A pioneering leader in library history

First black librarian in the county won Innovator Awards

By Christine Granados

Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post  -  February 7, 2024

Gillespie County hired the first African American Head Librarian in the county, when they opened the new Pioneer Memorial Library on May 7, 1967. Thelma McDaniel Phillips, who was named head librarian of the library located in the newly restored Gillespie County Courthouse in the ’60s won statewide accolades as an innovator. “During Thelma’s tenure as head librarian, she gained notoriety as Librarian of the Year for the State of Texas in 1971 and was honored in Washington D.C. in recognition of her advances in promoting education and reading for this community,” said her son, Dr. Paul Phillips III.The Texas Library Association honored Phillips in 2002 during their 100th Anniversary celebration as one of 100 Champions.

“After helping to found the Gillespie County Library in the 1960s, Thelma Phillips organized a multicounty organization designed to encourage the development of libraries in Central Texas,” said a TLA press release. “When the Texas Library Systems Act was passed in 1969, she served two terms on the state advisory board and helped develop rules and regulations for the 10 Texas library systems.”

Librarian

After relocating to the Hill Country area with her husband Dr. Paul Phillips Jr., DVM, Thelma Phillips was hired as the assistant librarian in 1956, when the library was housed in the Vereins Kirche.There she helped update the library’s book classification system.“She was instrumental in updating the library’s book location system by introducing the Dewey-decimal system to aid in the finding of books for the locals. She also began the process of organizing the historical book section as more accessible,” Paul III said.

When Eugene and Margaret McDermott of Dallas donated funding to restore the Gillespie County Courthouse to be used as a library, Phillips was promoted to head librarian. She oversaw the relocation of books during the move and supervised a staff of three: Adah Peden, Alice Hierholzer and Carolyn Holloway.The Vereins Kirche served as the town’s library from 1936-1967, with Peden managing the 300-book collection.As head librarian, Thelma initiated the Summer Reading Program for children and was also involved in the Head Start program to promote children’s education in Fredericksburg, according to Paul III.

Career

Before coming to Gillespie County, Thelma was a librarian at the Hollis Burke Frissell Library at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. She started her career there as head of the reference division before moving up. Thelma received a bachelor’s degree in library science from the University of Chicago Graduate Library School, after graduating from North Carolina State College at Durham with a bachelor of arts degree in social science with a minor in library science. While working in the library at the Tuskegee Institute, she met Paul Phillips Jr., a U.S. Army World War II veteran, and they married in 1947. They relocated to Fredericksburg after Paul Jr. graduated from the Tuskegee Institute School of Veterinary Medicine. They had four children, Paula, Elaine, Paul III and Janet.

Childhood

Thelma was the oldest of five children. She was born in York County, South Carolina on March 27, 1924, to Adam T. McDaniel and Maggie McDaniel.“Pastor Adam McDaniel was an African American Baptist preacher who deeply believed in the education of all five of his children to receive higher education that local schools could provide,” Paul III said.“As the son of Thelma and Paul Phillips Jr., I have felt compelled to remind our community of the advances that were made during the time that Thelma’s presence was here in our town and community,” Paul III said. “I still go into the library now to reminisce of the impact that my mother had on not only me, but also so many others that lived here in Fredericksburg.”Thelma joined the Arlington Public Library staff in 1973 and retired as associate director of the Arlington Public Library system in 1990 after developing a volunteer program that was a model statewide, according to the TLA.

“Her memory is one that we as a community should not forget and it is one that should be placed in the history of the Gillespie County library as a reminder of just who it was that lit the spark to create this library that we call ours,” said Paul III, a fourth generation Fredericksburger.

Thelma M. Phillips shows off the reference collection, which utilized the Dewey-decimal system she helped introduce to Pioneer Memorial Library.

Above, Thelma M. Phillips, head librarian of the newly renovated Pioneer Memorial Library in 1967, at the circulation desk with Adah Peden.