The manuscript features minutes of monthly, annual, and special meetings of the Board of Directors as well as general meetings of the entire Houston Public School Art League from 1904 to 1911. The minutes document the vital role played by the League in the establishment of a public art collection in Houston. Frequent subjects include fundraising efforts; League finances and membership; acquisitions; and preparations made for exhibitions, lectures, and musical programs intended to increase League membership and public exposure to art. The minutes illustrate the evolution of women's committees within the League which administered the display and maintenance of works of art in Houston's public schools, as well as the League's involvement with other women's organizations in the city, such as the Daughters of the Confederacy. The League maintained a high profile in Houston, making presentations before bodies of teachers, parents, and School Board officials in order to convey the organization's purposes and aims and to promote the benefits of art-related studies. The manuscript demonstrates the League's dedication to the development of high artistic standards and the refinement of public aesthetics: minutes dated October 19, 1909 record the granting of privileges by the School Board of Houston to the League, which had petitioned the Board for the right to consult on the interior decoration of Houston public schools and the authority to approve all art works intended for display in classrooms.
