Castañeda and the Commission

Initially, Adina de Zavala, granddaughter of Lorenzo de Zavala, historian, and co-founder of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, recommended Castañeda join the Commission. Additionally, de Zavala was the first to promote that the Texas Catholic Historical Society (TCHS) meet during the Texas State Historical Association's annual meeting. Both organizations meeting concurrently is still a tradition of the TCHS today.

With de Zavala's recommendations, Driscoll sent an invitation for Castañeda to join the Commission (see above).

Concurrently, Foik made his own attempts to recruit Castañeda to join as a corresponding member of the Commission. During this time, Castañeda taught Spanish at the College of William and Mary in Virgina.

Castañeda sought a path to return to Texas and accepted a curator position for UT's Genaro Garcia Collection (now the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection) in 1927. In addition to collecting items for the Commission, Castañeda was instrumental with acquiring Latin American collections for UT.

With previous cataloging experience, Castañeda was originally recruited to assist Foik with cataloging items collected by the Commission. Rev. Francis Borgias Steck, O.F.M. was the original writer for the Commission, however due to disagreements over expenses, working style, and slow progress, the Commission sought alternatives. By 1933, the relationship between Steck and Foik soured while the Commission realized they would be unable to produce the final publication before the 1936 Texas Centennial. After lengthy negotiations, the Commission ultimately severed ties with Steck in 1935 and asked Castañeda to complete the first volume’s draft.

Due to the "Steck Affair," both the Commission and Castañeda preferred to craft a contract detailing Castañeda’s new role as historiographer. Although Castañeda was paid for his previous duties with the Commission, a formal contract was not signed.