Mapping American Expansion: The General Land Office and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA)

By: James Harkins, Deputy Director of Archives and Records, Texas General Land Office

I recently had the privilege of attending the Mapping American Expansion seminar at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The experience reinforced two ideas that we at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) understand well: maps are instruments of making history, and, of course, that Texas is at the center of the mapping of America.

I was invited to speak about the Frank and Carol Holcomb Map Collection, which the GLO digitized starting in 2014. After digitization, we worked closely with Frank and Carol to feature their collection alongside many GLO maps at various exhibitions across the state, including Mapping Texas: From Frontier to the Lone Star State and Connecting Texas: 300 Years of Trails, Rails, and Roads. Sponsors for the seminar included Carol Holcomb, in memory of Frank Holcomb, Judy and Jay Lester, and an anonymous map collector in North Carolina.

Photo of James Harkins speaking at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). Presentation called, Landmark Maps of Texas: The Frank and Carol Holcomb Map Collection and the Texas General Land Office. Photo courtesy of Lea Lane, Curator, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts Director, MESDA Summer Institute Old Salem Museums & Gardens

“MESDA does many media-specific seminars throughout the year. One unique aspect of the Map Seminar is that it appeals to specialists in several media and professionals from multiple disciplines,” said Johanna M. Brown, Chief Curator and Director of Collections, Archaeology, and Research at Old Salem Museums & Gardens and The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. “All historians and curators, as well as many scientists, use maps to create context for their research. The confluence of decorative arts specialists, historians, archivists, geologists, geographers, collectors, and dealers made this year’s Map Seminar especially thought-provoking. Frank Holcomb, in whose memory this Seminar was held, was especially appreciative of this kind of multi-disciplinary approach to the study of material culture.”

During my presentation, I discussed how we at the GLO came to know Frank and Carol Holcomb and the relationship that developed over the following decade. I highlighted Frank Holcomb’s posthumously published book, Landmark Maps of Texas, which covers the Holcombs’ extensive map collection. I was honored to be able to contribute the foreword for that publication.

Texas has historically been at the crossroads of North America, situated between the United States and New Spain/Mexico. I explored the consequences of this geographic confluence and how the Texas victory at the Battle of San Jacinto was the “key to the continent” for the United States to “unlock” the West.

A central aspect of my presentation was an examination of how maps often represent political intent etched onto paper before settlement is followed on the ground, using Texas maps from the Holcomb Collection as examples. Stephen F. Austin’s 1830 map, printed by Philadelphia mapmaker Henry Tanner, was used as an “invitation” from Austin to potential settlers in his colony, promoting Texas to the United States. The map was used to entice settlement and investment, grounded in Austin’s personal surveying knowledge.

Photo of James Harkins speaking at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). Presentation called, Landmark Maps of Texas: The Frank and Carol Holcomb Map Collection and the Texas General Land Office. Photo courtesy of Lea Lane, Curator, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts Director, MESDA Summer Institute Old Salem Museums & Gardens

European perceptions of Texas’s credibility and spatial identity were important to its survival as a republic. To that end, I shared two maps featuring opposing views on Texas as an independent republic. John Arrowsmith’s 1841 map carries the notation that Texas was “Recognized as an Independent State by Great Britain” on November 16, 1840. It projects a powerful, territory-rich version of the Republic of Texas at its most extensive boundary, stretching into present-day Colorado and Wyoming. I compared the Arrowsmith map with another London-printed map of the Republic of Texas by Doran Maillard. Maillard not only mapped Texas, but he commented on Texans — in an unflattering manner — giving his work a dual function as a map and social commentary. Though it covered as much area as Arrowsmith’s work, Maillard’s map points out how the Republic’s government only “absolutely” controlled a small portion of the territory that it claimed, mostly along the coastal plains. Maillard argued that, in reality, Native Americans controlled most of the territory in Central and northwestern Texas, while Mexico controlled most of the territory in South Texas.

[left] John Arrowsmith, Map of Texas compiled from surveys recorded in the Land Office of Texas…, 1843, GLO Map #93863; [right] Nicholas Doran Maillard, A New Map of Texas, 1841, GLO Map #93862, Holcomb Map Collection, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.

Other presentations:

• Chet Van Duzer, Board Member of the Lazarus Project, University of Rochester — Map Beasts: Animals on Early Modern Maps
• Ashley Baynton Williams, Author, The Curious Map Book — Southern Engravers and Failed Map Publishing Projects
• Mike Buehler, Owner, Boston Rare Maps — Where the &$%!! Is Polypotamia? (Mapping Proto States in the Early Republic)
• Sabrina Garity, Assistant Director, Moravian Archives for the Southern Province — Oh the Places You Couldn’t Go: Mapping What They Didn’t Know
• Johanna Brown, Chief Curator, Old Salem & MESDA — “…repeated observations of Latitude”: A Different Perspective on James Cook’s 1773 Map of the Province of South Carolina
• Katie McKinney, Curator of Maps and Prints, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation — Preserving and Expanding the Union: The Eagle Map of the United States
• Zack Fleming, the Geography Geek — A Love Letter to Old Maps and Alexander Von Humboldt’s Role in Westward Expansion
• Robert Leath, Executive Director, Edenton Historical Commission — Reflections on Day 1 and the Map Collection at Hayes Farm
• Richard Pegg, Director, The Barry MacLean Map Collection — Highlights of the MacLean Collection
• Rodney Kite-Powell, Director, the Touchton Map Library — The Touchton Map Collection: From Private Possession to Public Asset
• Wes Brown, Independent Scholar — How the Explorations of Pike, Long and the Spanish Put Colorado on the Map
• Dr. Susan Schulten, Professor of History, University of Denver — Westward Expansion, the Secession Crisis, and the Creation of Colorado Territory
• JC McElveen, Independent Scholar, The Sand Creek Massacre and the Colorado War

Photo of GLO GIS Educational Map titled, Missouri Compromise Map of 1820, taken during Katie McKinney’s, Curator of Maps and Prints at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, presentation. McKinney’s presentation was called “Preserving and Expanding the Union: The Eagle Map of the United States.” It was an unexpected and welcome surprise to see a GLO-created map in a presentation by an accomplished scholar and museum professional while visiting North Carolina.

The seminar was an interesting convergence of historians, geographers, archivists, collectors, and museum professionals discussing and debating the complexities of cartography and the role that maps played in shaping the United States. I came away with new colleagues, new conversations to pursue, and a reaffirmed belief that our work in Texas is part of a broader effort to understand how the United States formed through maps, and that Texas is central to the American story.

The event included a map fair featuring several map dealers from around the country. Attendees were able to find original maps for sale to add to their collections. Photo courtesy of Melissa Bertram Manager of MESDA Conferences, Travel & Symposia

I am grateful for the opportunity to engage with others whose work and passion are maps, while sharing highlights from the Holcomb Map Collection and the resources of the Texas General Land Office with a new audience.

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