Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 1984 Page: FRONT COVER
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NOTES
VOL. VIII, NO, 3
SPRING 1984
Texana and Texans:
Famous and InfamousWhat do a 1587 world map, a letter from the celebrated
actress Lily Langtry, a Kelsey two dollar currency note, and
"Swartwouting" have in common? They are all associated
with the Texana Collection of Mr. and Mrs. L. Cletus Brown, Jr.
of Brookshire, Texas.
Native Texans, the Browns began seriously collecting
Texana in the early 1970's. Cletus Brown notes that "often
items get lost in family attics for 150 years. . . . I felt they
could be better preserved in a public institution where they
would be properly cared for and displayed." On Sunday,
March 4, 1984, as part of the Texas Independence Day
festivities, the Museum will officially open the Showers-Brown
Texana exhibit highlighting this collection, which extends over
five centuries and a variety of mediums - art, sculpture,
documents, and other artifacts.
Several excellent maps are contained in the exhibit,
beginning with the 1587 Typus Orbis Terrarum by Abraham
Ortelius, a Flemish map collector and publisher. This world
map was included in Ortelius' compilation considered to be
the first modern atlas. Perhaps of more interest to Texans is
Stephen F. Austin's 1840 Map of Texas. Used to encourage
immigration to Texas and to fulfill a promise to the Mexican
government to produce a detailed map, Austin's map was
first printed in 1830 and, because of its popularity, was
reissued five times before 1840. An 1847 edition of John
Disturnell's Mapa De Los Estados Unidos De Mejico is also
on exhibit. A prolific publisher of handbooks, maps, gazettes,
and guidebooks, Disturnell capitalized on the demand for
information generated by the popular interest in the Mexican-
American War by issuing twenty-three editions of this map
over twelve years. Because of its ready availability, the map
was used during the peace negotiations of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American War.
Cattle have been part of the Texas landscape since
their introduction in the New World by the Spanish. Within
the exhibit, the "Texas Longhorn Bull" bronze sculpture by
K. R. Hamorszky embodies this association. By 1845 overI
"Texas Longhorn Bull"
300,000 cattle were running wild in Texas. The Longhorn was
a rangy breed, able to survive off brush and prickly pear.
Initially they were sold mainly for their tallow and hides and
not as meat. In the days of the open range a rancher simply
branded or marked cattle to claim them and drove them to
market. The heyday of open range ranching and trail drives to
cattle markets came after the Civil War when Americans began
preferring beef to pork. A quarter of a century later, with the
fencing of the open range and improved breeding techniques,
both the Longhorn and the cowboy culture it reflected would
be almost extinct.
The Showers-Brown Texana Collection presents a
variety of documents pertaining to the cattle industry. The
fencing in of the "open range" tradition had a tremendous
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Star of the Republic Museum (Washington, Tex.). Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 1984, periodical, Spring 1984; Washington, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1623781/m1/1/: accessed May 31, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.