Unburied Treasure

The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new exhibition.

by Danielle Lopez

Three men lean against the walls of the Alamo in 1849. There are no tourists, no green lawn, and no Texas flag like there is today — not even the iconic arch exists yet. The Lone Star State is still recovering from the Battle of the Alamo 13 years earlier, and the building is crumbling, its land is dry, and there’s little life in sight.

It’s then that an onlooker stands just a few yards away. With a 19th-century camera in hand, he captures the scene, creating what is now considered the earliest dateable snapshot of Texas.

Today, the light-sensitive daguerreotype, an early type of photograph, rests safely in a small leather case and belongs to UT’s Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, procured by former Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe himself who used his own money to purchase it. “Janey, don’t you think we need to rescue this photograph from the Yankees?” he once said to his wife.

The image is just one of the Briscoe Center’s most treasured artifacts, each with their own rich history. Through Jan. 16, more than 50 of these items will be featured in the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum for the Briscoe Center’s latest exhibit 25 Years/25 Treasures, celebrating the institution’s 25th anniversary and the university’s century-long commitment to collecting.

From the oldest historical account of Texas by Cabeza de Vaca in 1955 to a hard drive containing KUT’s oral history of the UT Tower shooting, the artifacts make up an immersive timeline outlining how the United States, and especially Texas, came to be.

Scroll down for a preview of the exhibit.

The exhibit begins with the second edition of de Vaca’s “La Relacion y comentarios,” in which he describes landing in Florida, navigating the Gulf of Mexico, and traveling through Texas. On display next to the little worn book is a map from 1703 that shows Texas before Texas was even a concept.

In 1769, just a few years after the U.S. created the Declaration of Independence, President George Washington wrote this letter addressing the murders of three Native Americans. He didn’t want word to get out, fearing it would sour relations between the white settlers and neighboring tribes.

Most of Texas’ tumultuous history with sovereignty is on display, including one of the few surviving copies of the 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence, marking the state’s independence from Mexico. Shown above is U.S. President James K. Polk’s signed authorization of the annexation of Texas in 1845. The exhibit also features the Texas Ordinance of Secession that officially separated Texas from the U.S. in 1861.

Robert Trout was an American broadcast news reporter for CBS Radio, most widely known for his work during WWII. These are his notes on Adolf Hitler’s meeting with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on Sept. 22, 1938.

Not all items on display are politically oriented. Here legendary blues artist Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter writes from prison to folklorist John Lomax in 1934. Just a year before, Lomax had “discovered” and recorded Ledbetter at the Louisiana State Penitentiary and they went on to record hundreds of songs together.

Alabama-born journalist Charles Moore was an iconic photographer of the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960s. His photo on display shows demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama huddled in a doorway, seeking shelter from a hose in 1963. The water was coming out at a force of 100 pounds per square inch. The notes in red ink belonged to Moore himself.

Photos courtesy of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.