DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Houston Public Library — and friend, this one's got more layers than a good brisket. Now, Houston was barely ten years old — founded in 1836 — and already the city was bustling. That's just the kind of place it was from the jump.
Come the 1840s, the city's professionals were gathering in debating societies, talking through every topic they could wrangle. And to give those debates some ammunition, they created the Houston Circulating Library. Reference materials for arguments.
Sounds about right for Texas. By 1854, they took it a step further and organized something called the Houston Lyceum. Three years on, by 1857, the Lyceum had nearly 800 books in its collection.
Now — and here's where I'll let the history speak plainly — membership was limited to white, dues-paying males. That's who held the keys to those shelves. Thirty years passed.
Thirty years, and the collection had grown past 2,400 books. And in 1887, the Lyceum opened its membership to women. Those women did not take that opportunity lightly.
For the next several years, the women members became persistent advocates for something bigger — a public facility. A library for more than just the dues-paying crowd. By 1895, the Lyceum was offering limited access to non-member adults.
The year after that, local high school students could walk through the door. And in 1899, Houston's city council appropriated money to maintain a free library. The walls were finally coming down.
Now here's where two women step into the story and change everything. Mrs. W.
E. Kendall and Mamie Gearing of the Houston Woman's Club sat down and wrote a letter — just a letter — to a philanthropist by the name of Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie came back with an offer of fifty thousand dollars for a building.
Fifty thousand dollars. Local organizations, including what had by then become the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library Association, along with private citizens and businesses, raised the money to buy a site at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Travis Street. The city brought in the Martin and Moodie Company to design and build it.
And on March 2, 1904, the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library opened its doors. But the story doesn't stop at the ribbon cutting. Under the direction of Julia Ideson — city librarian from 1903 all the way to 1945 — the library grew into something that would've made those old debating society men drop their notes.
Ideson expanded services to include several branches and a bookmobile. She oversaw construction in 1926 of a larger central facility, one that was later named in her honor. Her successors carried that work forward, building one of the nation's largest cities a library system with books and programs spread across a variety of locations and languages.
All of it — every branch, every bookmobile, every book in a language someone needed — traces back to a debating society, a letter, and people who understood that a city's books belong to its people.
What the marker says
Within 10 years of its founding in 1836, Houston was a bustling city. Throughout the 1840s, the city's professionals came together in debating societies to discuss a variety of topics. They created the Houston Circulating Library to provide reference materials for their debates. In 1854, they organized the Houston Lyceum. By 1857, the group, which was limited to white, dues-paying males, had almost 800 books in its collection. In 1887, 30 years later and with more than 2,400 books, the Lyceum opened its membership to women. For the next several years, the women members proved to be persistent advocates for creating a public facility. By 1895, the Lyceum provided limited access to non-member adults of Houston. The following year, the library became available to local high school students. In 1899, Houston's city council appropriated money to maintain a free library. Mrs. W. E. Kendall and Mamie Gearing of the Houston Woman's Club wrote a letter to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who offered $50,000 for a building. Local organizations, including what had become the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library Association, as well as private citizens and businesses, raised money to purchase a site at the corner of McKinney Avenue and Travis Street. The city hired Martin and Moodie Company to design and build the new library, which opened on March 2, 1904 as the Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library. Under the direction of Julia Ideson, city librarian from 1903 to 1945, the library expanded its services to include several branches and a bookmobile. Ideson oversaw construction in 1926 of a larger central facility, later named in her honor. Her successors continued her work, providing one of the nation's largest cities with books and programs in a variety of locations and languages. (2004)