The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987 Page: 299
492 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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General Land Office Seals
seals. Direct evidence of the resumption of patent issuance and, there-
fore, of the arrival of the seal is not found until August, 1844.8
The new seal did not prove everything Ward had hoped for, how-
ever. The commissioner complained to Torrey and Brothers that the
cost, fifty dollars, came as a surprise, "as you informed me that $50-was
too high a price for the seals procured for me by Mr. Wm. Bryan." He
also complained that pins in the seals were made of such inferior iron
that they were broken within the month. Ward had the final laugh,
however, for in the same letter he informed the merchants that the ap-
propriation for contingent expenses had run out and they would have
to wait for their money until the next session of Congress.19
This second seal of the General Land Office, its device consisting of a
cotton plant, plough, scythe, sheaf of wheat, and meridian sun, served
until 1986. In mid-1844, when it first went into use, the seal read "Re-
public of Texas-General Land Office." Soon after annexation a new
die was cast with the words "The State of Texas" the only alteration to
the seal.20 The new state legislature recognized the validity of both the
buffalo seal and Ward's seal on April 29, 1846, when it legalized all
documents embossed with either seal.2'
On March 25, 1986, Commissioner Garry Mauro introduced a new
seal for the Land Office. In commemoration of the Texas Sesquicenten-
nial, the new seal replaces the agricultural theme of the old seal with
a design representing the agency's contemporary land and resource
management responsibilities. The new seal depicts a bison in front of a
fish-eye view of mountains, plateaus, prairies, bays, barrier islands, and
the Gulf of Mexico, all part of the 22.5 million acres of state land ad-
ministered by the Texas General Land Office. The return to the bison
motif found in the first seal, according to Commissioner Mauro, "sym-
bolizes the General Land Office's commitment to protecting Texas' pub-
lic lands and the important role played by the General Land Office
throughout Texas history."22
"8Ward to Messrs. Torrey and Brothers, Mar. 19, 1844, Letters Sent, vol. 3 (GLO); Ward to
J. B. Shaw, Mar. 19, 1844, ibid.; Ward to Torrey and Brothers, Mar. 28, 1844, ibid.; Ward to
George H. Bringhurst, Aug. 3, 1844, ibid.
19Ward to Torrey and Brothers, Oct. 8, 1844, ibid.
20The earliest use of the modern seal with the inscription "Republic of Texas" is found in the
Spanish Collection, on a copy of a title issued to Vicente Padilla dated April 24, 1846. The first
modern seal bearing the words "The State of Texas" found in the Land Office is in the Transla-
tions Collection: "Translation of the original title of Wilson Ewing for one legua of land in the
vicinity of Trinity River."
21 "An act to legalize the several seals heretofore issued by the commissioner of the General
Land Office," Apr. 29, 1846, Gammel (comp.), Laws of Texas, II, 1,457-1,458.
22,"Mauro: New Seal Signals New Direction for General Land Office," News Release, Mar. 25,
1986 (GLO).299
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987, periodical, 1986/1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117152/m1/352/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.