San Jacinto Chapter March Meeting—Annual Field Trip

•9:30 am Bus leaves for , System • 10:00 am Meet in the main entrance of the Julia Ideson Building [500 McKinney Street, at the corner of Smith and McKinney in ] •After tour Lunch at Cleburne Cafeteria 3606 Bissonnet • Reservation Let Jamie know you are coming so we can plan the trip-- [email protected] •Questions? Contact Jamie or Sharolyn. • Don’t want to take the bus? Meet us in the main entrance of the Ideson Buidling. Contact me for directions and parking suggestions.

March 6th Field Trip Julia Ideson Building, System

The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility located in downtown Houston, 500 McKinney Street. The building, with Spanish Renaissance architecture, is part of the Central Library; it houses the archives, manuscripts, and the and Local History Department. Designed by Ralph Adams Cram of Cram and Ferguson, Boston, the Ideson Building opened in 1926 as the Central Library for the Houston Public Library; the building, exhibiting a Spanish Revival style, replaced a prior Carnegie building. In 1976, the Jesse H. Jones Building (as the building was named in 1989) opened, and the Central Library moved to the new building. The building received listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The Ideson building reopened in 1979 as the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, which houses the library's Texas and local history collection, archives and manuscripts, and special collections. We will want to ask our tour guide about the legends of the Ideson Building being haunted by the ghost of Jacob Frank Cramer, a library caretaker, and Petey, his dog.

Ideson, Julia Bedford (1880–1945), pioneer librarian and civic activist, daughter of John Castree and Rosalie (Beasman) Ideson, was born on July 15, 1880, in Hastings, Nebraska. She moved to Houston as a child and later attended the first program in library science offered by the University of Texas. She was appointed librarian of the new Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library in 1903 and held this position for more than forty years. By the time of her death in 1945, the collection had increased from 13,228 to 265,707 volumes, and annual circulation had risen from 60,000 to 600,000. Her efforts to improve physical facilities had resulted in the addition of five branches, a new Central Library in Spanish Renaissance style, and the first municipal bookmobile in the state.