Harris County Public Library Scrapbook (1941-1948)

Houstonians Respond Warmly To Victory Book Campaign THE initial response to Houston’s part of the Victory book campaign shows that Houstonians want to help provide reading matter for American men in service. The excellent titles and good condition of the books received make it possible to send the books immediately to camps where they are needed most, Miss Julia Ideson, local director, said. tt C \ Л 1 About 1500 books were received during the first week of the cam¬ paign. Sponsored by the American Library association, Red Cross and U. S. O., the campaign asks the readers of America to look through their bookcases and share 10,000,000 books with men in the army, navy and marines. Most of the books received have already been sent to camps, posts, U. S. O. clubs, American merchant marine and other miltary and naval sta¬ tions, the national campaign direc¬ tor, Miss Althea Warren, has re¬ ported. About 50,000 gifts a day are being reported to headquar¬ ters on postal cards from all over the United States. The goal fojr Houston and Har¬ ris county is a gift of one book for each man, woman and child. The national campaign will con¬ tinue until the 10,000,000 books have been received. All gifts will be promptly and equitably delivered to the men after they have been collected and sorted, according to a plan from headquarters. If the books are needed at near-by camps, they will be distributed from Houston. Some of the books will be sent to other camps. + ♦ ♦ COLLECTION centers in Hous¬ ton have been arranged for the convenience of the business man, housewife, and school child. Mrs. M. D. Levy has placed de¬ posit boxes in the downtown areas at the Public Library, City Hall, Loew’s State theater, and Soldiers’ Service Bureau; in the neighbor¬ hoods at the branch libraries, pub¬ lic schools, and Interstate theaters .as well as several Weingarten and Henke & Pillot stores. The books are collected regu¬ larly by Mrs. H. T. Bradley and committee, assisted by the Junior Red Cross who are also soliciting boxes for shipping from local mer-. chants, Girl and Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts plan to make a house- to-houSe canvass before the cam¬ paign ends. The books are then taken to the Hampshaw building where they are mended, if neces¬ sary, by the W. P. A. under the supervision of Mrs. Lillian Rob¬ bins, then sorted and boxed for distribution. It is hoped that every book do¬ nated will be of interest and value to the men in the service, but those which will not serve a rec¬ reational or practical purpose will be sold for paper. This will elimi¬ nate unnecessary transportation charges, and the money received will be used to purchase needed technical material. Miss Louise Franklin and Miss Martha Schnit- zer of the Houston Public Library will supervise the sorting and dis¬ tribution of the books collected. >; iil Vo-to<vLv ** ® 2 Victory Book Campaign Success The Victory Book campaign that p is now being conducted is reported ^ by our local librarian to be very a, successful. Mrs. Otis Harrison re- d ports that 111 books have been у turned in from La Porte and that e with the count from Seabrook there have been about 300 turned t in to be sent to our boys in camps. Mrs. Harrison also states that a J very liberal amount of money has f been received with which books ^ are to be bought and that the dif- . ferent organizations have contrib- i uted largely to this fund. t hi Wi of N si About 2500 books have been donated by readers in Houston and Harris County during the first three weeks of the campaign, Miss Julia Ideson, local director, re¬ ported. The response over the nation has been good, but only a fraction of the 10,000,000 goal has been reached. The campaign wants more books immediately, the right kind of books for men. STATE DIRECTOR OF VICTORY BOOK DRIVE CITES NEEDS Texas army camps need 170,000 U books from the Victory Book Cam- DSjpaign, Miss Fannie M. Wilcox, In state director of the drive, an- HJnounced Saturday. In the Houston area the need ej for books, as estimated by the W office of the librarian of the Eighth Corps Area, is 4200 fiction and ,1800 non-fiction for Ellington 1 Field; 3500 fiction and 1500 non«- S| fiction for Camp Wallace, Camp 1 Hulen and the replacement train¬ ing center at Camp Wallace. Texas is one of the two areas in i 1 l!^e United States containing the i i •! largest number of military camps. , J These needs, as well as the needs t of all camps, forts, stations of the i: nation and ships at sea are expect- ed to be met by the people through J gifts to the Victory Book Cam- fpaign. VICTORY BOOK CAMPAIGN Enlist your! booki j nil the services of your country. Hiave you any books you have particularly enjoyed reading? Ii so, you now have tihie opportunity of enlisting them in the service of your country by sharing them with the men in uniform. The Victory Book Campaign, a national drive for ten million books from bookcases in homes throughout! the nation to Ameri¬ can bar; bckir everywhere will be¬ gin on Monday, February 2, in Houston and Hariris County. In co-operation with the American Library Association, the Ameri¬ can Red Cross, the United Service Organizations, ijhe Houston Public Library, the Har, lit County Public Library, and the Soldiers Service Bureau have ossumted the responsi¬ bility of the local campaign. Miss Julia Ideson is director, as! listed by Mrs. iReba Anderson and Elton V. Aimiburru. Books collected locally will bene¬ fit the mien in oamps near Hous¬ ton. The gifts will supplement the library iservices maintained by the A. my and Navy in camps, Forts, Posts, stations, and on ships. The s uppity is not i.iufficient for the tremendous growth in the armed forces. Oood books of all kinds are need¬ ed. Fiction wii| a emphasis on mys¬ tery, watiteim, adventure, and well- written novels are| much in de¬ mand. Poetry, novel! and play¬ writing, travel, history, music hum¬ or and hobbies are desired. The soldie s and rnilors are particularly eager for up-to-date technical material, to help them with their problem i. Many of i item are studying hard for special ao- i signments or advanced ratings, 1 and must hiave recent technical books, especially in radio ©ad a- , viation, all branchq:i of mathema¬ tics from arithmetic to calculus. The boys will enjoy books you ; have enjoyed. Go through you 1 books and select them and take ftham to th© I. G. A. store,, the j Humble Recreation E/all, ihe Schools, or i he Library, or caT j Mrs T. T. Moore or Mrs. L, M, DuHon. BOOKS COLLECTED HERE HAULED TO ELLINGTON FIELD lt-\ The first assignment oi books from the Victory Book Campaign has been sent to Ellington Field, iMiss Martha Schnitzer of the Houston Public Library, in charge !of the dispatching, announced Sat¬ urday. Seven hundred books were j delivered to the commanding of¬ ficer Friday by the Red Express j Company as its contribution to the can oaign. Thu hooks included 300 fiction! and 400 non-fiction, which repre- j sented the immediate needs as out¬ lined from the New York head- 1 quarters of the Victory Book Cam- [ paign. The non-fiction included , books on wiring, electricity, avia- ; lion, grammar, geography, his¬ tory, biography, philosophy and a i variety of other books found on ! the shelves of a good library. | “We included all kinds of books. ; jWe tried to send something to suit I j everybody's taste,” Miss Schnitzer j isaid. Miss Schnitzer said about 1000 i more- books have been sorted and j are ready to be dispatched as soon as orders come from headquarters. iBooks given in Houston may be sent all over the globe where i American men in arrped forces are . stationed. Excellent response of several schools has raised the number of books collected here to 4500, Miss , Julia Ideson, local director, an¬ nounced. The goal for Houston and Harris County has been set ’for 10 000 good books. Almost half that number has been coi- } lected during the first four weeks of the drive. The campaign will) continue until the national goal of 10.000,000 books has been reached. An intensive campaign is being ' made through the public schools by the parent-teacher associa-j tions, under the direction of Mrs. J. H. Clare, Jr., and Mrs. A. iBlieden. Several schools have re- i ported large donations. Lamar! leads with 600 books; Sam Hous- j ton has 400. * More than 200 books | each have been given by Reagan.) Johnston and Lanier; reports of j j additional books have come from De Zavala, Jackson and Looscan. ! Donations of money have been j coming in from the county. Four \ clubs in Katy gave $10; three clubs in La Porte contributed $24.50;! readers in Humble gave $4, and in Highlands $1. The money will be used to purchase books and some of it has been designated specifi¬ cally for Ellington Field, Mrs. Reba Anderson, county librarian, said. ' . s 'J ! Cc./— cJ , ^ _ PAGE SIX Ellington Field Receives Books Some 300 fiction books and 400 , non-fiction books, collected in the Victory Book Campaign, have al¬ ready been sent to Ellington Field, Miss Martha Schnitzer of the Houston Public Library, in charge of dispatching the books, announc¬ ed last week. “We included all kinds of books. We tried to send something to suit every taste,” Miss Schnitzer said. The non¬ fiction included books on wiring, electricity, aviation, grammar, ge¬ ography, history, biography, phil¬ osophy and a variety of other sub¬ jects. Approximately 1000 more books have been sorted and are ready to be dispatched as soon as orders are received from headquarters in New York. Miss Julia Ideson, Houston di¬ rector, stated that excellent res¬ ponse has been made by several of the schools which has brought the number collected up to 4,500. The goal for Harris County has been set for 10,000. In the first four weeks of the drive almost half the number has been collect- l ed. The campaign will continue until the national goal of 10,000,- 000 has been reached. Donations of money have been coming in with which books are being purchased. Mrs. Reba An¬ derson, county librarian, stated. A number of organizations here are making an effort to assist in this campaign. Among them is the local branch of the Harris County Library and the Reading Club. PAGE SEVEN MARINE PRAISES VICTORY GOOK CAMPAIGN The testimony of a Marine who I has just done a tour of duty in Ice¬ land last week was added to the I commendations for the state Vic¬ tory Gook campaign in which local librarians over Texes are cooperat¬ ing in collecting books for sbldiers. The Marine was Ben Gothardt of San Marcos, on furlough from Iceland and headed after his fur¬ lough for a post somewhere in the Pacific. In the outpost stations, he said, soldiers and sailors depend entirely upon what the folks back home send for their reading material. In Iceland, the newspaper pub¬ lished at the nearest town was in the native language and thus in- I comprehensive to the Americans stationed there. “You could hardly read the book or magazine sent from home, so many others were clamoring just for a chance to Iook at it.” He asserted if the book collect¬ ing campaign could supply the for¬ ces in Iceland, “It would help many a homesick boy pass many miser¬ able hours in a barren, gloomy, cold and far-away place.’’