We only have incomplete records of what people were checking out from HCPL during its earliest years. The books from 100 years ago have fallen apart, gotten lost, were never returned, or were eventually weeded (discarded) from the collection as the content became outdated.  And unfortunately, the logbooks for many of the school stations and bookmobiles are incomplete or lost. 

In 2009, around the system's 90th anniversary, a small collection of books from the library's early years were found and donated to the Harris County Archives.  The books had been stashed in the garage of a former HCPL librarian, who had "rescued" them after they had been weeded from her branch.

The 15 books are well-worn, and the covers are not in good shape.  The books were mended multiple times, which was necessary during the Great Depression as the library had very limited funds to purchase new books.  This sample of the library's collection gives us a small glimpse of the interests of Harris County residents at the time: heavy on fairy tales, children's fiction, landscaping, gardening, and home arrangement.  

The Best-Loved Poems of James Whitcomb Riley

Published 1920

Read a copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cu31924074498910 

The Christmas Story by Annie S. Cameron

Published 1934

Field Book of Common Ferns by Herbert Durand

Published 1928

Read a copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/fieldbookofcommo0000unse 

The Goose Girl of Nürnberg by Harriet Smith Hawley

Published 1935

Grimms' Fairy Tales

Published 1945

Read a copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/grimmsfairytalesgr00grim 

Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Times by William L. Nida

Published 1932

Landscaping the Small Home by Edward W. Olver

Published 1931

The Little Dutch Tulip Girl by Madeline Brandeis

Published 1929

Read a copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/littledutchtulip00bran 

Mitty and Mr. Syrup by Ruth and Richard Holberg

Published 1935

The Outdoor Living Room by Leonidas W. Ramsey and Charles H. Lawrence

Published 1932

A Roundabout Turn by Robert H. Charles, with drawings by L. Leslie Brooke

Published 1930

Children’s verse

Read a copy at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/roundaboutturn0000unse 

Sing, Swing, Play: How to do it by Martha Stockton Russell

Published 1938

Stories Pictures Tell, Book Eight by Flora L. Carpenter

Published 1918

Read a copy of Book Five at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/storiespicturest00carp 

Wigwam Children by Edwin W. Deming and Therese O. Deming

Published 1929

Wild Life in the Southwest by Oren Arnold

Published 1935