Orientation Gallery

Rare Documents

Maps

Artworks

Historical Objects

Your Adventure Begins…

The Orientation Gallery is where your adventure begins. This room, with a portrait of Stephen F. Austin which morphs into J.P. Bryan for an introductory video, highlights the history of the American West though its indigenous people, Spanish colonization, the Republic of Texas, the Civil War, the Storm of 1900, and the Mexican Revolution. A life-size statue of Bernardo de Galvez, dressed in his Louisiana governor’s uniform, pays tribute in the room, in honor of the man for whom the island is named. Artwork by Julius Stockfleth and Frank Reaugh reinforces that Galveston is truly where the sea meets the West.

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Republic of Texas Consulate at Amsterdam Seal

Brass seal for the charge d'affaires from the Republic of Texas to Amsterdam. Seal bearing engraving: "Republic of Texas Consulate at Amsterdam" as outermost ring with two demilune laurel wreaths and central five-point Texas star. With turned wooden (walnut or mahogany) handle with bulbous end. Seal with disk-shaped wooden box with imprint of seal impressed on red hardened wax (eight-sided) with paper backing. Wooden box with interior paper label: "Arms found & Painted on Vellum - Regimental & Livery Buttons Visiting & Complimentary Cards, Books, Plates, &c." (all within two concentric circles). "Huntly / Seal Engraver / & Gold Seal Maker / 74. New Bond St. / Nr. Oxford Strt. / London" in the center. Bottom half of round box with thin paper cushion.

17th-18th Century Spanish Silver Cruciform Stirrup

Features Moorish influences in the metal work design, made of silver, and in the shape of a cross. Used by conquistadors and early colonizers of the New World. One source says used widely between 1650 and 1775, when they were outlawed by the Catholic Church as sacrilegious.