Witte Museum
The Witte Museum was established in 1926 and is located in Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, Texas. It is dedicated to telling the stories of Texas, from prehistory to the present. The permanent collection features historic artifacts and photographs, Texas art, textiles, dinosaur bones, cave drawings, and Texas wildlife dioramas, in addition to nationally acclaimed traveling exhibits. Artwork in the collection includes sculpture by San Antonio-born Bonnie MacLeary. The Witte Museum is named after San Antonio businessman Alfred G. Witte, who bequeathed $65,000 to the city for construction of a museum of art, science, and natural history to be built in memory of his parents. The first Director of the Witte Museum was Ellen Schulz Quillin. History The catalyst for the Museum was an extensive collection of natural history specimens owned by Henry Philemon Attwater, which San Antonio educator and botanist Ellen Schulz Quillin purchased for the city of San Antonio for $5,000. When the growing collection grew too large for the high school where it was housed, Schulz and her supporters appealed to the city council for funds to build a new museum. With those funds and a $65,000 bequest from Alfred G. Witte, a new building was constructed. Established under the auspices of The San Antonio Museum Association, it was known as the Witte Memorial Museum until 1984, when the name was simplified to the Witte Museum. In addition to natural and historic artifacts, the Witte collection included paintings, sculptures, drawings and other works of art. In 1970, museum director Jack McGregor proposed establishing a separate art museum. In 1972, with the support of several key museum trustees, the San Antonio Museum Association acquired the former Anheuser-Busch brewery, which would be renovated and remodeled. The San Antonio Museum of Art opened to the public on March 1, 1981. The Witte Museum Texas Art Collection focuses on works created by artists living and working in Texas as well as work by artists representing its history and culture. Renovations and additions 1930s: The Witte Museum's support of archeological research in the canyons of Big Bend and the Lower Pecos area resulted in important research findings and a growing collection of artifacts and led to the building of new galleries to house them, as well as a Reptile Garden, which was the vision of founder Ellen Schultz Quillin. The Reptile Garden not only provided a source of revenue for the Museum but provided income to South Texas ranchers and laborers who sold their rattlesnakes and rat snakes to the museums for $0.10-$0.15 per pound. The two log cabins on the property were constructed by participants in President Roosevelt's National Youth Administration program and are frequently used to teach students about pioneer life. 1940s: Two historic San Antonio houses were moved from their original locations to the Witte Museum campus; the limestone home of banker John Twohig, an Irish born pioneer San Antonio merchant, and the plastered stone home of José Francisco Ruiz, who was the city's first schoolmaster and one of