{"id":192690,"date":"2025-09-01T23:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T23:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192690\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T23:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T23:37:11","slug":"san-antonios-briscoe-museum-borrows-rare-texas-maps-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192690\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio’s Briscoe Museum borrows rare Texas maps exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio has no shortage of history, but this fall, Briscoe Western Art Museum<\/a> will unfold the past in a whole new way \u2014 through the power of maps. Opening October 3, the museum’s latest exhibit, Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps, brings together 64 original works from one of the most important private map collections in the United States, charting the Lone Star State\u2019s evolution from the 16th century to the modern era.<\/p>\n

On view through January 19, 2026, the exhibition showcases the Yana and Marty Davis Map Collection<\/a>, a treasure trove typically housed at the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University<\/a> in Alpine. <\/p>\n

Painstakingly assembled by Texas businessman and philanthropist Marty Davis and his wife Yana Davis, the maps reveal not only how Texas was drawn over time, but also how it was perceived, claimed, and contested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a collection of this caliber,\u201d said Liz Jackson, President and CEO of the Briscoe Western Art Museum, in a press release. \u201cMaps are more than coordinates and boundaries; they are windows into the people, politics, and possibilities of a place. This exhibition shows how cartography helped shape Texas and how Texas shaped the world\u2019s imagination in return.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanning nearly 500 years from 1548 to 2006, the collection traces the remarkable transformation of the region, beginning with the era of New Spain and moving through Spanish and Mexican Texas, the Republic years, statehood, and into the present. Viewers will encounter everything from maps outlining battle lines to charts sketching out uncharted frontiers, each one a vivid snapshot of a particular moment in time. <\/p>\n

Produced by prominent European, Mexican, and American mapmakers, the documents combine meticulous precision with poetic flair. Mountains, rivers, and plains stretch across parchment with a mix of imagination and detail, guiding explorers and settlers while shaping the identity of the land itself.<\/p>\n

The exhibition\u2019s title nods to the phrase \u201cGTT\u201d \u2014 short for \u201cGone to Texas,” a common inscription left by 19th-century migrants who packed up their lives to stake a new future in the Lone Star State. Alongside the Davis Collection, the Briscoe is supplementing the exhibition with artifacts and artworks from its own holdings.<\/p>\n

The pieces add context that illuminates Spanish, Mexican, and Tejano contributions to the state\u2019s complex past. Highlighting the Spanish-language place names that endure to this day and the resilience of communities navigating shifting borders, the show underscores how Mexico\u2019s imprint on the region remains indelible and how Tejano heritage continues to shape Texas culture.<\/p>\n

For most Texans, the Davis Collection has remained out of reach, displayed only in remote Alpine. The Briscoe\u2019s showing marks a rare public presentation, giving San Antonio audiences a chance to explore what Briscoe scholars consider one of the most significant cartographic collections ever assembled.<\/p>\n

Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps runs October 3, 2025, through January 19, 2026, at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, located along the San Antonio River Walk at 210 W. Market St. The museum is open Thursday through Monday, with extended evening hours on Thursdays. Admission is free for children 12 and under and active-duty military.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio has no shortage of history, but this fall, Briscoe Western Art Museum will unfold the past…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,105306,105307,86128,472,6548,8160,16293,7202,7203,105308,358,74337,105309,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,105310],"class_list":{"0":"post-192690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-big-bend","10":"tag-cartography","11":"tag-exhibits","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-maps","14":"tag-museums","15":"tag-river-walk","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-sanantonio","18":"tag-tejano-heritage","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-texas-history","21":"tag-texas-maps","22":"tag-tx","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-yana-and-marty-davis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115131675024325720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}