Virginia Garrett
Summer 2012 · Comment ·
Distinguished philanthropist, noted map collector, and longtime UT Arlington supporter Virginia Garrett died April 21 in Fort Worth. She was 91. Over several decades, Ms. Garrett amassed a collection that included 375 atlases and 900 maps, dating from the 1500s until 1900 and reported to be one of the largest collections of its type in private hands. Not only were she and her husband, the late Jenkins Garrett, zealous collectors, they were also generous and selfless benefactors. Together, they accumulated one of the state’s most comprehensive collections of Texas historical artifacts, focusing on Texas and the U.S. War with Mexico, 1846–48. They donated the collection to UT Arlington in 1974. The initial donation spanned more than 10,000 items, including books, broadsides, newspapers, graphics, manuscripts, sheet music, currency, and historical materials in other formats. The also donated Ms. Garrett’s atlas and map collections to the UT Arlington Library’s Special Collections, making it a research center for those interested in studying the history of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico region. Today the Jenkins Garrett Library and the Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library comprise two integral parts of Special Collections. UT Arlington has built on these gifts by adding undergraduate and graduate classes in the history of cartography, discovery, and exploration; creating the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies; starting a Ph.D. program in transatlantic history; and sponsoring the biennial Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography. A founding member of the Texas Map Society and the principal advocate for its creation, Ms. Garrett was a longtime member of the Texas State Historical Association and Friends of the UT Arlington Library, among other organizations.
