Rosenberg Library Guide

The Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas is the oldest and first free public library in Texas. It was named after Henry Rosenberg, a prominent Galveston leader. The library has a rich history and has undergone changes due to hurricanes. It has a Victorian mansion-like interior and houses original maps, architecture layouts, and important documents in its archival area. The library's attic contains over 1 million books, manuscripts, and artifacts related to maritime history. It is a major repository for Texas history. The library also has a museum on the second floor that showcases Galveston's history and partners with other museums for events and conservation efforts. It is a unique and important resource for preserving history and cultural differences. Howdy listeners! Today you will be taking a historical audio travel with me, your guide, Caitlin Clark, to discuss why the Rosenberg Library is so unique in the maritime world. To start off this journey, the Rosenberg Library was a successor to the Galveston Mercantile Library founded in 1871 and is still currently located on Seeley Street in Galveston, Texas. The Rosenberg Library was named after a great Galveston leader back in the late 1800s named Henry Rosenberg. Henry did a great number of things during his time in Galveston including being a director and president at the First National Bank in Galveston and Trust Company, becoming the first president of the Galveston Railroad Company, being another president to the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company, and lastly the vice president of the Galveston Wharf Company until his death in 1893. Henry loved giving back to the community so a majority of his contributions came following his death. Thanks to Henry Rosenberg's estate worth more than $600,000 donated to this establishment, this library serves as the oldest public library and the very first free public library in Texas that is still under full operation today. How wonderful is that? However, since the opening of this library it has undergone some major changes due to hurricanes destroying most of Galveston. The most recent and devastating hurricane that took the most toll on the library was Hurricane Ike. This became an eye opener for many Galvestonians but although the library did not suffer too many damages during this hurricane, there were major changes to follow to preserve its history and all the artifacts that are bestowed inside. As your tour guide, I highly recommend visiting this site not just because of its history, but what is also located within that makes this place so wonderful. When you first walk into the library it feels like the inside of a Victorian mansion with its wooden floors and walls, unique statues and paintings representing Galveston's history, and most original furniture that was established within the library. Surprisingly enough, most people do not realize that the Rosenberg Library has its very own attic and archival area with some of the original works that came with the building. Inside of their archived area they have original maps of Galveston, original architecture layouts of all the different sites that put Galveston on the map, and important documents from when Galveston was first founded. Although this may seem boring that they just have this in their archival area, their attic tends to be quite a different story. I have personally been to this space and they hold so much more history that makes them a vital part of educating and preserving this lost history. Collections within the attic include over 1 million books, manuscripts, letters, documents, objects of art, and historic memorabilia. What I witnessed on my tour was various ship wheels, guns, swords, bells, paintings, statues, and many more essential items to the maritime world and Galveston's history. A fun fact about the Rosenberg Library is that it is one of the major repositories of original documents and artifacts related to Texas history today. This goes to show that there is a lot more behind closed doors to this place than just being a library. The museum portion of this is located on the second floor of the Rosenberg Library and helps visitors remember the history of Galveston itself with the traveling collections that are displayed. The Rosenberg Library partners with other various museums across Galveston to host events while displaying Galveston's maritime culture and to be a center for people to bring forth their artifacts and set forth for more conservation efforts. This site also offers various Galveston museums a temperature regulated place to conserve and store their items for display matters. Having this resource to their advantage allows for the library to be of importance not only for museum and history buffs, but to observe the cultural differences and aspects and how we have changed throughout history as a society. The library is one of the only places in the area that holds this special characteristic so this goes to show that their dedication to preserving and acquiring the history of all the artifacts they obtain throughout the community is what makes this library a vital part in maritime history. And with this, this concludes our tour today. All information I provided can be found through the Rosenberg Library website, the historical mark of black dedicated to the library, and the Texas State Department collection. I hope you enjoyed the tour today and I look forward to seeing you next time. My name is Caitlin Clark. Thank you for joining me.