New Dolph Briscoe Jr. Exhibit Now on Display at the Briscoe–Garner Museum
Uvalde, Texas—The Briscoe–Garner Museum, a division of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, proudly presents the new permanent exhibit Dolph Briscoe: Texan.
The exhibit is displayed on the refurbished second floor of the Briscoe–Garner Museum, which until now has never been open to the public. The Briscoe exhibit officially opened on Saturday, April 24, 2015.
“I was delighted to join the Briscoe family and members of the Uvalde community to celebrate the opening of this wonderful new exhibit,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “Governor Briscoe is a Texan of national significance, and we will continue to raise awareness of his story while promoting the museum.”
Dolph Briscoe: Texan is organized around key themes in the governor’s life and career, and covers his time as a rancher and family man in Uvalde, his military service in World War II, his key accomplishments while serving as a state representative and later governor of Texas, and his wide-ranging philanthropic activities.
Documents, photographs and objects used in the exhibit are taken from Briscoe’s personal and political papers, which take up over 1,000 linear feet of shelf space at the center’s Research and Collections division on the UT Austin campus. The papers extensively cover his political and business activities. The Briscoe family also generously provided a number of artifacts and personal items to the exhibit.
“We want visitors to better understand the historical significance of Briscoe’s many contributions, all of which improved the lives of his fellow Texans,” said Carleton. “At the heart of his story is what Briscoe called ‘absolute integrity’—a virtue he successfully embodied, in my opinion.”
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The Briscoe–Garner Museum, is dedicated to the remarkable lives of John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner and Dolph Briscoe Jr., both Uvalde legends and historically important Texas politicians. The Briscoe Center is a research unit at UT Austin, which collects, preserves and makes available historical evidence to scholars, students and members of the public. The center is home to the archives of many Texas politicians, including Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, James Stephen Hogg, John Nance Garner, Sam Rayburn, Dolph Briscoe Jr. and Ann Richards.
