The History of the Witte

The Witte Beginnings
The Witte - The Formative Years
New Beginnings
Looking to the Future

The Witte Beginnings

The story of the Witte Museum is one of community vision and dedication that created an institution and has sustained it for 80 years. It is the story of men and women from diverse walks of life whose creativity was challenged as they raised funds literally one penny at a time to establish the museum that we still enjoy three quarters of a century later. The Witte Museum has proven as resilient as those who founded it. It has survived the Depression and wars, and in the 21st century remains the most heavily visited of San Antonio's museums.

Ellen Quillin

San Antonio was a modern, thriving town in the early twentieth century, but lacked many of the cultural institutions that marked other great American cities. Notably, there was no public museum. Local residents relied on privately owned exhibits of art and zoological collections to provide them a glimpse of the wonders of the artistic and natural world. Unlike other cities, San Antonio in the early 1900s had no men and women of extravagant wealth to build their cultural institutions. Instead, the Witte Museum was the product of a disparate group of individuals that included the owner of a large natural history collection, H.P. Attwater, prominent clubwomen including Lena McAllister and Ethel Tunstall Drought, and Mayor John Tobin. They were inspired by a local high school teacher, Ellen Schulz, who envisioned a public museum for the enjoyment of all San Antonians.

Ellen Schulz was aware that H.P. Attwater's renowned collection was for sale, and after seeing it in 1922 she became determined to acquire it for San Antonio. By early 1923, schoolchildren were standing on street corners calling, "Spare a dime?" and community leaders had formed an organization they called the San Antonio Museum Association to assist in the effort. Through sales of bluebonnets, cakes and performances of "Peter Pan" and "Los Pastores," the community contributed $6,200 to purchase the Attwater Collection, install it at Main Avenue High School, and open the city's first public museum on October 8, 1923.

Even before the museum opened, Lena McAllister suggested to Schulz that a formal museum be organized and constructed. The idea took hold as the Attwater Collection's popularity inspired other donors and the museum soon outgrew its home. By 1924, Schulz, accompanied by her friend and high school principal, Emma Gutzeit, visited Mayor Tobin to enlist the city's support to build a museum. Though the mayor reportedly first inquired, "What is a museum?" he was eventually converted to the cause. He was even convinced by Ethel Tunstall Drought, president of the San Antonio Art League, that the museum needed a second story where her organization's growing art collection could be displayed. Led by Tobin, the city committed land in San Pedro Park, and on June 22, 1925, approved $25,000 for construction of the building. Ground was broken for the new museum on September 22, 1925, and then, two days later, local businessman Alfred G. Witte died.

Museum advocates and the mayor were not aware that Alfred Witte, in his will dated June 6, 1921, bequeathed $65,000 to the City of San Antonio for construction of a museum of art, science and natural history to be located in Brackenridge Park and named for his parents. Within three weeks of Witte's death, work was halted on the San Pedro Park museum and Mayor Tobin and Park Commissioner Ray Lambert selected a new location at the "third entrance" to Brackenridge Park (today Tuleta Drive) on River Avenue (today Broadway). Architect Robert Ayres shifted building materials to the site, enlarged the museum design to include two wings made possible by Witte's generosity, and construction proceeded. Less than one year later, at a grand community celebration on October 8, 1926, the Witte Memorial Museum opened to the public. Anticipating the future, the San Antonio Express-News remarked, "The Witte Memorial Museum has a great field of service before it." It was the realization of many dreams and the beginning of a long and interesting story.

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The Witte - The Formative Years

It was clear from the time the Witte Museum opened to enthusiastic crowds on October 8, 1926, that its future would be shaped by both the community and the temperament of its director, Ellen Schulz (who married and became Ellen S. Quillin). This would not be a staid and stuffy place, but an eclectic and dynamic center of community learning. Ellen Quillin had achieved her goal, and armed with a $1 a year salary and a $600 a month budget, she set out to sustain her vision.

Visitors flocked to see the Art League's painting collection, the historical costumes and furniture installed by the Conservation Society, and the Attwater natural history collection displayed by the Museum Association along with Indian artifacts, miscellaneous stuffed birds, insects, plants, and minerals. The public also responded with generous donations-from ordinary household objects to a seventy-seven foot-long petrified log to fine paintings.

Though popular, the museum soon ran short of funds, and in spite of increased city funding, Ellen Quillin remained, of necessity, resourceful and frugal. When salaries were reduced, some employees simply moved into the museum. Exhibits were moved aside to make way for dances, barbecues were held on the museum grounds, and there were buggy rides and lectures. The nickles, dimes and quarters from these events kept the doors open, and after a year of operation, the San Antonio Express-News wrote that the museum "has been established admirably as an essential element of the school system and the community cultural life."

When the Great Depression seemed an insurmountable challenge, an unemployed herpetologist appeared at the museum and won the approval of Mrs. Quillin and her board for his unlikely proposal to construct a reptile garden. On opening day, 800 visitors paid 10 cents to see rattlesnakes and alligators corralled near the banks of the San Antonio River. Surprisingly, a rattlesnake fry held in 1934 also proved popular, and the unique fundraiser continued for 16 years. While these non-traditional fundraisers sustained the museum throughout the Depression, more traditional attractions were also introduced.

The grounds became a village when two log cabins were constructed and the Ruiz, Navarro and Twohig houses were moved to the museum. Under the Witte's roof, visitors could glimpse pioneer life in South Texas, marvel at a jenny flyer that soared over displays of butterflies and birds, and view regional paintings and old masters of Europe. Nowhere else in South Texas was there such a display of history, natural history and art. Amongst these exhibits, students of all ages and interests found their home.

School children came by the busload, while adults registered to study at the Museum School of Art under some of the region's finest artists. When the museum was compelled to close the school in the early days of World War II, Marion Koogler McNay suggested its relocation to the grounds of her home where it became known as the Art Institute. Over the years, the Witte could proudly claim to have incubated or substantially assisted other organizations as well. When there were no other venues in the community, the museum welcomed local artists and craftsmen to meet and display and sell their work, giving rise to the Craft Guild and other organizations.

In the 1930s, when money was scarce and the Big Bend was hardly accessible, Ellen Quillin helped supply and staff the Southwest Texas Archaeological Society's pioneering expeditions to the rugged Trans-Pecos region. These efforts attracted both attention and significant gifts, and new galleries were constructed throughout the 1940s and 1950s to accommodate the museum's rapidly expanding ethnographic, historical and art collections.

The Witte celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1951 with new offices and workspace for natural history collections, followed shortly by the construction of a new auditorium. In the mid-1950s, planning began to expand and remodel the Witte Museum beyond Ellen Quillin's early dreams.

When those projects were assured, and after 34 years of unselfish and tireless service, she announced her retirement. All agreed that her service to the community had been extraordinary. Proclaiming October 30, 1960, "Ellen S. Quillin Day," the City Council urged "all lovers of art and culture to join in honoring one who has done so much for San Antonio and who deserves the gratitude of all." A new era would now begin.

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New Beginnings

The new era that began with founding director Ellen Quillin's retirement in 1960 reflected the evolving nature of community museums. Before new plans could be made however, old projects had to be completed. Quillin had worked closely with Richard and Gertrude Friedrich to design an addition that would increase the museum's space by sixty percent and redesign its public face. Visitors arriving at the Friedrich Addition's dedication in November 1960, were greeted by Charles Umlauf's imposing sculptures, "Mother and Child" and "Father and Son."

Until Ellen Quillin's replacement could be found, two acting directors filled the void left by her retirement, one of them Charles Long, her long-time assistant. Dr. Charles Burns, formerly of New York's Museum of Natural History, began his tenure as the Witte's second director on March 1, 1962. Burns' first task was to finish Quillin's remaining projects including the McFarlin Jewel Room, dedicated in November 1961, and the Piper Wing, opened in February 1962. In the McFarlin Room, visitors marveled at a stunning, 49-carat canary diamond until its tragic theft in 1968.

Dr. Burns also renovated exhibits and opened galleries to house the museum's collections of minerals and gems and Asian, Far Eastern, and Philippine objects. Above all, Burns was committed to raising the Witte's status as a regional museum, and initiated work on an exhibit called the "Lone Star Hall of Wildlife and Ecology."

The Witte participated in HemisFair '68 by organizing a popular exhibit that traced the history of transportation, and it remained after the Fair as a satellite facility known as the Witte Confluence Museum (later the Museum of Transportation, operated until 1987). When Burns left San Antonio in February 1970 to become director of the San Diego Natural History Museum, trustees hired former De Young Museum director, Jack McGregor, to conduct a study of the Witte. McGregor was subsequently hired as the museum's new director and used his extensive knowledge of art and decorative arts to set the San Antonio Museum Association on an ambitious course. He modernized the Witte's operations, establishing development and education outreach programs for the first time. In a major change, the San Antonio Art League, one of the museum's founding institutions, left the Witte to become a fully independent organization.

McGregor drew on the Witte's vast collection and the knowledge of its longtime curator, Cecilia Steinfeldt, to organize the acclaimed "Early Texas Furniture and Decorative Arts" exhibit highlighting 19th century artists and craftsmen. He was equally comfortable presenting the groundbreaking exhibit, "Texas Tough," that showcased the state's finest contemporary artists.

When McGregor arrived in San Antonio and was searching for a place to live, he discovered a dilapidated complex on the San Antonio River near downtown that had once housed the old Lone Star Brewery. He quickly decided that the buildings were well suited to an innovative art museum. McGregor captured the imagination of trustees and donors, and almost 10 years later, on March 1, 1981, the Association opened its third facility, the San Antonio Museum of Art. While it was still under construction in the 1970s, the Witte maintained an ambitious schedule of exhibits and programs. The museum's 50th anniversary was celebrated with "San Antonio Is," a look back to the town's rich and diverse past.

Visitors also enjoyed the jewel-like creations of Carl Faberge and artistic treasures from England's Chatsworth. By the time Jack McGregor left the Witte in 1979, remaining as a consultant on the still unfinished Museum of Art, he had created a substantial legacy. With the opening of the Museum of Art, San Antonio Museum Association turned its attention once more to the Witte, and Mark Lane, former director of the Anniston Museum of Natural History, was hired in 1982 to direct the museum. Lane drew on the Witte's archaeological, natural history and historical collections to organize multi-faceted exhibits that encouraged visitor participation. The Witte began its still popular legacy of hands-on activities, gallery theater performances and lectures and special events that carry out exhibit themes. Children and adults alike flocked to see a new generation of exhibits featuring the likes of dinosaurs and sea monsters. The Witte also assembled its own collections in traveling exhibits that were shared with national audiences, such as the acclaimed Thundering Hooves, as well as bringing to South Texas the much anticipated exhibit, American Originals: Treasures from the National Archives, which will be on display during the summer of 2003.

The Museum Association maintained its dual facilities under the direction of Helmuth Naumer, succeeded by E. Laurence Chalmers. However, as the Museum of Art became an established institution and the two museums developed distinct audiences, it was clear that they would eventually separate. The Association that had grown from Ellen Quillin's dream, fostering two strong museums, now made plans for its own dissolution. With careful planning and attention to the museums' missions and audiences, the Association divided its assets, operations, staff and most importantly, its collections, and in 1993, the Witte Museum began the next chapter of its long history as a fully independent institution.

Looking to the Future

The Witte Museum has for 80 years embodied the almost universal goals of museums: to engage the imaginations of young and old and provide encounters with artifacts and information only available in a museum. From the black bear of East Texas to the Egyptian mummy to the cowboy saddle made by hand to the state-of-the-art virtual simulation journey through the Edwards Aquifer, the Witte has offered a look at a still natural world, a window to the world, a glimpse at the tenacity of a pioneering community, and a journey into worlds only high technology can provide.

In 2004, the board of trustees named Marise McDermott President and CEO, and charged her to provide the vision that would make the institution fiscally sound, while meeting the diverse needs of a thriving community and its visitors. The goals of the new Witte Museum of History, Science and Culture are to embrace its venerable history and at the same time show a bold front symbolizing the community’s future. Broadway is a powerful historic roadway, from its origins as River Avenue along which the Spanish Colonial acequias ran, to its current status as a main artery from highways, suburbia to the City of San Antonio. McDermott anticipates that within 10 years, Broadway will be revitalized and become part of the urban center. The Witte Museum’s campus expansion will help ignite this renaissance of Broadway with a major destination entrance at the headwaters of the San Antonio River and its entrance to historic Brackenridge Park.

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