The Clayton House on Caroline is a part of the campus of the Clayton Library, Center for Genealogical Research. The collection grew up as a part of the main library downtown but eventually outgrew its space and was moved out on its own.
Following is a little time line we put together for a display table. I cut and pasted it from a word document, so it's a mess. The original has some pictures that I did not include here to save on space. They are:
Miss Julia Ideson
Original Carneigie Library
"New" Central Library, 1923
Mrs. Harriet Dixon Reynolds
Julia Ideson Building, circa...?
The Claytons in the backyard ("Lovebirds" picture)
Groudbreaking for the new building
Construction pictures-new building
Dedication of the new building - 29 OCT 1988
Jo
Clayton Library: Pedigree of a Genealogy Collection
TIMELINE
1854 The Houston Lyceum was formed.
1877 The Houston Lyceum moved to the Banquet Hall of the new Market House, on the corner of Travis and Congress, which also functioned as Houston's City Hall.
1887 Women allowed to join the Lyceum.
1895 Anyone living in the city could borrow materials, if they paid dues of $3.00 per year. By 2004, anyone living in the state of Texas can have a free library card, and borrow materials from
Houston Public Library.
1897 The Lyceum moved to the Mason Building on the corner of Main and Rusk.
1898 Lyceum asked Houston City Council for an annual appropriation of $2,500.
City Council approved a $2,400 annual appropriation for the Library.
Mr. Andrew Carnegie was asked if he would give money to the City to build a library. He said
he would if the city maintained the library at the cost of $4,000 per year.
1903 Julia Ideson was hired as the new librarian. She would be head of the library for 42 years
(until 1945).
1904 The Carnegie Library building, which stood at Main & McKinney, was completed.
With the opening of Carnegie Library, the Houston Lyceum ceased to exist as an organization.
1917 The Clayton home was built by architect Birdsall P. Briscoe.
1921 Genealogy first mentioned as a separate section in annual report.
1922 Construction began on a new building which would later be named in honor of Julia Ideson.
1924 The genealogy collection reached 231 volumes.
1926 The Central Library (now the Julia Ideson Building) opened. Genealogy collection moved to the
3rd floor in the east wing, where it shared space with the local history collection.
1932 Genealogy and Local History set aside as a special collection.
1933 $83.30 was spent on 27 items for the genealogy collection.
1935 16 books added to the genealogy collection.
1939 Thirty more catalog drawers were needed to hold the collection.
1945 July 15: Julia Ideson died (on her 65th birthday) while visiting a friend in Pennsylvania.
1948 For the year, people came from 40 Texas cities and 29 people came from outside Texas to visit the genealogy collection at the Library.
1950 Harriet Dixon Reynolds appointed director of the Library where she served until 1967.
1951 By order of the City Council, the library building that Julia Ideson built was renamed in her honor.
1953 Friends of the Houston Public Library formed.
1954 Microcard and Microfilm began to be used at the Library.
1958 January 11:Mr. and Mrs. Clayton offered their home as a gift to the Houston Public Library, upon both of their deaths.
1957 Average monthly attendance to the Historical Room (where genealogy collection was housed) was 537.
1958 Houston Genealogical Forum was organized for the support of the genealogical collection.
1959 Collection had grown to 4,718 volumes, with 651 new volumes added to the collection.
1960 January 7: Mrs. Susan Ada Vaughan Clayton died in the Clayton home.
1966 February 8: Mr. William Lockhart Clayton died at Methodist hospital.
1967 Upon Harriet Dixon Reynold's retirement, David M. Hennington appointed director of the Houston Public Library. He served until 1994.
1968 The Genealogy collection moved to the Clayton home and housed 4,700 volumes.
Mary Lewis Ulmer became manager of the new Clayton Library.
1971 A Historical Marker placed in front of Julia Ideson Building commemorating the Houston Lyceum and the Public Library.
1976 January 18: opening ceremony for the new Central Library (later named Jesse H. Jones Building in 1989).
1981 Mary Lewis Ulmer retired as manager of Clayton Library.
1982 Maxine Alcorn became manager of Clayton Library.
1984 New addition for Clayton Library included in the Capital Improvement bonds approved by the citizens.
1985 Appointment of Brooks Association for Architecture and Planning – Mark Stewart, design architect.
1986 Anonymous donor purchasedland for new building.
1987 ClaytonLibrary Friends established.
October 6: groundbreaking ceremonies for the new building at Clayton Library. (have a copy of the
invitation in the files at the library)
Harris County Historical Commission approved application for historical marker for Clayton
home– forwarded to the Texas Historical Commission.
1988 Through the Clayton Library Friends, the Houston Endowment, Inc. awarded a grant of $760,000
to be used for the purchase of furnishings and equipment.
October 29: over 250 Houstonians attended the dedication ceremonies of the new library building.
(have a copy of the invitation in the files at the library)
Collection grown to 35,000 volumes, 2,000 volumes of bound periodicals, 25,000 rolls of
microfilm, and 20,000 microfiche.
1989 October 28: Dedication of the State of Texas historical marker honoring the Clayton home.
(have a copy of the invitation in the files at the library)
1994 David M. Hennington retired as director of the Houston Public Library.
1995 April: Barbara Gubbin appointed director of the Houston Public Library.
Renovations made on the first floor of the Clayton Home, and the family histories moved from
new building back into the house
August 26: William Lockhart and Susan Ada Vaughan Clayton Home Redication.
(have a copy of the invitation in the files at the library)
Maxine Alcorn retired as manager of Clayton Library. (CLF Newsletter V. IX No. 4, Nov, 1995)
The library's catalog went online, and was now available at all branch libraries.
1996 August: Margaret J. (Marje) Harris became manager of the Clayton Library.
2002 Patron count for the year was 60,886, with a in-house material use of 517,530.
2004 While Houston Public celebrates its centennial, the Genealogy collection celebrates 36 years of being at Clayton, and 83 years of being recognized as a collection.
2006 Susan Kaufman made manager of Clayton Library
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