(This R.H Wallis Photo was taken in 1879 and features the law office building of Jerry Galvan of E. Levee St. which Bronsvil Estacion says may have been on corner of 12th St. Left to right are 1) Jerry Galvan 2) Ed Dougherty 3) John Brown, 4) "Smithwick", 5) Brownsville, Texas mayor Thomas Carson, 6) Pepe Webb (maybe be nicknamed or related to Joseph Webb who owned E 13th Galeria 409 and 7) Victor Natus who was probably related to Frank Natus who was the only fatality during the 1906 Brownsville Raid. Thomas Carson was mayor from 1879-1904.)
(In this 1879 Wallis photo, 1) Jas. Browne 2) Spud Murphy 3) Porter Blacksmith 4) Simon Celaya and 5) Jose Tiga(?) stand on the corner of the first Cameron County Courthouse. Celaya is credited with building the narrow-gauge railroad to Point Isabel.)
Wallis photo of Putegnat Drug Store at 13th and Elizabeth. Note mortar and pestle.
A Wallis photo from 1865 of the original St. Josephs Academy on Elizabrth Street.
A Wallis photo of Willman's Grocery whose owner was once mayor of Brownsville.
By Juan Montoya
In June 2008, Cheryl Hollis Shepherd, of Knoxville, Tenn., – the great-grand-daughter of Joseph F. Cummings, superintendent of Public Schools at Brownsville from 1888 to 1898; Inspector of Customs from 1899 to 1900, and proprietor and editor of the Brownsville News to 1902 – thought she'd gift the city 12 original photographs by R.H. Wallis, a Cummings contemporary.
Toward that end, she called the Brownsville Historical Association as asked if they were interested in accepting the photographs that had been in her family for generations.
The only conditions she set was that they "be properly displayed to the public for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Brownsville to view these truly historical items."
Wallis, a pioneer photographer in south Texas to follow Louis de Planque, took many photos of Brownsville, during the 1860 and 1870s.
Very few of his photos are known to exist. He also photographed other buildings downtown including Market Square and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico right across the border.
Then-curator Jessica Villescaz and BHA Director Priscilla Rodriguez agreed with Shepherd's conditions and the photos were sent to the BHA. They also said they would acknowledge receipt of the historical photos and would be displayed "at all times" to the public and preserved for future generations."
That was prior to June 2008, before she sent the photos.
In August, November and December, Shepherd called Villescaz and found out that none of the conditions she set for her gift had been met and he told her she "did not understand how museums work."
She then received a letter from then-BHA Director Priscilla Rodriguez informing her that only the board could return the photos and sent her two undated letters from Villescaz, who was no longer at the BHA, acknowledging the recipt of the photos.
At the time, the city had received a federal grant to exhibit historical photos of the city with enlarged photos, including some of the ones donated by Shepherd, and Rodriguez and the BHS board decided this put them in compliance with the donor's conditions and left it at that.
A later BHA director - Tara Putegnat - told a former BHA member the organization would not return the photos and that the reason that Shepherd was upset was because she had found out "that they are worth a lot of money."
And what about the enlargements? With the monies from the federal grant running out, the placement of the photos stopped.
Today, the cracked and peeled enlargements constitute an eyesore in the middle of the downtown area. (See graphics at right. Click to enlarge.)
None of these images are on display to the public as the donor required.
Shepherd, in a February 2009 letter to the BHA, demand the return of her family's photographs.
"It is regrettable that an organization dedicated to the preservation of historical material, such as the BHA, has totally ignored the reasons for its own existence," she wrote. "The purpose of the BHA should be to preserve, display and above all provide the citizens an opportunity to learn of its past to provide for all future generation to learn of Brownsville's rich historical past."
She then offered to reimburse the BHA any postal or handling charges associated with the photographs' return. She also hinted at possible legal action if they were not returned.
And so the matters stand until today. The photos remain (we assume) somewhere in the dark vaults of the Market Square Resource Center, inaccessible to the public, and the enlargement of at least one, peeling and cracked on a brick wall almost unrecognizable.