Our Mission: The Friends of the Texas Room (FTxR) seeks to
support the collections of the Texas and Local History Department, the
Archives and Manuscripts Department, and the Special Collections Department
of the Houston History Research Center (HHRC) of the Houston Public Library.
The HHRC, the primary resource for the history of Houston, is housed in the Julia Ideson Building of the downtown Houston Public Library across from City Hall. The beautiful Spanish-Renaissance style building holds one of the largest collections of Texas history in the state.
Visit the Julia Ideson Building (Chapter 1 from the FTxR DVD In Search of Houston's History).
The FTxR qualifies under Section 501 (c) (3) IRS revenue service code.
The Monday evening meetings are January 30th, April 24th, July 31st, and October 23rd.
Our Next Meeting: The January 30th virtual meeting (7:00 – 8:00 pm) will feature an evening with Historic Houston Retail's founder Mike Abboud and FTxR President Mister McKinney who will interview him. Mr. Abboud, a 7th grade history teacher, has created a robust website on Houston's Historic Retail. On his website, Mr. Abboud presents sections on the history of Houston's department stores, electronics stores, furniture stores, grocery stores, restaurants, and malls. He also includes a "Retail Museum" where viewers may explore matchbooks, ashtrays, badges, buttons, name tags, and pins related to Houston's retail history. Mr. Abboud conducted much of his research in the Houston History Research Center's Texas Room.
FTxR members, as well as the public, may join the January 2023 Zoom meeting by using the following link: https://bit.ly/FTXR-Abboud1-30-23.