Meetings and Events
Houston Endowment, Inc., challenges Friends to raise $1.3 million toward Capital Campaign goal!
At a Houston event on Texas Treasures from the State Archives, the Friends of Libraries & Archives of Texas announced a challenge from Houston Endowment, Inc. If the Friends raise $1.3 million by March 2010, Houston Endowment will add $500,000. The Friends has raised $1.7 million to date. The additional $1.3 million will complete the first phase of the Campaign.
The $10 million Capital Campaign supplements the current state-funded renovation of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building on the Capitol grounds. The Archives is home to the Travis Letter from the Alamo; the Matamoros Battalion flag, captured at the Battle of San Jacinto; and other priceless and unique documents and artifacts of Texas history.
The Capital Campaign will create a 21st Century library and archives for the people of Texas, with state-of-the-art public service areas, enhanced archival storage, and interactive computer displays describing the collections. Help the Friends meet Houston Endowment, Inc.'s $1.3 million challenge! To make a contribution to the Friends of Libraries & Archives of Texas, contact Charlotte McCann, director of development, at (512) 936-2505 or by email at friends@tsl.state.tx.us. For more information
Friends celebrates Texas State Library's Centennial with program at Texas Library Association's Annual Conference in Houston
The Friends of Libraries & Archives of Texas hosted In the Beginning: A History of the Founding of the State Library, on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, at the 2009 Texas Library Association Conference in Houston. The event relived the political intrigue, personality conflicts, and high drama surrounding the creation of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in 1909. The presenters told the story of TSLAC, which is none other than the history of the development of libraries in Texas.
The Friends provided a birthday cake to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Director and Librarian Peggy Rudd delivered the welcome and told the story of the agency from former State Archivist and Governor Bill Daniel Professor in Archival Enterprise, Dr. David Gracy's upcoming book, Nor Is This All: A History of the State Library and Archives of Texas, 1855-1962. Pamela Bleisch, project librarian, Center for American History (Austin) and Leslie Waggener, archivist of the Simpson Institute for Western Politics and Leadership, University of Wyoming, also added to the historical content of the program.