Bryan Museum shows Texas history in Galveston
This week on abc13’s Dave Ward’s Houston, I visited with Texas oilman J.P. Bryan, founder of the Bryan Museum in Galveston.
Bryan, whose great-great-grandmother is Emily Austin Bryan Perry, Stephen F. Austin’s sister, connects his bloodline to the Perry and Bryan families of Texas.
That tie led him to a love of Texas history. From there, his fascination grew into history he could hold in his hand. As a young child, Bryan acquired a Moore’s Patent Front Loading Revolver and a Sharps Patent Four-Barrel Derringer.
J.P.’s father, James Perry Bryan Sr., also collected Texas maps and other historic items.
Eventually that combined collection spanned seven decades.
So what happens to a collection the size of Texas? You put a museum around it.
In 2015, Perry opened the Bryan Museum in Galveston.
The 20,000 square foot exhibit space now offers a chronological history of Texas and the American West with a special emphasis on the Spanish influences in the region.
The museum is located in the heart of Galveston in a historic site of its own. Before its own historical transformation, the museum’s building on 21st Street served as an orphanage.
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The Bryan Museum
1315 21st Street
Galveston, Texas 77550
(409) 632-7685
https://www.thebryanmuseum.org/
