Rosenberg Library

Rosenberg Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Location	2310 Sealy Street Galveston, Texas
Nearest city	Galveston, Texas
Built	1904, Expanded 1971
Governing body	Rosenbery Library Board of Trustees
MPS	Central Business District MRA
NRHP Reference #	84001722
Added to NRHP	August 14, 1984

Rosenberg Library, a public library located at 2310 Sealy Street in Galveston, Texas, United States, is the oldest continuously operating library in Texas. It serves as headquarters of the Galveston County Library System and its librarian also functions as the Galveston County Librarian.^[1]

Segregation

Central High School and the "Colored Branch of the Rosenberg Library"

Like many institutions in the American South, during segregation the library maintained a separate branch for African Americans. This new library, built in 1905, was added to the western wing of Central High School, the city's high school for African Americans.^[2]

Galveston & Texas History Center

The Galveston and Texas History Center 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 I.H. Kempner, 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 Stockflethqv 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.