The Women in Texas Government exhibit, which consists of portraits of women who have served in the Texas legislature, was first displayed in the Capitol Rotunda on Susan B. Anthony Day, 1987. The exhibit originated as a Texas Sesquicentennial project funded at state expense through members of the Women's Legislative Caucus, a group consisting of women House members. In 1994, the exhibit was updated with funding by Patrick M.W. Johnson, Aide to State Representative Senfronia Thompson. Johnson and Kelly Martino of Houston collected new photographs, created, designed, and constructed the updated exhibit. When the exhibit was first shown in 1987, fewer than 75 women had held an elected state office. By 1994 when the exhibit was first updated, more than 100 women had served Texas in an elected state office. Johnson updated the exhibit on several occasions after 1994.
The original exhibit was freestanding with images of women legislators mounted and matted on blue particleboard. To complete the exhibit, eight Texas artists volunteered their time and talent to sketch the portraits of women officeholders whose photographs were unavailable. The artists are Mary Ann Ambray Gonzales, Beauford Anderson, Rosario Azíos, Martha F. Droughton, Rachel Gaitán, Marisa Susan Lobe, Jean Zappe Reese, and Kevin Wilson.
From the guide to the Women in Texas Government Exhibit Collection MS 17., 1931-1995, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)
