History of the Gonzales Public Library

The Gonzales Public Library Building, gracing St. Matthew Street since 1972, is a dream realized for two farsighted organizations: The Sesame Study Club and the Women’s Study Club.

As early as October 1929, Mrs. C. M. Nelson, speaking for the Sesame Club Civic Committee, voiced the hope that the Club would foster a public library for Gonzales. In November Mrs. E. W. Kee initiated activity toward that end. Simultaneously, enthusiastic support for the project came from Mrs. Fred Meisenhelder and Miss Zula Jones of the Women’s Study Club. During the remainder of 1929 and into 1930, the two Clubs sought and received suggestions as to how to get started from the Corpus Christi Library, the Carnegie library in San Antonio, and the State Library in Austin.

Very soon these founding promoters found out that State aid was contingent on the employment of a paid librarian - a possibility that seemed remote at the time. So the obtaining of two main ingredients-books and money became a pressing problem but not necessarily an obstacle. For a number of other Club members, all determined that Gonzales should have a public library, pledged their energy and talents to the fray: Mrs. J. W. Vernor, Mrs. B. B. Hoskins, Mrs. G.W. Mack, Mrs. R. S. Dilworth, Mrs. J. W. Vollentine, Mrs. J. M. Gibson, Misses Annie and Laura Reese, Mrs. J. R. Collins.

The year 1931 brought remarkable progress. In January, Mrs. George Holmes, Chairperson of the Sesame Club Civic Committee, met with Mrs. Ross Boothe and the Civic Committee of the Woman's Study Club to arrive at mutually acceptable organization procedures. In March the Chamber of Commerce, located in the middle of the block on St. George Street facing Confederate Square, cleared a space large enough for a desk and a few shelves, thus offering the Clubs a first home for their project. At once a Committee to write the Constitution and By﷓laws for a Library Association was appointed. Most likely there were others, but Mrs. C. M. Nelson and Mrs. Ed Mahon were two identifiable members of that Committee.

The remainder of March 1931 was devoted to publicizing the new venture through newspaper stories, through house-to-house canvasses and other types of appeals for books and money. In April a Book Tea was held at the Chamber Of Commerce Building to launch the infant Library. Miss Zula Jones and other volunteer librarians from the two organizations took over the desk in the allotted space and sold reading cards for $1 (25 cents for children). The small supply of donated and purchased books went out and in. And Gonzales had a Public Library. The first Library Board was formed. In the following months and years a succession of silver teas, book teas, book reviews, plays, and musical programs have proved to be survival fundraisers.

In 1936, the City Officials made available to the Library one room in the newly completed Memorial Building, with the other room to house the Museum. And four other organizations joined the study clubs as Library sponsors: Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Parent-Teachers Association, and the Gonzales Music Club. Prospects were growing brighter. Even now, though, enthusiasm for the Library far exceeded its financial capabilities.

In 1939, monetary assistance came when the Library became a project of the Works Progress Administration. Mrs. Marie Maybee, sister of Joseph Grant, became the first salaried librarian, responsible for keeping the Library open a few hours each week-an involvement she pursued through 1946.
At the termination of the WPA in 1943, a committee appointed by the Library Board presented a plan for financial assistance to the Commissioners Court. This appeal culminated in the formation of a County Council of Libraries made up of those from Gonzales, Nixon, Smiley, and Waelder. Subsequently, $14 a month was allocated to the Gonzales institution, and $7 a month to the others. In 1951 the Gonzales share was raised to $50. In the midst of this financial affluence, Mrs. Horace Bluhm was employed in 1947 as the first full-time, salaried Librarian, a position she held through 1971.

In 1957, the Library came under the jurisdiction of the City of Gonzales, with the adoption by the City of the Home Rule Charter (amended in 1961). In 1966 a City ordinance was passed, creating a Library Board for the City Public Library, prescribing its duties and providing for the installation of an accounting system for its operation. The Library board, consisting of eight members appointed by the City Council, was to elect its own officers and act as liaison between the Library and City government.

During the fourteen years of City jurisdiction from 1957-1971, continued interest and support for the Library came from old and new sources. The Sesame Club continued to sponsor annual benefits. The Woman's Study Club made a yearly contribution. In July 1965 the Lions Club established an endowment fund, channeling the interest semiannually to the Library for the following 17 years. Individual, company, and organization donors made funds available. Eventually the shelves in the one room at the Memorial Building were filled beyond capacity. Consideration of the Old Post Office Building as a resting place was abandoned as financially infeasible.

In 1971, the City of Gonzales, in agreement with the Library Board headed by Mrs. A. 0. Bird, decided that a permanent home for the Library was now in order. Other supportive members of this Board were Mrs. Lenore Boothe, Mrs. Allen Collins, Mrs. B. Duncan Davis, Mr. Louis Hill, Mrs. W. B. Reaves, Mr. Gerald Shanklin, and Mrs. Sloan Smith. Soon the passage of a bond issue made possible the building now a prideful presence on St. Matthew Street, marking the fortieth anniversary of the infant Library established by the founding patrons. A Dedication Ceremony on April 17, 1972, gave the citizens who had sanctioned the expenditure an opportunity to view their investment.

The year 1972 ushered in several influential events. On October 1 Mrs. Horace Bluhm, with 25 years of dedicated service to her credit, retired as Librarian. On September 1 Mrs. T. E. Harral replaced her, affording equally dedicated service up to the present. On November 27, 1972, the Sesame Club sponsored an organizational meeting of Friends of the Library. In the ensuing ten years the Friends have raised $23,428.20 for the purchase of books and audio-visual equipment.

About the time of the move into the new building, the South Texas Genealogical Society placed their books and records in the Library, forming the nucleus for a genealogical section that included a microfilm reader, more than 200 rolls of film and several hundred books. New reference sources have been added from time to time, making this part of the Library a Mecca for many out-of-town visitors in search of their origins.

Under the direction of Mrs. Harral the scope of services has steadily grown. A Xerox copying machine attracts numerous individuals, with the small fee charged for duplicated materials providing money for additional Library items. Audio-visual software and projectors for loan afford hours of enjoyment to Library patrons and program sources for organizations. Interlibrary Loan facilities make possible access to hard-to-find references, books not available locally, movies and other audio-visual presentations. Preschool children are fascinated by the Story Hour. And school-age youngsters enthusiastically engage in the Summer Reading Program. In 1975 the Gonzales Public Library met all the requirements for becoming a member of the Texas State Library System.

In the period of occupation from 1972-1982, the gracious permanent home for the Library has been the impetus for steady growth in readership, books, and audio﷓visuals. The book stock rose from 8,245 to 19,311 and the total circulation of Library items (including audio-visuals) from 10,862 to 25,043. In the latter years, the virtual doubling of material to store and transactions to complete made Mrs. Harral and Mrs. J. R. Tinsley (Chairperson of the Gonzales Public Library Board, 1978-1982) well aware that the Library had outgrown its quarters. The Board, in agreement that the problem was pressing, appealed to the City Manager Calvin Spacek and the Gonzales City Council for relief.

In 1982 the City Officials once again came through as benefactors of Library well-being by providing the funds for the addition to the Building the public is invited to view on March 27, 1983. The work of Architect-Builder Kyle V. Crozier, the new area doubles existing space and includes a much-needed assembly room. Mrs. Harral and her staff moved happily into the extended quarters in December 1982.

A special appreciation goes to Library patrons contributing to the beauty of the setting. In 1976 Mr. David Michelson and his sisters, Mrs. Laura Lee Block and Mrs. Sammie Lou Reuben, presented an oil painting of the Concession Building at Palmetto State Park by Mrs. Juanita Altman in honor of their mother, Mrs. Yetta Michelson Forgotston. In 1982-83 Mr. Clarence Traeger, Chairman of the Library Board from 1974-1978, gave three oil paintings in memory of his wife, Mrs. Sue Lewis Traeger: a landscape and a seascape in fresh, bright colors by Manol and a landscape of delicate tracery and subtlety from DuBois.

The zealous women who initiated the Library campaign so long ago might well be proud of their progeny now past a fiftieth birthday. A large measure of gratitude goes to Mrs. J. R. Collins, a former Library Board member, for providing the basis upon which this history was built and to Mrs. J. Q. Short, Mrs. Warren DuBose, Mrs. Ronald Burns, and Mrs. Charles Chenault for the data related to the Woman’s Study Club.