This week, we learned a bit about Charles Franklin “Frank” Reaugh (pronounced ray), the cat outside our marketing office and also the Texan artist known for immortalizing the imagery of Texan cattle. Born in Jacksonville, Illinois in December of 1860, Frank Reaugh moved to Terrell, a town near Dallas, Texas at the age of 15....
If you saw the episode this week you know we discussed how Texas played a major role in the Civil War. 60,000 to 70,000 Texans served in either state or Confederate units, of which 20-25% lost their lives in the process. More than half of these deaths were caused by diseases contracted while living in...
This week we talked about the iconic Stelzig saddle company. Here’s a brief rundown: Austrian immigrant Antone Stelzig and his wife Theresa arrived in Galveston in 1843, quickly setting up a system where the couple – 19 and 16 respectively – would travel by ox-drawn cart from ranch to ranch offering on-site leather work. Now,...
This week we talked about the history of the cattle drive. Cattle drives were common in the late 1800s, when cowboys would herd their cattle west, to places like Abilene, Kansas (a major hub), Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, or even Montana. From these Midwestern cities, the cattle would be shipped off to the Northeast and...
Here’s a lovely poem from our second week of Summer Camp at The Bryan Museum about the main character of today’s blog post. It’s an ‘I Am’ poem, a form which the campers were taught in one of several writing lessons. I am brave and adventurous.I wonder if the New World will ever be conquered. I...
This week we spoke about the huge mission bell in the Spanish Colonial Gallery and its significance in the mission system which spanned across the Southwestern United States. Mission bells were cast in two bronze parts – the ‘core’ inner mold and the ‘cope’ outer mold. The method of production led to each bell having...
Did you listen in on our TikTok talk about the work of craftsmen in Tunstall, Staffordshire England? It’s a line of historical dinnerware commemorating the Texas Revolution and the US-Mexican War called “Texian Campaigne”. It’s one of the most sought-after Staffordshire patterns to this day. The potters used six colors: blue (the most common), brown,...
