Celebrating the 105th Anniversary of the Harris County Law Library

This day, October 1, 2020, marks the 105th Anniversary of the founding of the Harris County Law Library. Every day, we are committed to promoting open and equal access to justice for all, including self-represented litigants and the local legal community.

Since the celebration of our Centennial in 2015, the Law Library has continued to grow and evolve. We are especially proud of our ability to adapt our services during this unprecedented public health crisis and to continue responding to the legal needs of Harris County residents. We aim to serve individuals whose legal concerns are just as pressing as ever, despite interruptions in the judicial system. We are also working diligently to support the reference and research needs of local attorneys who are working remotely but still need access to all the library has to offer.

Virtual Reference Desk

The Law Library’s Virtual Reference Desk is here to help with your legal research needs during this time of public health concern. Our law librarians are available via email and voicemail to assist with access to legal research materials. The Law Library has worked with vendors like Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Lexis eBooks, HeinOnline, and State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals to make documents available to you remotely. Email the Law Library reference staff or give us a call. We answer nearly 250 reference questions each month from self-represented litigants, attorneys, paralegals, and librarians, and we’re happy to help you, too!

Live Chat Reference

The Texas State Law Library and the Harris County Law Library have teamed up to provide online chat reference assistance Monday through Friday from 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. During this three-hour block of real-time interaction with law librarians from both institutions, we receive a steady stream of questions on everything from agriculture to zoning. If you would like to communicate with a member of the reference team directly, find us five days a week in Chat!

Remote-Access Digital Resources

The Law Library provides a one-stop landing page for different library patrons based on their unique information needs. To learn about accessing our electronic resources remotely, visit the Digital Resources page. Here you will find links assembled for various patron groups including Self-Represented Litigants, Legal Researchers, Educators, and the Courts.

With so much growth in recent years, we are excited to see what the future holds. We are eager to implement even more new ideas as we begin our next year of service to the Harris County community. We will continue to embrace and be responsive to the changes taking place in society at large. On the occasion of our anniversary, we are renewing our commitment to serving Harris County residents and the local legal community, no matter how changes brought about by the ongoing public health crisis may shape our methods of delivering the best legal reference service possible.

Remembering 9/11

Today, September 11, 2020, we remember the tragedy that befell our nation 19 years ago — the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a hijacked airplane, United Airlines Flight 93, that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We pay tribute to those who lost their lives on that day, as well as those who lives continue to be impacted by the attacks. We recognize the need to preserve the details of this historical inflection point with the following list of resources so that we may never forget.

• 9/11 Memorial and Museum

• 9/11 Living Memorial — VOICES Center for Resilience

• September 11, 2001, Documentary Project — Library of Congress

• September 11, 2001, Web Archive — Library of Congress

• September 11 Digital Archive — American Social History Project

• September 11: Bearing Witness to History — Smithsonian

• The Reckoning — The New York Times

• Story Corps September 11 Initiative — NPR

• Understanding 9/11: A Television News Archive — Internet Archive

• Remembering 9/11 in Pictures — National Geographic

• Blindspot: The Road to 9/11 Podcast — History (podcast)

I Have a Dream

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. — Martin Luther King, Jr., March on Washington, August 28, 1963

The organizations linked below feature information and resources about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his life, and his legacy. Today, on the anniversary of Dr. King’s famous I Have a Dream Speech, 100,000 demonstrators are expected to gather at the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial for the 2020 National Action Network Commitment March. View the live stream of the event here.

Votes for Texas Women Celebrates Today's 19th Amendment Centennial Anniversary

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Suffragists gather in Houston, Texas, in 1912.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

— United States Constitution, Amendment XIX, Ratified August 18, 1920

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, thereby adding it to the Constitution of the United States. Finally, after decades of campaigning for the right to vote, protesting and petitioning their representatives, and facing opposition and, even, imprisonment, suffragists achieved their goal of a national constitutional amendment.

Today, to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the Harris County Law Library is hosting virtual symposium featuring three accomplished women from our local legal community, Marie Jamison, Partner at Wright Close & Barger, Professor Renee Knake Jefferson, and Justice Frances Bourliot. They will discuss the history of voting rights for women and the importance of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

For details on the symposium, please visit Votes for Texas Women online.

A list of Further Reading, available here and at the link below, will connect you to resources that trace the fight for women’s suffrage from its origins at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to the full ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Harris County Law Library Offers 19th Amendment Centennial Symposium to All

For Immediate Release
August 14, 2020

The Harris County Law Library announces a virtual 19th Amendment Centennial Symposium on Tuesday, August 18, from 2pm to 4pm. The event, titled “Votes for Texas Women,” will focus on the history of women’s suffrage and the importance of inclusion in law and government.

“We are thrilled to offer this educational opportunity to everyone on the 100th anniversary of the day the 19th Amendment was ratified,” Law Library Director Mariann Sears said. “We hope that sharing the stories from the historical and legal texts of the brave women who fought for the right to vote by protesting and reaching out to their representatives, even as the 1918 pandemic raged on, can connect more people with the rich history surrounding the amendment.”

Mariann Sears, the first woman to serve as director of the Law Library, will welcome three distinguished women from the local legal community to share their expertise. Marie Jamison, a partner at Wright Close & Barger, will share her research into the history of the 19th Amendment and the progress made in the century that followed. Professor Renee Knake Jefferson, the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics Director at University of Houston Law Center and author of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, will discuss her research concerning the overlooked history of the nine women who were shortlisted for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, but not nominated between the 1930s and 1980s. Justice Frances Bourliot, Fourteenth Court of Appeals Texas, will discuss the importance of inclusion on the bench and her experience as an appellate justice.

“The passage of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited denying a person the right to vote on the basis of sex, was an important step toward protecting voting rights in America,” County Attorney Vince Ryan said. “We are pleased with the Law Library’s efforts to celebrate the legacy of women’s suffrage and the contributions of women in law and government over the last century.”

Registration is now open and free to all at https://www.harriscountylawlibrary.org/19thamendment. The program is accredited by the State Bar of Texas for 2.0 hours of continuing legal education credit with 1.0 hour of ethics credit. In addition to the Harris County Attorney’s Office, this Law Library program is made possible with the support of the Houston Bar Association, League of Women Voters of Houston, and Women of Law.

About the Harris County Law Library

The Harris County Law Library opened in 1915 and has continued to serve Harris County’s legal information needs for more than a century. After joining the Office of Vince Ryan, Harris County Attorney, in 2011, the Law Library greatly expanded its technology offerings and services to the public. Ryan’s support for the revitalization of the Law Library was recognized by the American Association of Law Libraries in 2016 when he was named the Law Library Advocate of the Year. To learn more about services and digital collections, visit the Harris County Law Library Virtual Reference Desk at https://www.harriscountylawlibrary.org.