J.P. Bryan

HOUSTON, TEXAS–Few collectors have assembled visual riches to rival those of J.P. Bryan, whose single-minded quest for the objects that relay the fabric of Texas history is on view at The Bryan Museum, Galveston, housed in the historic Old Orphans Home, a grand edifice restored by Bryan and wife, Mary Jon Bryan, after purchasing it in 2013. Bryan says of his collection: “It consists of more than 75,000 objects of art, artifacts, and documents which provide a vivid display of the history of the greatest event of all time, the settlement of the American West.” Those vast holdings of Texana and the Western narrative include the original Borden map of Houston, taken from a survey begun October 1, 1836; an 18th-century mother-of-pearl chest from the Spanish Colonial era that once carried a royal land grant; and the Mexican Lancero saddle, circa 1860s, that belonged to Eufemio Zapata, brother of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.

ART:

75,000 objects of art, artifacts, and documents of Texana and the West including Frank Reaugh and Elizabet Ney artworks; original Borden map of Houston surveyed 1836; circa 1860 Mexican Lancero saddle that belonged to Eufemio Zapata, brother of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata; Spanish Colonial mother-of-pearl chest that once carried a royal land grant

CV:

The founder of The Bryan Museum, Galveston, says his collection “provides a vivid display of the history of the greatest event of all times, the settlement of the American West.”

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