Lillian Gunter
Born(1870-09-15)September 15, 1870
Sivells Bend, Texas
DiedOctober 10, 1926(1926-10-10) (aged 56)
Other namesLibrarian, historian

Lillian Gunter (September 15, 1870 – October 10, 1926) was a scholar, librarian, and historian during the late 19th to early 20th century in Texas.

Early life and education

Gunter was born and raised in Sivells Bend, Texas. She was the first of two daughters born to parents Addison Yancey Gunter and Elizabeth Ligon. Gunter was sent away at age 12 to St. Louis, Missouri, before attending Virginia Wesleyan Institute.[1]

After receiving an education, Gunter moved to Gainesville, Texas, where her father had his plantation and, whereon his death she assumed possession of the establishment from 1892 to 1902.[2] While managing the plantation, she decided the state needed a system of county libraries. Gunter traveled to New York to study at the New York Library School where she completed a course on the California State Library System.[3]

Career

Upon moving back to Gainesville, Gunter was essential to the creation of a small subscription library with the XLI Club.[4] By 1908, the library was receiving funds from the municipal government, though Gunter led the designing of the building.[5]

Once Andrew Carnegie gave his grant to the city, Gunter and her fellow club members raised the funds to buy a site for construction of the Gainesville Public Library.[2]

Pictured are three library staff inside the Gainesville Carnegie Public Library.

Though she began work in 1908, Gunter became the first head librarian of the Gainesville Carnegie Public Library upon its completion in 1914.[2] She sat as treasurer of the Texas Library Association from 1914 to 1915.[6] On October 14, 1915, she was elected chairman of the legislative committee.[7] Amongst her many lobbying activities, she also fought for library access for African-Americans, which failed to prosper.[5][8] Gunter also participated in the Suffragette movement to earn women the right to vote.[1]

Gunter eventually founded and directed the Cooke County Library in 1920 and directed. Five years later, Gunter became a charter member of the Red River Valley Historical Association.[2] While handling librarian duties, Gunter began to construct a law that would bring library services to rural Texas.[9] Along with county representative George W. Dayton, Gunter worked on the Texas County Library Law which passed on March 5, 1917 and was signed by Governor of Texas James E. Ferguson.[10] Though the first county library law would later be repealed, Gunter pushed for a second library law after getting advice from the California State Library.[9] The new law – the 1919 Texas County Library Law – passed and signed by Governor of Texas William P. Hobby.[2]

Gunter died on October 10, 1926.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Mounce, Cathy (April 4, 2013). "NCTC/Morton lecture profiles library pioneer". Gainesville Register. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Margaret Irby Nichols (15 June 2010). "GUNTER, LILLIAN". tshaonline.org. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  3. ↑ Trigg, Delania (August 16, 2010). "Gunter's papers tell history of Cooke County". Gainesville Daily Register. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  4. ↑ Irby C. Nichols; Margaret I. Nichols (January 1973). "Lillian Gunter: Texas County Legislation 1914-1919". Journal of Library History, Philosophy, and Comparative Librarianship. 8 (1): 11–17. JSTOR 25540389.
  5. 1 2 Abigail A. Van Slyck (1995). Free to All: Carnegie Libraries & American Culture, 1890-1920. University of Chicago Press. pp. 194–198. ISBN 9780226850313. Retrieved November 1, 2019. Lillian Gunter.
  6. ↑ Hazel, Self (May 1945). A History of the Cooke County Library, Gainesville, Texas (Thesis). Texas State Teachers College. pp. 42–47. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Must Educate People". San Antonio Light. Texas. October 14, 1915. p. 3.Free access icon
  8. ↑ McComb, David G. (October 5, 2012). Spare Time in Texas: Recreation and History in the Lone Star State. University of Texas Press. pp. 110–111. ISBN 9780292748477. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Texas County Library Law: Cooke County Public Library and the Morton Museum of Cooke County". dmc.tamuc.edu. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  10. ↑ Gracy, David B. (June 1, 2010). The State Library and Archives of Texas: A History, 1835-1962. University of Texas Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780292722019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Miss Lillian Gunter, Librarian in Cooke County, Dies Sunday". Amarillo Daily News. Texas. October 12, 1926. p. 6.Free access icon
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