Book Fest to Honor Phillips

Fredericksburg Standard Radio Post  -  January 15, 2025

The inaugural Fredericksburg Book Festival, Saturday, Jan. 18, will kick off activities by dedicating the day to Thelma McDaniels Phillips, the first librarian of Pioneer Memorial Library. At 9 a.m. Saturday in front of the library, book festival organizers will open the book festival with a ceremony in honor of Phillips. Erika Caputo, the library director will unveil a maquette created by sculptor Jonas Perkins, who created the busts of Cora Phillips and Paul Phillips Sr. at the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and countless busts and life-size bronze statues for cities all over Texas.

Perkins, who lives in Fredericksburg, will discuss how he will create a life-size bronze of Phillips sitting on a bench reading to children. “I wanted the sculpture to embody a learning tree and show children learning to be captivated by the written word,” Perkins said. He received a call from Phillips’ son, Dr. Paul Phillips III, who proposed the idea. Paul Phillips gave Perkins a sketch that was drafted by his sister, Paula Phillips, a studio and community artist and graduate faculty emerita at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. “The last three or four years I’ve been trying to think of something to do to honor my mother,” Paul Phillips said. “She was the first and only African American librarian that they’ve ever had.”

Thelma Phillips helped update the library’s book classification system. “The biggest thing she did was introduce the Dewey decimal system,” Paul Phillips said. “She also began the process of organizing the historical German book section as more accessible.”

Thelma Phillips’ Career

After relocating to the Hill Country 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. The Vereins Kirche served as the town’s library from 1936-1967, with Adah Peden managing the 300-book collection. Thelma Phillips oversaw the relocation of books during the move to PML and supervised a staff of three: Peden, Alice Hierholzer and Carolyn Holloway.

Education

Before coming to Gillespie County, Thelma Phillips 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. She received a bachelor’s degree of 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.

Dedication

Book festival organizers, Caputo and the Phillips family thought introducing the concept of the statue at the start of the book festival would be a good way to get the word out about the capital campaign to help pay for the cost of the bronze. “The book festival is the perfect opportunity to get the word out about what Thelma Phillips did and her significance in the community,” said Paul Phillips III. “We’re soliciting donations to build the bronze.” The bronze, which will be finished sometime in 2026, will cost between $100,000 to $200,000, according to Sheila Wright, who handles publicity for Perkins.

“Once it is done, it will be out in front of the library,” Paul Phillips III said. “Erika is working with the city, county and Friends of the Library on the project.”

Late librarian Thelma McDaniels Phillips will have the first book festival dedicated in her honor.