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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2005
Contact:
, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442
History in Your Hands: 50 Years of the Austin History Center
 Since 1955, the Austin History Center of the Austin Public Library has served Austin and the surrounding area as the local archives. The Austin History Center is celebrating the 50th year of existence of the Austin-Travis County Collection this April and May. The exhibit History in Your Hands: 50 years of the Austin History Center celebrates the most notable events occurring in the last half-century at the Austin History Center. In the lobby of the Austin History Center, visitors are able to read about the first fifty years of the Austin-Travis County Collection while examining the special exhibit. This anniversary exhibit was prepared by Catherine Stollar as part of her graduation requirement from the School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin. The exhibit entitled "History in Your Hands" provides a timeline of events related to the first fifty years of the Austin History Center; illustrates the types of archives that the Austin History Center is so well-known for providing to the public; and features the people who have worked so persistently to create this fine example of a local history repository situated within the public library setting. To discover more about the first 50 years of the Austin History Center, view the online timeline at www.cityofaustin.org/library/ahc/timeline.htm or visit the Austin History Center between the hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 Noon to 6 p.m. For additional information call (512) 974-7400.
In 1955, the Austin Public Library established a small file devoted to local history called the Austin-Travis County Collection. Through the hard work of Helen Swanson and the collection's first curator Katherine Drake Hart, the Austin-Travis County Collection grew from a single file folder into a separate section of the Austin Public Library's Reference department. After the opening of the new John Henry Faulk Central Library and partially due to the efforts of the second curator of the Austin History Center Audray Bateman Randle, the original central Austin Public Library building became the Austin History Center.
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