Local archives ready for expansion

Houston Public Library's Julia Ideson building, which houses the Texas Room and Archives/Houston Metropolitan Research Center, is long overdue for an expansion. Not only did Cram & Ferguson, Watkin, and Glover's original 1920s plans of the library include an additional wing that was to the south of the building facing Lamar St., but local archives have been amassing in the building since the late seventies.

The Julia Ideson Preservation Partners was created at the request of the Mayor to raise funds, and it is directed by Phoebe Tudor, a member of the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission, Minnette Boesel, local realtor and Master Mod, and Margaret Cooke Skidmore, a philanthropic strategic planner (and former fundraiser for the Museum of Fine Arts).

The preliminary plan is to build the wing that never was, with most of the money coming from private contributions. A questionnaire on the Ideson Preservation site asks questions and seeks feedback about potential additions to the library, including additional meeting space, wireless internet, and food/drink options. According to the Chronicle,

The legacy of that shortfall is still being felt more than 80 years later in cramped corridors, overflowing bookshelves and other problems in the rooms housing the city's primary collection of state and local historical documents, including millions of vintage photographs chronicling city life in Houston.

"Every time we add something, we find we are already bursting at the seams," said Steve Hill, manager of the library's Texas Room, where students, writers and history buffs pore over old documents that staffers retrieve from the stacks.
[...]
A key goal is to add modern equipment to maintain temperature, humidity and light levels to preserve fragile old documents.

The Julia Ideson building was the central location of the Houston Public Library from 1926 until 1976, when the "new" library by S.I. Morris was completed (which is now being renovated) - before the Ideson building, there was the Carnegie Library on Travis at McKinney. Ironically, Julia Ideson, who was Houston's head librarian from 1903-1945, said the Carnegie "was the typical building of the day, elaborate in architecture and spacious and attractive inside, but without special adaptation to the use to be made of it."

Photo: Flickr user jessamyn