Exhibits
New Artifacts
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum was founded as a non-collecting institution. Since opening in 2001, Museum exhibits on three floors have
showcased over 2,000 historical objects on loan from more than 400 museums, libraries, archives, and individuals. With their support, we bring The Story of Texas to life through the ongoing process of changing historical objects in the permanent exhibits as loans are returned and new loans are received. This means that there
is always something new for you to see at the Museum!
Here are a few of the objects that we've recently added to our exhibits:
Lydia Mendoza (1916-2007) released this recording, Para Que Te Quiero Tanto, which means "Why Do I Love You So Much," during the 1940s. The Houston-born Mendoza is considered by many to be the Queen of Tejano music. She learned to play stringed instruments from her mother and grandmother.
Her music embodied much of the migrant lifestyle of Mexican Americans during the twentieth century. Mendoza's family was from northern Mexico. Because of her father's jobs with the Mexican national railroad and the Carta Blanca Brewery, they moved several times between Mexico and south Texas during her youth.
Mendoza was still a girl in Monterrey when she learned the song that would become her signature number for much of her career. She collected chewing gum wrappers that had song lyrics printed on them. When her father took her to a concert in Monterrey she was able to put a tune to a set of lyrics she liked called Mal hombre. The family would eventually began performing as La Familia Mendoza in the late 1920s, with Lydia on mandolin, passing the hat in restaurants and shops up and down the border until they had saved enough money to reestablish themselves permanently in the United States in 1927.
In 1928 she made her first recordings for Okeh Records in San Antonio. Her career spanned seven decades, from the 1920s through the 1980s and included more than 1,200 recordings.
Para Que Te Quiero Tanto 78 RPM, ca. 1940s
78 RPM courtesy of Bill McClung, Vulverde
Photo of Lydia Mendoza courtesy of Ramón Hernandez, San Antonio
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until October 2010.
Slave owner John McKamey Wilson arrived in Texas from Missouri in 1856. He was interested in producing stoneware pottery to improve food preservation. Wilson trained his slaves to become potters, as well as to read and write. Wilson Pottery was located in Capote, about 10 miles east of Seguin.
In 1869, three of Wilson's 17 slaves - Hiram, James, and Andrew Wilson - began their own pottery business on land in Capote granted to them by John Wilson. Although this piece is from the Wilson Pottery operated by John Wilson, and thus made by slaves, it is an example of the type of work the freedmen performed at H. Wilson and Company, the business they set up after the Civil War. This jug has a salt-glazed finish, the same type of finish used by H. Wilson and Company.
H. Wilson and Company is believed to be the first Texas business owned and operated by African Americans.
One gallon jug, ca. 1860s
Courtesy of Dr. Gianfranco Spellman, Austin
Displayed on the Museum's second floor until February 2010
This jacket belonged to Sam Pirtle, a member of Company D, Fifth Texas Infantry, part of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Pirtle, 45, enlisted for "the war" on March 28, 1862 at Waverly, in Walker County, Texas. He died less than six months later on September 17, 1862 at the Battle of Sharpsburg (also known as the Battle of Antietam) in Maryland. Sharpsburg was the bloodiest single day of fighting of the Civil War, with both sides suffering a total of 23,000 casualties. It was also the first Civil War battle fought on Northern soil.
This garment is known as a shell jacket because it is short and light. It is made of jean cloth with an 85% wool, 15% cotton blend. It is lined with muslin and the sleeves are lined in cotton. A metallic dye was used to give the jacket its color. Uniforms of this period varied because regular issue uniforms did not become available in the Confederacy until October 1862. Prior to that, soldiers paid for their own material. Sewing societies, working from Confederate-issued patterns, met and sewed the uniforms together.
To learn more about this shell jacket, listen to a podcast with lender Alex McDuffie.
Shell jacket, ca. 1862
Courtesy of Alex McDuffie, Austin
Displayed on the Museum's second floor until July 2010
Chain mail was originally intended as protection just for the neck and shoulders, but in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it developed into a longer tunic to also protect the body. This pattern is known as a "hauberk" and is split up the front and in back to facilitate riding on horseback. It can be dated to the early 16th century because of its riveted links, which indicate earlier fabrication than pressed links. To make riveted links, each individual link must be hammered around a rod, then beaten flat on an anvil. Sections of four to five links were made, then attached to other sections of the same size. This method created chain mail that was especially secure and could withstand sword blows.
This hauberk, crafted in Spain, weighs approximately fifteen pounds. It has remnants of a leather collar, which once had red velvet facing, and was lined around the edges with a leather cord. Typically, this type of chain mail shirt was worn over a gambeson, or padded doublet, for added protection. A tabard, or open-sided tunic, was worn over the hauberk, and displayed the coat of arms of the soldiers' lord or commander.
This type of chain mail shirt was commonly worn by Spanish conquistadors on their entradas into what is now the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was considered easy to wear, as it was much lighter than plate armor and much more flexible. The chain mail on this particular hauberk has several cuts, indicating service in combat.
To learn more about the chain mail shirt, listen to a pod cast with Sam Nesmith, operator of the Texas Museum of Military History in San Antonio, who lent the armor to the Museum.Chain mail shirt, ca. 1520s
Courtesy of the Texas Museum of Military History, San Antonio.
Displayed on the Museum's first floor until April 2011
The Texas Agricultural Extension Service (now called the Texas AgriLife Extension Service) was founded in 1914 and is affiliated with the Texas A&M University System. Its goal since inception has been to provide educational outreach programs and services to Texans. The Extension Service's programs usually center around agricultural technology, food science, and other issues important to the rural community.
The booklet, Greater Rural People By Better Diets From Home Filled Pantries, distributed in 1938, is an example of the outreach undertaken by the Agricultural Extension Service and their extension and demonstration agents. In its pages are recommendations for choosing and providing a healthy diet for families, mostly through home-grown methods. The booklet is based upon a scientific study undertaken by a food economist with the U.S. Bureau of Home Economics, and makes the familiar claim that a healthy diet will contribute to better physical, mental, and emotional health. The booklet includes recommendations for soil-conserving crops that can be fed to livestock to produce healthy dairy products, lean meat, poultry, and eggs. The booklet also recommends new varieties of fruits and vegetables that are scientifically adapted to certain soil and climate types, as well as new equipment with which to treat and raise such crops.
The Agricultural Extension Service endeavored, even in the midst of the Great Depression, to provide Texas families with the information needed to obtain the healthiest diet possible for the smallest cost by encouraging them to raise their own food crops and livestock in a scientifically proven manner.
Booklet, Greater Rural People By Better Diets From Home Filled Pantries, ca. 1938
Courtesy of Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M University System, College Station
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until December 2009
In the 1850s, Friedrich Richard Petri left his native Germany and settled on the Texas frontier. He brought with him a talent for painting and an uninhibited view of his new home. Personally removed from the conflict between settlers and American Indians over land, Petri was unbiased in his depiction of the Plains Indians. He got to know his subjects well and drew them accurately and warmly.
Petri rarely ever recorded the name or tribe of the person he was painting, as is the case for the piece shown here. But even though Plains Indian Warrior in Blue is nameless, his clothing and adornment are detailed--from his hair-pipe breastplate to his seven-foot-long lance to the matching blue paint on his face, hands and blanket. What tribe he belonged to is not certain, but based on Petri's location at the time, it is assumed he was a neighboring Lipan Apache. Apache men often painted their bodies in an individualistic manner, choosing their own symbolic designs and colors.
Friedrich Richard Petri only lived in Texas for six years, but in that time he created an invaluable collection of watercolor images documenting the lives of his neighbors, the Plains Indians.
Plains Indian Warrior in Blue, ca. 1850s
Courtesy of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin.
Displayed on the Museum's first floor until April 2010
Gladys M. Heldman was a prominent figure in the world of women's tennis. Encouraged by her husband, Gladys took up tennis after the birth of their second child. She soon excelled in the sport, becoming the number-one ranked women's tennis player in Texas in the early 1950s and competing at Wimbledon in 1954.
Heldman influenced the sport in other ways too. In June 1953, she published this first issue of World Tennis Magazine, in Houston, Texas. At that time, tennis received little attention from newspapers, magazines, or radio. World Tennis Magazine became the first magazine dedicated to the sport. It reported on matches and featured tennis stories from contributors throughout the world. At the time of publication, a subscription to the magazine cost three dollars a year, all of which went back into the maintenance of the non-profit magazine.
In addition to founding World Tennis Magazine, Heldman is known for founding the Virginia Slims Circuit tournament in 1970. The tournament was created to protest the inequality of women's and men's prize money. Gladys convinced her friend Joe Cullman, then president of Philip Morris, to fund the event. The first tournament was held in Houston, leading the nine original players to become known as the "Houston Nine." The tournament and lawsuit that followed resulted in payout equality between male and female tennis players.
Gladys Heldman was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979.
World Tennis Magazine, Volume I, Issue I, June 1953
Courtesy of Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame, Waco.
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until March 2010
The Glycymeris shell bracelet and Abalone pendants shown here date back to the prehistoric Hohokam American Indians of southern Arizona (300 BCE - 1450 CE). The Hohokam were famous for their trade of shell bracelets, used in ceremonial dances, and pendants, worn for ornamentation, as well as pottery and woven cotton textiles. The Glycymeris shell and Abalone, medium to large edible sea snails, were found near the Gulf of California by Hohokam craftsmen. They then gathered, assembled, and dispersed the finished products throughout the southwestern United States.
Through trade routes, these Hohokam artifacts made their way to Ceremonial Cave in El Paso, Texas. Ceremonial Cave is considered one of the most unusual and interesting archeological sites in Texas. The first official exploration of the cave was in 1928, following many years of looting by treasure hunters. The exact purpose of Ceremonial Cave has not been determined, although evidence has led archaeologists to hypothesize its use as a shrine. Whatever its purpose, it is believed that during a period of 750 years (approximately 700 CE - 1450 CE) many diverse objects were deliberately placed there.
Also found in Ceremonial Cave were the skeletons of a woman and child, prayer sticks, spears, and hundreds of sandals.
Glycymeris shell bracelet, ca. 350 BCE - 1400 CE
Abalone pendants, ca. 350 BCE - 1400 CE
Courtesy of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL),
The University of Texas at Austin
Displayed on the Museum's first floor until February 2010
George C. Willrich came to Texas in 1846 with his wife and children. The Willrich family came from Germany where George Willrich had been a judge in the District of Luneburg. The family settled in Fayette County, where they successfully pursued farming and livestock raising. Like many of the farmers and stock-raisers of the South at the time, the Willrichs owned slaves.
This wooden chair with rawhide seat is located in the first floor dog-trot cabin. Willrich slaves made the chair around 1847. It was not uncommon for slaves to make furniture or other objects for their owner's homes or for their own homes. Their ability to make their own furniture was not only economically efficient for their owners but allowed them to improve the living conditions in their own quarters. One of the most common slave-made objects that we find today are bricks. Examples of other artisan skills that a slave of the time might possess include weaving, shoemaking, tanning, and spinning.
After the Civil War many freed-slaves in Texas started businesses based around these artisan skills, using what they had learned while slaves to start their new lives as free men and women.
Slave-made chair, ca. 1846-47
Courtesy of the Winedale Historical Collection,
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History,
The University of Texas at Austin
Displayed on the Museum's first floor until February 2010
Bob Wills (1905-1975) was born in Limestone County, near Kosse. He learned to play the violin at age eight and performed at his first dance when he was 15. In 1934, Bob and his younger brother Johnnie Lee formed the Texas Playboys in Tulsa. After several stops at radio stations throughout the Southwest, Wills and his band found their first permanent radio home on KVOO in Tulsa. Fine tuning their brand of folk, country, cowboy, jazz, and blues, the band soon emerged as the leader of the genre known as Western Swing music.
This artifact is an extended play RPM because it had two songs per side as opposed to the single song-to-a-side on a typical 45 RPM. San Antonio Rose was originally recorded as an instrumental for Columbia Records in 1938. After Bing Crosby teamed with Wills to record a lyrical version of the song in 1941, its popularity increased. Bob Wills recorded the song as a solo and renamed it New San Antonio Rose. The song made Wills famous.
When he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, Wills joined Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Floyd Cramer, the Everly Brothers, Brenda Lee, Bill Monroe, Sam Phillips, Elvis Presley, Jimmie Rodgers, and Hank Williams as the only inductees in both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame.
Bob Wills extended play (EP) 45 RPM, ca. 1943
Courtesy of Dwight Adair, Austin www.bobwills.com
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until December 2009
The prototype of the first integrated circuit is displayed in the Modern Technology case on the Museum's third floor. Its invention made possible space travel, the development of hearing aids, and improvements in manufacturing, transportation and education. One of those improvements in education is the Speak & Spell, a toy developed by Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.
Created by Paul Breedlove, an engineer with TI, Speak & Spell was the first of a three-part talking educational toy series that also included Speak & Read and Speak & Math. Speak & Spell's computer voice asked its user to spell a certain word. The user typed in the word on its keyboard and received immediate feedback as to whether or not it was spelled correctly. This interactive element proved popular with children and their parents, who were pleased that their children were learning while also being entertained.
The Speak & Spell was sold, with regional variations, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. To try the Speak & Spell, click here
Speak & Spell, ca. 1979
Courtesy of Texas Instruments, Dallas
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until December 2010
One of the most popular visitor stops in the Museum is the third floor postcard wall. This wall features 756 postcards that are changed each November. In addition to the twenty-five hours of research spent selecting the postcards, it takes four workers five hours to install the cards. The postcards depict scenes of county courthouses, schools, city parks, historical landmarks, town sites, and motels from across Texas. It isn't unusual to see Museum visitors from Texas carefully studying the wall, searching for a card representative of their hometown.
Four years ago, the Museum began displaying twenty-two cards with their writing surfaces visible so the public could read them. A majority of these postcards were written more than eighty years ago. The absence of the ZIP code was not a mistake on the senders' part: The ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code was not invented until the 1950s, and only then as a three-digit system devised to help the post office keep up with increased mail volume after World War II. In 1963, the familiar five number ZIP code was introduced. Today, ZIP codes have a 95% compliance rate.
In this postcard, sent from El Paso on April 20, 1913, the writer says, "Am going over in Old Mexico this P.M. among the rebels as they are not doing much fighting now." This could be a reference to the unrest surrounding the actions of Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary who served as the provisional Governor of Chihuahua in northern Mexico from 1913-1914.
Texas Street looking West, El Paso, Texas
One of 756 postcards
Courtesy of the Jenkins Garrett Texas Post Card Collection, ca. 1900-1980,
Special Collections Division, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
Displayed on the Museum's third floor until November 2009
There doesn't seem to be a definitive answer to where the phrase "Everything is bigger in Texas" originated (a Google™ query turns up 868,000 possibilities). But
it may have been during the 1936 Texas Centennial, a celebration attended by
more than six million people.
Although the Associated Advertising Clubs
of America proposed the idea for a centennial celebration on November 6, 1923, it would be more than a decade before the idea was put into motion. Three cities - San Antonio, Houston and Dallas - submitted bids to host the extravaganza. By the time Dallas was awarded the centennial on September 9, 1934, it had less than two years - and no funding plan - to construct and stage the showcase event.
The Texas legislature passed a $3 million appropriation bill in April 1935 (an amount
later matched by the Federal government), less than 14 months before the centennial exposition was set to open. In September 1935, Dallas embarked on one of the largest construction programs in state history. In approximately 10 months, a 185-acre site, encompassing the State Fair of Texas complex, was transformed into a $25 million world's fair. The fair opened on schedule, on June 6, 1936.
Part of the state legislature's funding bill provided for local celebrations (about 250 statewide), the construction of regional museums, restoration of historic structures and a statewide historical marker program that permanently commemorated the event.
The Texas Bi-Centennial is only 28 years away - just image what the state has in store for the 2036 celebration!
Official Souvenir Guide, ca. 1936
James and Lynda Hicks, Florence
On display in the Museum's second floor until June 2010
The Mission Control console was used for testing and simulation at the Johnson Space Center near Houston. Flight directors, engineers, and other NASA specialists sat at different consoles during a mission to monitor the condition of the spacecraft and its astronauts, assisting them with the highly detailed flight plans that were developed for each mission.
The console, which weighs several hundred pounds, has been slightly modified to include an interactive quiz on space program topics including people, industry, inventions, medical, and spacecraft. Visitors also can see inside the console thanks to a Plexiglas panel on top of the unit that reveals an intricate wiring system. The console isn't the only new addition to this area of the Museum's third floor. An astronaut saluting the United States flag on a simulated moon surface is nearby. There is also a lunar sample brought back to Earth by the Apollo XI crew alongside a video of Walter Cronkite's newscast reporting on the historic first moon landing in July 1969.
Mission Control console, ca. 1960s
Courtesy of Cliff Wendel, Austin
On display in the Museum's third floor until August 2012.
Fannie Bruce Shaw of Van Alstyne, Texas, carved this intricate piece, which depicts 100 years of Texas history, into a 4' x 4.5' piece of wood. 
The figures represented in Shaw's portrait include historical icons Stephen F. Austin, Juan Seguin, William B. Travis and Ben Milam. The current Capitol Building appears, as does the 1836 Capitol at Columbia. Also prominent are the six flags of Texas and the state's distinctive outline.
The carving was prominently displayed at the Texas Centennial at Fair Park, Dallas, in 1936.
The idea for a Texas Centennial Celebration to commemorate the Texas Revolution and promote Texas to the world first occurred in Corsicana at a November 6, 1923 meeting of the Advertising Clubs of Texas. A temporary Texas Centennial Commission was appointed on December 28, 1931. In 1932, a constitutional amendment authorizing a centennial celebration and instructing the legislature to make adequate financial provision was proposed and passed. The State Fairgrounds in Dallas hosted the event, which lasted from June 6 through November 29, 1936 and attracted more than 6 million visitors.
Texas Centennial wood carving, ca. 1935
Julianna Hawn Holt and Peter M. Holt, San Antonio
On display in the Museum's second floor until November 2012.
This Texas Star belt plate is similar to the U.S. Army pattern of 1839. It is made of lead-filled stamped brass and the back of the plate has belt hooks shaped like arrows, a common feature during this period.
Although these plates were manufactured in the North, most were seized by Federal authorities in 1861 when shipments to the South were cut off.
Southern blockade-runners may have recaptured these plates during the Civil War. Other types of uniform accoutrements in the Museum's second floor Civil War case include epaulettes, cartridge boxes, powder flasks and revolver holsters.
Belt plate, ca. 1861
Mr. and Mrs. John L. Nau III, Houston
On display in the Museum's second floor until September 2011.
This coffee grinder was part of the
"Farm Mill Series" manufactured by the Charles Parker Company in Meriden, Connecticut.
Farmers used them, as did chuck wagon cooks. The body is made from cast iron and the hopper (top) from tin. The coffee beans were poured into the hopper and ground by turning the handle. This coffee grinder was used in Menard County in Central Texas.
Coffee grinder, ca. 1890s
Frontier Times Museum, Bandera
On display in the Museum's third floor until July 2010.
Skylab was America's first space station and orbital science and engineering laboratory. This cap contained communications gear for Skylab astronauts. It is wired with headphones and two microphones, one for speaking with the ground crew in Huntsville, Alabama and the other for communicating with their fellow astronauts.
NASA launched Skylab into Earth orbit via a Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973. Part of the Apollo space program, Skylab crews carried out numerous of astronomy experiments, eight separate solar experiments and detailed X-ray studies of the Sun.
Another part of Skylab's mission was to complete different experiments in a weightless environment to determine the practical benefits that space can bring to humans. Crew members eventually performed approximately 270 different scientific and engineering investigations using 54 pieces of experimental hardware.
Skylab was an important part of space exploration because it laid the groundwork for future space ventures, such as the International Space Station. Three different three-man crews served on Skylab. Training for the missions took place in Houston and ground control was based in Huntsville, Alabama. The missions lasted 28, 59 and 84 days, for a total of 171 days in space.
"Snoopy" cap, ca. 1970s
United States Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama
On display in the Museum's third floor until March 2010.
The Mexican Army that invaded Texas was a formidable force. Its trained soldiers had many types of weapons at their disposal.
After the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Britain had a large surplus of military supplies, including Baker rifles, Brown Bess muskets and Tower Paget flintlock muskets, swords and bayonets. Engaged in its war for independence from Spain (1810-1821), Mexico was a willing buyer. Many of these weapons continued to be used during the Texas Revolution and into the U.S. War with Mexico (1846-48).
This rifle was first used by Hompesch’s Hussars, a unit of foreign-born troops that served in the British army. It was shortened into a cavalry carbine with the small "o" over the "M" stamped into the stock, and shares elements with the Baker rifle that were manufactured beginning in 1800. This may have been in one of the first groups of surplus rifles purchased by Mexico from Britain.
Cavalry Carbine, ca. 1790s
Shawn Gibson, Graford
On display in the Museum's second floor until May 2010.
Mary Nan West (1925-2001) began a lifetime of service to ranching and agribusiness in 1944 when, at the age of nineteen, she assumed management of the 36,000-acre Rafter S Ranch in Zavala County and owned and managed another ranch in Val Verde County.
West became a staunch supporter of youth education through organizations such as the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and its annual Stock Show and Rodeo, serving as its first woman president and chair of the board.
Recognized for a lifetime of service, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame and the Texas Woman's Hall of Fame.
Little's Boot Company in San Antonio made these Kangaroo skin boots for West.
Founded in 1915 by Lucien Little, the company began as a shoe store serving southwest Texas and first provided working boots for local ranchers and cowboys. By the 1940s, Little's descendants began to make custom and fancy styles.
Custom boots, ca. 1987
Mary West Traylor, Carrizo Springs
On display in the Museum's third floor until February 2010.
The timber industry began to thrive in East Texas during the 1880s, aided by the arrival of railroad lines that made possible shipment of the cut logs.
In the early 1900s, Daniel Webster Martin developed the Martin Grip Hook, a device to assist with loading logs onto a truck. His firm, the Martin Wagon Company made various wagons and other implements for use in the lumber and later, the oil industry. The company was sold to Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company in 1939.
Workers stuck a grip hook into each end of the log. Then, they attached to a chain through the large hole at the end of each grip hook before lifting the log with a crane. The small hole at the bottom of the hook was for a guide chain to steady the log as it was moved.
Martin Grip Hook No. 2, ca. 1940s
Texas Forestry Museum, Lufkin
On display in the Museum's third floor until February 2010.
A silversmith and jeweler, Samuel Bell (1798-1882) was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania. When he was 14 years old, he worked in an arms factory making swords for use in the War of 1812.
He is said to have made a pair of silver spurs for fellow Tennessean Sam Houston, who later wore them at the battle of San Jacinto in April 1836.
Bell served as the Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee (1844-45) before moving to San Antonio, where he opened the first Bell Brothers jewelry store in 1852 on Commerce Street. Bell and his sons David and James made flatware, "Bowie" knives, jewelry and Texas-shaped hat pins for purchase by Civil War soldiers.
Ladle, ca. 1850s
William Hill Land Cattle Company, Houston
On display in the Museum's second floor until December 2009.
After its victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, the Texian army searched the Mexican camp, looking for General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Santa Anna disappeared during the battle and search parties were sent out to find him on the morning of April 22. One search party discovered Santa Anna hiding in the grass dressed as a common soldier.
They did not recognize him until he was addressed as "el presidente" by other Mexican prisoners. During his escape, Santa Anna left behind many of his possessions. Santa Anna used this sterling silver chamber pot, in keeping with his custom of lavish uniform decorations and ornate weapons. Chamber pots were bowl-shaped containers that were used as toilets at night. Most chamber pots from this era were ceramic.
Santa Anna's chamber pot, ca. 1830s
Sam Houston Memorial Museum, Huntsville
On display in the Museum's second floor until July 2010.
Modern cowboy gear builds upon the traditions of the original Spanish — and later — Mexican vaquero culture. Both in the past and today, artisans work in leather, metal and other media crafting saddles, chaps, spurs, hats and other items for both fancy show riding and the needs of everyday working cowboys.
Despite being worn from use, the ornamentation is still evident on these 17th century Estribos de cruz (cross-shaped stirrups). A skull is carved just underneath the top loop. Weighing about four pounds each, these type of stirrups were status symbols and most often used for show riding.
Estribos de cruz (cross-shaped stirrups), 17th c.
Enrique Guerra, San Vicente Ranch, Linn
On display in the Museum's third floor until March 2010.
This Spanish flintlock miquelet pistol (ca. 1750s) came from Catalonia in the southeastern area of Spain, near the Mediterranean Sea. The butt is made of wood from that region. Frontier soldiers used pistols like this example, while stationed at presidios throughout Texas. Soldiers of this period were required to supply their own weapons. The Spanish military first attempted to standardize all of its weapons in 1775.
Spanish flintlock miquelet pistol, ca. 1750s
Courtesy of Jim Jeter, Santa Barbara, California
On display in the Museum's first floor until August 2010.
