A Century of Service
On October 1, 2015, the Harris County Law Library celebrated a century of service to the local legal community and the citizens of Harris County. Explore the digital exhibit below to discover how the Law Library began in 1915 and how things have changed in the last 100 years. For more, visit our downtown Houston location through the end of 2015 to see exhibits about the Harris County Law Library's Century of Service.
Visit our Centennial Celebration page for information on the October 1st event. View videos of the speakers program featuring keynote speaker Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht of the Supreme Court of Texas, photos of exhibits, and more!
In April 2016, the Harris County Law Library received the prestigious American Association of Law Libraries Excellence in Marketing Award in the Best Campaign category for the Centennial Celebration. All members of the Law Library staff were honored by the recognition and thankful to our speakers and sponsors who helped make the Centennial Celebration such a great success.
Harris County Law Library Day - October 1, 2015
Harris County Commissioners Court has designated October 1, 2015 as Harris County Law Library Day throughout the entire county! The Law Library would like to sincerely thank Commissioners Court for their support as we celebrate a century of service.
Centennial Timeline
Find highlights of the people and events that have shaped the Harris County Law Library's 100-year history.
Harris County Law Library Founders
Visit the Founders page to learn about the prominent Houston attorneys who organized the Law Library a century ago. Members of this accomplished group include a long-serving district judge and founding partners of prestigious law firms that have withstood the test of time. Explore the biographies further to find the attorney who saved Rice University and the U.S. Congressman whose efforts helped build the century-old Houston Ship Channel. And, of course, each can add to their list of accomplishments their part in organizing a Law Library that has served the legal community and citizens of Harris County for more than 100 years.
Explore the tools used by the first director of the Harris County Law Library, F. W. Nisbet, who served from 1915 to 1956. Without the benefit of modern technology, law librarianship looked a little different back then. Learn how Mr. Nisbet discovered and organized legal research resources for Houston's legal community.
Take a step back in time to see the materials used by attorneys at the Harris County Law Library in 1915. From statutes to cases, the early library had everything an early 20th-century attorney needed to practice in Houston and many of the volumes remain in the collection today to support historical research. Visit The 1915 Collection page to learn about these resources and the donations that made them possible.
Technology has played an important role in the Law Library. From the light bulb that safely illuminated law books in 1915 to the public access computers that bring the latest legal research technologies to all patrons today, the technology available in the Law Library has changed dramatically in the last 100 years. Visit the Law Library Technology page to see a century of progress in legal research technology.