"I just feel really privileged and honored to be a part of this, part of a library that had the wherewithal and foresight to collect a collection like this, to amass the items we have here," said Laney Chavez, manager of the library's Houston Metropolitan Research Center. Library staffers say it's a chance for Houstonians to see their city in a new light. Because those items are so precious they'll only be on display for an hour, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mayer said they'll bring about 15 items to the Texas Room in the Julia Idelson Building. To help the public learn more about the collection, some items will be put on limited display Thursday evening, September 6. However, they can only stay for two hours at a time. Researchers can make appointments to see the collection. Mayer explained the library allows public access to the rare books room, but it's limited. The oldest item in the collection came from Finnigan, a tiny cuneiform tablet that's believed to date back to 5000 BC. Other rare books came from Annette Finnigan, a businesswoman and women's suffrage advocate who was interested in the history of the written word. He also kept extensive diaries which were also donated to the library. John Milsaps amassed hundreds of books while traveling as an officer with the Salvation Army. Mayer explains that many of their rare books came from two prolific Houston collectors in the early 1900's. It sat alongside a Salvador Dali folio from 1969 that contained fanciful scenes from “Alice in Wonderland.” Mayer showed News 88.7 a small leather-bound book, its pages decorated in gilt and vibrant shades of blue.Īnother item in the collection is a book of hours from the 15th century with hand-painted illustrations. A box on a shelf contains papers from billionaire Howard Hughes, a Houston native.īut the collection also features items from around the world, like a Koran from the 14th century. The collection includes correspondence from Sam Houston when he was governor of Texas, along with documents that lay out Houston's early street grid. "We have items that go extremely far back into the origins of the City of Houston itself and the origins of Texas as a state," said Mayer. The person who oversees the room is Preservation Librarian Elizabeth Mayer. We go through a locked door to a darkened, climate-controlled room that's referred to as "The Vault." ![]() To access the Houston Public Library's rare book collection, we're taken to an upper floor of the downtown library's historic Julia Idelson Building. These aren't the books you'll find on the shelf at your local library branch. ![]() In the meantime, councilmember Travis hopes he may have a week, or more, to find a home for the books.The rare book collection is housed in the historic Julia Ideson building (Photo Credit: Gail Delaughter ) The Houston Public Library did not respond to emailed questions about what they may have done to save the books. "If I need to spend $5,000 out of my own pocket, which it seems I'm going to have to do, to move these out of here if we can save a quarter of a million (dollars), or more, worth of books, let's do it," he says. Some, around the state, are interested but saving the books is going down to the wire. While the contractor is on a tight timeline to get the work started, Travis has been calling other libraries, trying to find takers. Travis says he just learned about the books, but wonders why no one from the library appears to have made an effort to save them, over the last four years. "If FEMA says you can't keep the books, if they're going to help reimburse for these costs, OK, you don't keep 'em," says Travis, "But you find a location for them. Log your books read for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, or participate in activities for the Virtual Family Place program Visit your favorite HPL location to pick up your prizes. Still, as work is set to begin on FEMA-funded renovations, all of the seemingly undamaged books will be thrown away, as the building is cleared out. The air is stale but there are none of the tell-tale stenches of a moldy building. "You can smell that book there's no mold in there it's a perfectly good book," he says. ![]() Councilmember Travis opens a book and takes a deep whiff. That includes tens of thousands of books and other materials that still sit on shelves. Newspapers reference the damage that Harvey would bring, as everything sits just as staff left it. Nearly four years later, it's like a time capsule from August 2017. While the first floor was gutted, the second and third floors were high and dry, save for a few roof leaks.
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