1936 marked the centennial of Texas Independence, but Centennial Fever was already sweeping the land in 1934. It seemed everyone was producing “official” Texas Centennial merchandise.
The Centennial Commission warned in newspapers across Texas that it had only given official sanction to one item.
That item was “The Official Centennial Map of Texas,” sold by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, with the understanding that 20% of sales would be forwarded to the commission to fund official celebrations.
But even the story of the official map is a bit of a soap opera. The DRT did not conceive of or produce the map. It was presented to them by oil man J. K. Hughes. And it was not clear he had the right to do so.
The map was conceived by Curtis Pruett, a Dallas maker of displays and museum exhibits, and drawn by several artists under the direction of Dallas adman Guy Cahoon (a mentor of Buck Schiwetz).
Managing the whole map making enterprise was C. M. Burnett, who secured the blessing of the Centennial Committee, hired the gang of artists, and ordered 100,000 copies lithographed by Utter & Evans of Fort Worth. Unfortunately this required money he did not have.
That’s where J. K. Hughes came into the picture. He advanced Burnett the $5800 required to get the job done. A few months later Hughes demanded repayment.
Burnett, who did not yet have any money from the sale of maps, feared he would be arrested for embezzlement, and signed over his copyright to the oil man.
Mr. Burnett had always intended to have the DRT distribute the map. That's why their name is under the title.
Everyone would get their cut and Texans would have a beautiful centennial map to hand on their walls. Sadly for Burnett, he got squeezed out. He later sued Hughes for $125,000, but lost.
Meanwhile the DRT marketed the map as “Texas' colorful history under six flags portrayed by 1100 items on the map.” We have not counted the items on the map, but feel like that's an exaggeration.
Not many of those 100,000 copies have survived. They were printed on acidic paper that became brittle with age.
You won’t have that problem with this faithful reproduction on heavyweight, acid free paper.
Physical Details
- 24 by 18 inches
- Fits in a standard size frame.
- As vibrant as the original, but on better paper.
This is a high quality fine-art print.
The paper is acid free, cold press cotton watercolor with an elegant ever so lightly textured finish. This surface allows the inks to 'bite', reproducing the shading and tonality of the original map vividly, beautifully, and exactly.
The inks are guaranteed color-fast for 80 years, which means you won't need to lay out the extra money for UV glass. You can hang your map in direct sun and it will be just as bright when they are passed on to the next generation it is the day it ships.
It's an instant heirloom. Get yours before they're gone...and get one to give to a friend. He'll owe you!
