HCPL Directors Collection

HCPL Directors Collection

HCPL has had 10 different leaders over its first 100 years.  The title has changed from County Librarian to Library Director, but the mission has always stayed the same: providing free access to books to all Harris County residents. Below is a list of the leaders that have shaped HCPL and the county.

 

Browse all items in the collection.  Or visit the digital exhibit HCPL Directors.

Lucy Fuller​ Gross

County Librarian

1921-1926

 

View photographs and newspaper articles featuring Lucy Fuller Gross.

Read annual reports and budgets prepared by Lucy Fuller Gross.

 

Ruth Underwood​ Pooley

County Librarian

1926-1932

 

View photographs and newspaper articles featuring Ruth Underwood Pooley.

Read annual reports prepared by Ruth Underwood Pooley.

 

Elnora Edgar Buchanan

County Librarian

1932-1939

 

View photographs and newspaper articles featuring Elnora Edgar Buchanan.

Read a profile of Elnora Edgar Buchanan from 1936

Read annual reports prepared by Elnora Edgar Buchanan.

 

Reba Anderson

County Librarian

1939-1945

 

View a photograph of Reba Anderson.

Read annual reports prepared by Reba Anderson.

 

Bernice Snell

County Librarian

1945-1951

 

View photographs and newspaper clippings featuring Bernice Snell.

Read annual reports prepared by Bernice Snell.

 

Mary Butler Owensby

County Librarian

1951-1974

 

View photographs and newspaper clippings featuring Mary Butler Owensby.

Read correspondence and annual reports by Mary Butler Owensby.

 

Katherine "Kathy" Skinner Brown

Library Director

1974-1979

 

Read a profile of Kathy Skinner Brown written in May 1974.

View photographs featuring Kathy Skinner Brown.

Read annual reports prepared by Kathy Skinner Brown.

 

Cathy Park with Former First Lady Barbara BushCatherine "Cathy" S. Park

Library Director

1979-2006

 

View photographs and video featuring Cathy S. Park.

Read correspondence by Cathy S. Park.

 

Rhoda Goldberg

Library Director

2008-2013

 

View photographs featuring Rhoda Goldberg.

Read correspondence to and from Rhoda Goldberg.

 

Edward Melton

Library Director

2014-Present

 

View photographs featuring Edward Melton.

Watch an interview with Edward Melton filmed in 2021 as part of HCPL's Centennial celebrations.