State Archives Makes Scrapbooks Documenting Creation of “Dawn at the Alamo” and “The Battle of San Jacinto” Available
Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has announced a new online exhibit for the Henry Arthur McArdle scrapbooks. Newly re-digitized, the scrapbooks are available to view in the Texas Digital Archive. The finding aid, a written guide to help researchers navigate archival materials, has also been revised and redesigned. View the new McArdle Scrapbooks and Paintings online exhibit at www.tsl.texas.gov/mcardle.
Among McArdle’s best-known surviving works are the large-scale battle paintings, “Dawn at the Alamo” (completed in 1905) and “The Battle of San Jacinto” (1895). Exhaustively researched, the two paintings attempt to reproduce as accurately as possible the people, equipment and settings of the events they portray. McArdle amassed a body of documents, photographs, maps and personal recollections that would later be sold to the state along with the two canvases that now hang in the Texas Senate Chamber and are a part of the Capitol Artwork collection held by the State Preservation Board.
Henry Arthur McArdle was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1836—the same year as the Texas Revolution. At age 14, after the deaths of his parents, he emigrated to the United States with an aunt and settled in Baltimore. He studied at the Maryland Institute for the Promotional of Mechanic Arts and was awarded the prestigious Peabody Prize in 1860. McArdle became interested in Texas history while researching his painting “Lee at the Wilderness.”
Although he had created the two battle paintings with an eye to their being purchased by the state, McArdle had difficulty obtaining payment, even when he allowed them to be displayed in the Capitol. They were not purchased until 19 years after his death on Feb. 16, 1908. In 1927 the 40th Texas Legislature approved $25,000 to purchase both paintings and the accumulated research materials. The scrapbooks include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, maps and reminiscences of battle participants and their relatives, dating from about 1874 to 1929.
TSLAC first digitized the McArdle materials in 2001. This provided access to the scrapbooks online, but due to the technology of the time, the images were limited to only black-and-white and were low resolution. In 2021, the McArdle scrapbooks were imaged on an i2s Quartz A1 Suprascan overhead book scanner. With a built-in cradle, this large scanner allowed the books to lie flat and the full spread of the books to be captured at once. Each page was captured as an uncompressed TIFF color image file at 600 pixels per inch, and lower resolution JPEG color image files are used on the website for efficiency.
State Archives staff decided that the unique qualities of the scrapbooks should be reflected on the website, giving readers the opportunity to page through the book, just as if they were able to sit down with it at the State Archives.
Learn more and view the scrapbooks online at www.tsl.texas.gov/mcardle.
Researchers are invited to visit the State Archives during public service hours: 9:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. Appointments to use archival materials are encouraged but not required. For more information about TSLAC’s library and archives collections, reference services, genealogy resources, exhibits and to plan your visit, see www.tsl.texas.gov/arc.
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Austin, TX – The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has announced a new online exhibit for the Henry Arthur McArdle scrapbooks. Newly re-digitized, the scrapbooks are available to view in the Texas Digital Archive. The finding aid, a written guide to help researchers navigate archival materials, has also been revised and redesigned. View the new McArdle Scrapbooks and Paintings online exhibit at www.tsl.texas.gov/mcardle.
Among McArdle’s best-known surviving works are the large-scale battle paintings, “Dawn at the Alamo” (completed in 1905) and “The Battle of San Jacinto” (1895). Exhaustively researched, the two paintings attempt to reproduce as accurately as possible the people, equipment and settings of the events they portray. McArdle amassed a body of documents, photographs, maps and personal recollections that would later be sold to the state along with the two canvases that now hang in the Texas Senate Chamber and are a part of the Capitol Artwork collection held by the State Preservation Board.
Henry Arthur McArdle was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1836—the same year as the Texas Revolution. At age 14, after the deaths of his parents, he emigrated to the United States with an aunt and settled in Baltimore. He studied at the Maryland Institute for the Promotional of Mechanic Arts and was awarded the prestigious Peabody Prize in 1860. McArdle became interested in Texas history while researching his painting “Lee at the Wilderness.”
Although he had created the two battle paintings with an eye to their being purchased by the state, McArdle had difficulty obtaining payment, even when he allowed them to be displayed in the Capitol. They were not purchased until 19 years after his death on Feb. 16, 1908. In 1927 the 40th Texas Legislature approved $25,000 to purchase both paintings and the accumulated research materials. The scrapbooks include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, maps and reminiscences of battle participants and their relatives, dating from about 1874 to 1929.
TSLAC first digitized the McArdle materials in 2001. This provided access to the scrapbooks online, but due to the technology of the time, the images were limited to only black-and-white and were low resolution. In 2021, the McArdle scrapbooks were imaged on an i2s Quartz A1 Suprascan overhead book scanner. With a built-in cradle, this large scanner allowed the books to lie flat and the full spread of the books to be captured at once. Each page was captured as an uncompressed TIFF color image file at 600 pixels per inch, and lower resolution JPEG color image files are used on the website for efficiency.
State Archives staff decided that the unique qualities of the scrapbooks should be reflected on the website, giving readers the opportunity to page through the book, just as if they were able to sit down with it at the State Archives.
Learn more and view the scrapbooks online at www.tsl.texas.gov/mcardle.
Researchers are invited to visit the State Archives during public service hours: 9:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. Appointments to use archival materials are encouraged but not required. For more information about TSLAC’s library and archives collections, reference services, genealogy resources, exhibits and to plan your visit, see www.tsl.texas.gov/arc.
