Historic map of the Republic of Texas back in official hands

Republic of Texas maps are rare and expensive artifacts from when Texas was its own country.

Flemming’s map, detailed around the time Texas reached what is now Colorado and New Mexico before its borders were redrawn in the Compromise of 1850, is considered a historic prize.

Bush’s office did not disclose the card’s value or how it ended up with the law firm.

“I am thrilled that Carol and Morris McIntyre … have helped us save Texas history by donating this rare map,” Bush said in a statement last week. “The GLO (General Land Office) archives will be the permanent home of this map, where it will be preserved, digitized and made available for study and reproduction.”

Carol McIntyre said she saved the historic map to ensure she “would have a safe, protected and permanent home”.

“I acquired this card during the liquidation of a large law firm in Dallas where I was employed as a paralegal on the liquidation team,” she said in a statement released by the office. Bush. “Throughout my business and legal career, I’ve observed a ‘throw away’ mentality to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change. I learned that historically significant items should be considered at the highest level.

“It is extremely rewarding to place a historic object in the permanent preservation environment where it belongs,” said Carol McIntyre, now retired.

The map shows the northern boundary of Texas extending to the Arkansas River, encompassing territory in the Rocky Mountains and parts of New Mexico, including Santa Fe.

The map appeared both as a separate issue and in some of Flemming’s atlases.

Flemming published his 1842 German edition of a famous 1841 Arrowsmith map at a reduced scale for circulation among the many potential German immigrants to Texas in the mid-1800s, according to Bush.

As a result, the map is sometimes referred to as “The German Arrowsmith” due to the similar cartography.

Arrowsmith’s 1841 map was probably the first to show the full extent of Texas’ claim to the upper Rio Grande, whose northern boundary ended at the Arkansas River.

“Flemming retained Arrowsmith’s sprawling Republic of Texas borders in subsequent editions, even though the border changed with the Compromise of 1850,” Bush said in a statement.

“Flemming even withheld an erroneous statement describing the arid region of West Texas which stated that ‘that tract of country explored by LeGrande in 1833 is naturally fertile, well wooded, and with a fair proportion of water.’… Thirty counties are numbered and identified by a key in the upper right part of the sheet.

Additionally, the Commissioner noted that Flemming followed Arrowsmith’s model for his maps, as there is an inset plan of Galveston Bay at lower left. Flemming’s continental version has the distinction of being among the last maps showing the extended border of the Republic of Texas.

Some sources claim that the map is known to have been published until 1853 without modifications, according to Bush.

The map includes bold outlines of county boundaries. Major cities and towns are labeled, including New Washington, which had been burned down by Mexican forces under Santa Anna in 1836.

Over the past few years, the GLO has received several donated maps, ranging from early North American maps to a large 1854 map of North America to an “incredibly rare 1848 Stephen F. Austin map” of Texas. .

Texas became a state in 1845.

One of the premier cartographic resources from Texas.

Bush said reproductions of the donated Flemming map of Texas are now available for $20 each. All funds raised through sales of map reproductions are directed to the preservation of the GLO archival collection.