuming, such action would either substantiate, modify, or change the previously accepted “truths,” which would allow new research to be based more on fact than what might be kindly called “misinterpretation.” In my subsequent discussions with other historians, I refer to his sage advice as “The Bob Weddle Doctrine,” and always try to approach the sources that I use in my research with a keener and questionable eye utilizing this “trust, but verify” approach when possible.
I was able to communicate with Bob for over ten years before he wrote me that an illness would soon take his life, and that he would now say goodbye. He then wished me well in my endeavors.
His limited time now had to be spent with family and securing a good home for all his research materials and extensive microfilm collection of documents from the Spanish and Mexican archives.3
Bob died ten years ago on October 16, 2015 at the age of 94; but we at Contact Archeology Inc. (CAI) try to always remember his Call and utilize it in our archeological evaluations and historical articles, as well as expound it to others involved in other research endeavors; whether it be for an academic publication, a technical archeological report, discerning the proper date of a map in an archive, or even an article in public media outlets.
Much of what we read today is presented as “wishful thinking” without appropriate hard evidence substantiation. Remembering the “Bob Weddle Doctrine” and taking the extra steps of time, expense, verification, and peer review separates wishful thinking from scientific fact.
Footnotes:
1 See https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/weddle-robert-samuel-bob
2 Bob was gracious to recognize my assistance as the last “thank you” in the Forward to his volume.
3 Bob kindly sent his relevant collection of microfilms in care of Dean DeBolt at Special Collections, Pace Library,
University of West Florida so I could have easy access and spend the time perusing all the documents he had
collected. It truly was a magnanimous gestor on his part.