Anonymous
1910

Cyanotype blueprint map Shaw Ranch Webb County Texas

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Cyanotype map of the Shaw Ranch in Webb County Texas

DESCRIPTION: SOLD

Rare cyanotype or blueprint map of the Shaw Ranch along the Rio Grande River in Webb County, Texas. Date est ca. 1910 (possibly 19th C.). Includes the Huajolote (Guajolote) Ranch and pasture of 24,481 acres (near center), the Antonio Guerra tract of 13,000 acres and the Loza pasture of 15,942 acres.

At lower right a context or key map shows the location of the Shaw Ranch with respect to Texas' boundaries and to the town of San Antonio.

The Shaw ranch was originally the property of Felix Motlow Shaw (1859 - 1908) a trail driver, rancher, and cattleman. Shaw was known as one of two cattlemen who introduced shorthorn bulls to the Carizzo Springs area. After Felix Shaw's death in 1908, Shaw's wife, Florence Terry Shaw, took over and successfully managed the ranch, expanding her holdings to over 100,000 acres.

Remarried, Florence Terry Griswold (1875 – July 7, 1941) was the first woman delegate of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association and for several years the only female delegate. She was a staunch supporter of women's equality, worked as a suffragist for many years and later fought for equal pay for women. Florence T. Griswold is best known as the founder of the Pan-American Round Tables in 1916.

The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.

CREATOR: Anonymous

PUBLICATION DATE: 1910

GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States

BODY OF WATER: Rio Grande River

CONDITION: Good A couple of small rust stains.

COLORING: N/A

ENGRAVER:

SIZE: 11 " x 17 "

ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 10

PRICE: $

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