Sam Houston was in his middle 40s when he met 16-year-old Anna Raguet. Houston was a powerful figure in the war with Mexico for Texas's independence. She was the well educated daughter of a family friend. Anna began giving Houston Spanish lessons, and he immediately fell in love with her.

Unfortunately, Houston was already married to a wife he had left in Tennessee many years earlier. He was also involved in a common-law relationship with a half-Cherokee woman at the time he met Anna. Houston immediately began divorce proceedings, however they were long and complicated. His divorce was not finalized until 1837, five years after he had met Anna, and a year into his first term as president of the Republic of Texas.

Late in their friendship, Houston wrote to Anna asking her to save his letters. She did so, and they passed through her family through the years. Eventually, her descendents realized that the letters were deteriorating and needed more professional care than they could easily provide. They also realized that the letters are a true treasure of the early period of Texas history and wanted them available to the public. Because of this, they donated the letters as the James R. and Ewing B. Irion: Houston - Anna Raguet Papers to the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center has the largest collection of Texana in the world, and is committed to caring for these materials.

Because of this commitment to the materials, the Center has forged a relationship with the Preservation and Conservation Studies program of the School of Information at the University of Texas. Students of conservation perform treatments on important documents that might otherwise be lost due to the wear and tear of years of use. This project documents how conservation treatment improved the condition of one of these important letters.