Texas General Land Office
Holdings
The Archives of the Texas General Land Office consists of approximately 35.5 million land grant records dating back to 1720 and approximately 80,000 maps, sketches and plat maps of Texas, dating back to 1753.
Digital Collections
To date, the GLO has posted more than 2 million documents and 80,000 maps, sketches and drawings on their own website, only a small portion of which are represented here. Map reproductions are available for purchase from the GLO website: https://historictexasmaps.com/.
Portal Collections
GLO has contributed three collections to the Portal:
Historic County Maps - 926 maps, c. 1838-1939.
The historic county maps are cadastral (land ownership) maps, showing original surveys, usually made by virtue of a land grant, within a particular county in Texas. In many ways these maps represent the foundation of the GLO archival map holdings, as they tie directly into the original land grant documents that are also housed at the GLO. As land was patented by settlers, meaning title was issued from the sovereign government, more surveys were shown on GLO maps. Successive versions of these maps reflect those changes. In short, these maps show the development and expansion as settlement progressed throughout each county in Texas.
Formats represented include manuscripts, lithographs, some early photographs, and blueprints/bluelines. The scale is generally 1 inch to 4000 varas. Most of the maps were compiled and drawn by draftsmen at the GLO. Most are manuscript maps, meaning original hand-drawn works. On many maps, draftsmen drew intricate designs and added whimsically detailed art, adding character to many maps in this collection. Some of the earliest maps were created by District or County Surveyors in Texas, before the GLO began to employ its own draftsmen for this purpose, due to the generally poor quality of maps sent to the GLO by County and District Surveyors. A few maps are lithographs that were privately issued by railroad companies and title companies.
Several well-known individuals worked as draftsman at the GLO and their work is represented here, including the famous short story writer and satirist O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), Texas artist Hermann Lungkwitz, Old Land Office Building architect Conrad C. Stremme and well-known Texas cartographer Charles W. Pressler.
Lorenzo de Zavala Online - 13 items.
The Texas General Land Office contributes select items for the Lorenzo de Zavala Online: Empresario, Statesman and Texas Revolutionary collection. See the Expediente of de Zavala's 1829 colonization contract, as well as correspondence to or from Jose Angel Navarro, Jose Domingo Ugartechea, Jose Maria Falcon, Martin Perfecto de Cos, Stephen F. Austin, Manuel de Mier y Teran, and Ramon Musquiz.
O. Henry Collection - 11 items.
As part of a collaborative project entitled, "William Sydney Porter in Austin: From Surprising Beginnings to the O. Henry Ending," the Texas General Land Office contributes its collection of Ohenryana to the O. Henry Collection. See the Maps of Kent County and Webb county for examples of O. Henry's work at the General Land Office; the Receivera's Memorandum and Roster of Employees for administrative evidence of his work there; newspaper articles and "My Recollections of O. Henry" by later employer and Texas land agent Frank Maddox for interpretations of O.Henry's life in Austin; and Bexar Scrip 2692 and Patent 87, Volume 40-A for inspiration for the short story "Bexar Scrip 2692."
Contact
James Harkins
(512) 463-5277
Address
Texas General Land Office
1700 North. Congress Avenue.
Suite 130
Austin, Texas 78701-1495
URL
https://historictexasmaps.com/At a Glance
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1,366
Items
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6
Types
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5
collections
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14
Decades
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3
Languages
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269
Counties
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17
States
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2
Countries
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1,092,315
Usage
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15 years, 11 months ago
Partner Added
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2 years, 1 month ago
Last Updated
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Cite This Partner
Here is our suggested citation. Consult an appropriate style guide for conformance to specific guidelines.
Texas General Land Office, partner contributing to The Portal to Texas History. University of North Texas Libraries. https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/GLO/ accessed May 22, 2025.
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