Franklin Madis is a Duncanville, Texas, businessman and an active collector of books and manuscripts pertaining to Mexico and Texas, stamps, Amerindian artifacts, and other collectibles. Since 1952, Mr. Madis has been collecting materials relating to extraordinarily rich and diverse collection.

Franklin Madis was born in 1934 in Madison, Wisconsin. He spent most of his youth in the state, graduating from Madison East High School in 1952. Franklin acquired an abiding interest n Mexico when he accompanied his family to Monterrey shortly after he graduated. The Madises were contemplating purchasing a ranch there and, as a result, lived in the country for a year. Though Franklin wanted to stay, the family decided not to take up ranching there and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite the family’s decision, Franklin began traveling n Mexico regularly, buying antiques to sell in the United States. On one of his trips to Monterrey, he met Estela Lozano, the woman he would eventually marry in 1965.

During the 1950s and first half of the 1960s, Madis held a number of different jobs, including serving a stint in the Army, selling antiques, publishing a magazine for antique arms enthusiasts entitled Collector-Dealer, and selling seed to farmers in Wisconsin. After he married, he and his wife lived in Dallas, where he operated the Great Southwest Coin Exchange. In 1966, he started Eagle Fabric, a wholesale fabric house in Duncanville, a Dallas suburb. Madis continues to operate his fabric business today. The Madises have one daughter, who is married and lives in Arlington, Texas.

Madis began collecting Mexican documents and manuscripts in 1952 and to date has not stopped. Mrs. Madis’ background, coupled with his interest in Mexico and its history, has afforded he and his wife the opportunity to travel extensively and collect aggressively. Many of the items in the Madis Collection have come from individuals and families in Mexico and the United States, as well as from book and manuscript dealers in both countries.

Though Mr. Madis has never had a clearly articulated collecting plan, he has acquired manuscript items which reflect the government, politics, legal aspects, religious affairs, and social life of Northern Mexico and Southern Texas. Not only a collector, Mr. Madis has spent long hours studying the history of Mexico and reading (and even translating) the manuscript materials in his collection.