History of the Rosenberg Library

The Rosenberg Library, successor to the Galveston Mercantile Library, which was founded in 1871, is the oldest public library in Texas in continuous operation. With funding provided through a bequest from Henry Rosenberg, the Rosenberg Library Association was organized pursuant to a charter granted by the State of Texas on July 10, 1900, as a private corporation to give free library service to all Galvestonians. Since its incorporation the institution has been governed by a board of twenty trustees, who meet annually to elect a nine-member board of directors.

A plot of land at the northwest corner of Tremont and Sealy was purchased for $18,500 on May 15, 1901, on which to erect the building. The Board of Directors employed Alfred F. Rosenheim of St. Louis as consulting architect in a competition for the design of the building amongst Ackerman & Ross of New York, Eames & Rosenberg Library ca. 1910 Young of St. Louis, Thomas H. Kimball of Omaha, and local Galveston architects. Two local architects, George B. Stowe and Conlon & Koeppe, were awarded prizes of $250 each for their designs, but the award for the work was ultimately given to Eames & Young for a "fire-proof building with two stories and basement, to cost $100,000, the building to contain rooms for the usual library departments with a capacity of 60,000 volumes, and also to contain a lecture hall to seat 500 or more people." (Henry Rosenberg, 1824-1893*) The contruction of the building was contracted to Harry Devlin of Galveston, at a final cost of $155,000.

Rosenberg Library officially opened for inspection June 22, 1904, Henry Rosenberg's birthday, and to the public the following day. A year later it absorbed the collections of the Galveston Public Library, thus formalizing its new role as the public library for the city of Galveston.

From the beginning, the Rosenberg Library has been more than a simple book repository. Its early history reflects its cultural importance. Led by the board of directors, the first librarian, Frank C. Patten (librarian from 1904 to 1934, from the Lenox Library in New York City), initiated several programs that emphasized community involvement. Early lecture series, for example, often attracted audiences of 700. Patten and the board worked together to develop collections that went far beyond the scope of most public libraries. As a result of their work and that of succeeding boards and staff, the library has compiled outstanding collections of manuscripts, maps, artifacts, and printed items.

Library front - Photo courtesy Galveston Historical Foundation The Galveston and Texas History Center, for example, collects materials relating to Galveston and early Texas. Major manuscript collections include the papers of Samuel May Williams, Gail Borden, John Grant Tod, Jr., and James Morgan; the records of several nineteenth and early twentieth century businesses, including those of Harris Kempner, Henry M. Trueheart, and J. C. League; the records of several organizations and churches in the area; and twentieth-century collections reflecting recent events and activities in Galveston and the upper Gulf Coast. The map collection includes maps and charts of Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and adjacent coasts dating from the sixteenth century to the present.

Holdings of the museum department include historical artifacts pertaining to Galveston or early Texas, paintings of Galveston subjects or by such local artists as Julius Stockfleth and Boyer Gonzalez, and a sizable collection of Russian and Greek icons. The rare book collection contains incunabula, first editions, and examples of fine printing.

The library staff and board of directors have continued the tradition of varied library services. In addition to developing special collections and circulating over 250,000 books annually, the library offers art and historical exhibits, lectures, film series, and meeting facilities for over 1,600 meetings per year.

Since 1941, the city and county of Galveston have contributed to the support of the library. About three-fourths of the operating budget comes from public funds, while the remainder derives from private endowments and gifts.

The Rosenberg Library is the headquarters library for the Galveston County Library System, a structure in which the head of the Rosenberg Library is also the county librarian. In 1967 the library board of directors launched a campaign to build a wing that more than doubled the size of the original library building. Funded by the Moody Foundation and countless gifts from other sources, the Moody Wing opened in 1971-100 years after the Galveston Chamber of Commerce established the Galveston Mercantile Library.

Rosenberg Library 9/10/10

*BIBLIOGRAPHY: Galveston Daily News, January 20, 1871, June 2, 1929, August 23, 1971. Rosenberg Library, Henry Rosenberg (New York: De Vinne, 1918). Jane A. Kenamore

Above text taken from "ROSENBERG LIBRARY" - The Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/lcr2.html

On September 13, 2008, the Rosenberg Library was inundated with flood waters during Hurricane Ike, the most destructive hurricane to hit the island since the Great Storm of 1900. Fortunately, the building did not sustain any structural damage, as an extensive repair project on the exterior had just been completed in July of that year for which it received a Galveston Historical Foundation Sally B. Wallace Preservation Award.

IImmediately following the hurricane, the library underwent various renovations to its operational systems that had been vulnerable to flood damage. This was followed by new, more energy efficient interior lighting and some needed flooring on the mezzanine and third floors of the Moody Wing. In the summer of 2010, two years after the storm, further restoration of the building's interior was undertaken to return the Rosenberg Wing to its original style and beauty.

We are very proud of our island treasure and thank you, our patrons, for being a part of it.