HOUSTON – To honor former first lady Barbara Bush, the Houston Public Library is asking all Houstonians to share their condolences and memories in a memory book.
People can also leave flowers and memorabilia in memory of Bush.
The memory book, along with recorded oral history, will be documented in the archives.
"This is kind of one way for us as a library system to share and express our own sadness at the loss of the former first lady,” said Emily Scott, lead archivist and assistant manager at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center.
Scott said they’ll have a booth at the Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza, which is near the Downtown Central Library. People can write on posters or memory books, recording their memories.
“We'll record it and we're going to preserve some of these memories, including the books at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center,” Scott explained. “We are an archive branch of Houston Public Library System and we specialize in collecting, preserving and making available to Houstonians the history of the city of Houston.”
Scott said they do this to document how average Houstonians are feeling during major events.
After the Pulse Nightclub shooting, they had people sign posters. It’s not just sad situations; they also captured people’s feelings about the Astrodome and have a website dedicated to those memories.
“The archive tries to not just collect the most famous Houstonians or people who made a huge impact in the city. Of course we try to preserve their stuff, but (also), what was life like in Houston in 2018? What do real people experience? What do they think of the things that are going on at the time,” Scott explained.
If people cannot make it out to the tribute Thursday, it will continue through April 30.