SAN ANTONIO — For anyone who loves Texas history, there’s an exhibition on display at a San Antonio museum that showcases 500 years of maps.
The man who collected the maps donated them years ago, keeping his legacy alive. The exhibition is called “Going to Texas: Five Centuries of Texas Maps.”
“This particular collection is extremely rare. It was a very sought-after collection, but it spans 500 years. So it’s five centuries of Texas,” said Liz Jackson. President & CEO of the Briscoe Western Art Museum.
It is a collection that is turning heads, and one that tells the story of the rich history of the Lone Star State.
“Just another way that broadens the story of Texas from the very beginnings, and it goes from the beginning to where we are today,” said Jackson.
A total of 66 maps, dating back centuries. The maps are part of the collection that is on display at the Briscoe Western Museum in downtown San Antonio. And they’re all in one place thanks to one man.
“Marty Davis. Marty Davis was a collector of all things Texas memorabilia wise,” said Matt Walter, former curator for the Museum of Big Bend. Walter knew the map collector, Marty Davis, himself. They ended up creating a long-lasting friendship.
“As soon as I started my job in 2002 is when I met him,” said Walter. “He probably collected these maps for over 40 years. I asked him one day, ‘Marty, how much did you spend on maps?’ and he goes ‘somewhere between $5 and 7 million’,” Walter said.
Walter pointed out some of the more impressive ones. “You get to fall in love with them, taking care of them,” he said. “Here’s a pocket map made by the same by the same cartographer that made Stephen F. Austin’s map. He made it based on 800 pages of notes that Stephen F. Austin sent him.”
He explained what these torn pieces of the illustration really meant.
“More than even a piece of art, these are very period-specific historical documents. You have to look at the year they were made to see what the cartographer is trying to tell us about his vision or her vision of the world,” he said.
Walter said maps have always been important in Texas history, especially when this state became the Republic of Texas. He then showed one of the most valuable in the collection, monetarily.
“It’s probably the rarest or second rarest map in this 66-map collection,” said Walter.
Walter described the price of it, saying, “Marty outbid JP Bryan, one of the richest men in Texas, for this map, and JP Bryan had a self-imposed limit of $1 million, so it was a little more than that.”
Davis passed away in 2019, but with these maps, his legacy lives on. Walter reflects on his friend’s memory.
“Absolutely, he would love it. I actually went to his gravesite yesterday and told him about the show. Lightning didn’t strike me dead, so I think he liked it,” said Walter.
The exhibition will be on display at the Briscoe Western Museum through January 2026.