Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives in La Grange Partners with Prestigious Texas Online Archives
The Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives in La Grange is excited to announce its new partnership with the William J. Hill Artisans and Artists Archive. This virtual archive, created by the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, documents the lives, work, and products of Texas artisans and artists through 1900.
Located online at https://texasartisans.mfah.org, the archive functions to facilitate research, understanding, and appreciation of Texas decorative arts, as well as painting, photography, and other media. Bringing together examples from prestigious institutions all over Texas since 2013, the virtual archive is especially helpful now, while many libraries and museums across the state are closed or operating under restricted access during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
With existing entries from the Winedale Historic Complex Collection and the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas, as well as from private collections, Fayette County’s early artists and artisans were already well represented in the Hill Artisans and Artists Archive. However, this new partnership with the Archives in La Grange will provide more complete information about the artists and artisans already featured and introduce many more names and examples to those who study and appreciate Texas’ creators of early furniture, photographs, paintings, textiles and more.
Each entry contains a description, one or more large watermarked photographs, name of artist, place of origin, and the contributing institution, among other things. Users can search the Archive by keyword or browse by occupation, name, county, type of object, or source category. Early entries from the Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives feature nineteenthcentury photographers William Tauch from Schulenburg, Henry Tauch from Fayetteville, Gustav Froelich from Round Top, as well as Conrad Petersen and Will Robinson from La Grange. Willow Springs chair maker Ernst Albrecht and La Grange cabinetmaker Heinrich Harigel are also highlighted.
The Hill Online Archive is continually evolving, with information added regularly. Local FHMA staff members are planning to dramatically increase the Fayette County presence on the site within the next few weeks, with the long-term goal of increasing the number of visitors and contributions to the Fayette Heritage Museum and Archives in La Grange.