Map of the Republic of Texas Donated to Texas General Land Office
Carol and Morris McIntyre of Kerrville donate Carl Flemming’s map of the Republic of Texas
AUSTIN — Commissioner George P. Bush today announced the recent donation of Carl Flemming’s 1844 map of Texas to the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records from Carol and Morris McIntyre of Kerrville.
“I am pleased that Carol and Morris McIntyre have donated this historic map of the Republic of Texas to the Texas General Land Office,” said Commissioner Bush. “Mr. and Mrs. McIntyre have helped us save Texas history by donating this rare map. The GLO Archives will be the permanent home for this map, where it will be conserved, digitized, and made available for study and reproduction. On behalf of the GLO, and the people of Texas, I thank the McIntyre’s for their generous donation.”
“My donation of the ‘Texas’ Flemming map to the Texas General Land Office was made with the desire to share it with others and to have the personal assurance that the map would have a safe, protected, and permanent home at the GLO. I acquired this map in the liquidation of a large Dallas law firm where I was employed as a paralegal on the liquidation team,” said Carol McIntyre. “As a retired Paralegal, I have acquired expertise in oil & gas litigation and corporate/securities regulation. Throughout my business and legal career, I have seen a ‘throw-away’ mentality to keep up with the fast pace of changing technology. I have learned that historically significant items should be given the highest level of consideration. It is extremely rewarding to put a historical item in a permanent preservation environment where it belongs.”
The map appeared both as a separate issue, and in some of Flemming’s atlases. Flemming issued his 1842 German edition of the famous 1841 Arrowsmith map on a reduced scale for dissemination among the many potential German immigrants to Texas in the mid-1800s. As a result, the map is sometimes referred to as the “German Arrowsmith” because of the similar cartography.
Flemming retained Arrowsmith’s sprawling Republic of Texas boundaries through subsequent editions, even though the boundary changed with the Compromise of 1850. Arrowsmith’s 1841 map was probably the first to show the full extent of Texas’s claim to the upper Rio Grande, the northern border of which ended at the Arkansas River. Flemming even retained an erroneous statement describing the arid western region of Texas which stated that “this tract of Country explored by LeGrande in 1833 is naturally fertile, well wooded, and with fair proportion of water” (translated from German). Houston and New Washington are shown on the map, despite New Washington being burned by Santa Anna in 1836. Thirty counties are numbered and identified by a key in the upper right portion of the sheet. Following Arrowsmith’s model, there is an inset plan of Galveston Bay at the lower left. Flemming’s continental version has the distinction of being among the last maps showing the extended Republic boundary. Some sources state that this map is known to have been published up to 1853 without changes.
The Archives of the Texas General Land Office, home to 36 million documents and over 45,000 maps and sketches detailing the history of the public lands of Texas, is one of the premier cartographic resources for Texas. The agency’s goal is to develop the most comprehensive historic Texas map collection in the world and to make it entirely available online. Lacking a significant acquisitions budget, this ambitious objective is reliant upon partnering with history-loving members of the public to grow the collection.
In recent years, the GLO has received several donated maps, including thirteen from the Texana Foundation, highlighted by Humboldt’s Carte General; three North American maps from Ms. Katherine Staat; a large 1854 map of North America from Mr. Roger Defoe; and an incredibly rare 1848 Stephen F. Austin map of Texas from Mr. Thomas B. and Mrs. Marsha Brown Taylor in memory of Harrison K. and Margaret C. Brown, among several others.
“Each individual donation is unique, but they all make a lasting impact on the permanent collection made available to the public,” said Commissioner Bush. “Some donations occurred as a result of individuals and family honoring a loved one, while other donations are the result of Texans wanting to secure a permanent home for a family treasure that had been handed down for generations. Others, like the donation from Mr. and Mrs. McIntyre, happen because there was someone who saved a map from being thrown away or destroyed. In each of these cases, donations of historic maps to the General Land Office are sourced through the generosity of people hoping to Save Texas History.”
Reproductions of the donated Flemming map of Texas are now available for only $20. All funds raised by map reproduction sales are directed toward the conservation of the GLO’s archival collection. Click here to see Flemming’s map of Texas.
If you have a map or a collection that you think would fit within the scope of the GLO’s Archives, we invite you to donate it so that future generations of Texans will be able to appreciate it, and to ensure future protection. Donating a map is a great way to show generosity and Texan pride, preserve the document, and to leave a lasting contribution to the advancement of Texas history knowledge. Your donation will be forever recognized in the description of the map whenever it is accessed in the GLO’s online map database, and in future exhibitions.
If you do not own or have access to historic maps, but would still like to help the GLO grow their map collection, you can donate funds to the Save Texas History Program to help develop the acquisitions budget for the agency. All donations made to the GLO are tax-deductible pursuant to Internal Revenue Code §170(c)(1).
To donate a map, or for more information, please contact Archives staff at archives@glo.texas.gov.
