Clayton Library Friends (CLF) was founded in 1987 by a group of individuals interested in enhancing the collection and in expanding the facilities and services of the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research. CLF is a tax-exempt, non-profit entity organized under IRS Code 501(c)(3) and, in accordance with the CLF Bylaws, is administered by the CLF Executive Board, made up of individuals who are elected by the membership and who serve without compensation. Funds raised by CLF go for the acquisition of books, microfilm, CD-ROM publications, and periodicals for Clayton Library or for the improvement and expansion of library facilities. (For further information on the financial status of CLF, see our 2004 Federal Tax Return and Financial Audit).

Since its founding, CLF has provided a significant level of support to the Clayton Library. Funds contributed by or acquired through the efforts of CLF members have totaled more than $2.25 million. In 1994, the Friends served as host society for the National Genealogical Society Conference in the States, focusing national attention on the Clayton Library and significantly expanding CLF membership rolls.

"Friends" Membership Benefits

• Quarterly Programs: CLF holds quarterly meetings (February, May, August, and November). These feature guest speakers, project reports, and discussions related to library acquisitions and fund raising efforts. The November meeting includes the election of officers and award presentations.
• Volunteer Opportunities: CLF members have the opportunity to perform volunteer services for the library. After training, volunteers are assigned to a project or function and have the flexibility to work as little or as much as they choose. Volunteers accrue hours toward HPL’s volunteer recognition program, and each November the CLF Executive Board selects a CLF volunteer for its Volunteer-of-the-Year award.
• The CLF Newsletter: CLF publishes a quarterly newsletter that features articles about the library’s holdings, tips for doing research at the library, and announcements of new acquisitions, planned CLF activities, and fund-raising events. The CLF Newsletter was the first place winner in the National Genealogical Society’s Genealogical Newsletter Competition for 1997 in the category of Major Genealogical Societies. In 2001, the newsletter received an honorale mention in the same category.
• Library Seminars: Clayton Library Friends, in cooperation with the Clayton Library staff present free seminars to acquaint researchers with the library’s collection and finding aids. Also, for the past year, the Clayton Library Friends and the Houston Genealogical Forum have teamed up to present seminars on a wide variety of genealogical topics. Half of the proceeds from the latter are used by the Friends to purchase books and film for the Clayton Library.

How to Join Clayton Library Friends

Gifts to CLF, over and above the membership fee, are always welcomed, and donors are recognized in the newsletter. Gift categories are:

• Contributor: $1 to $49
• Donor: $50 to $99
• Patron: $100 to $249
• Sponsor: $250 to $499
• Benefactor: $500 and above

CLF Executive Board

• Dickie K. "Dick" Warren, President
• Iris Collins Eaton, First Vice President
• Donald L. "Don" Teter, Second Vice President
• Alice Braud-Jones, Secretary
• Ruby V. Dusek, Treasurer

• Claudia Grafton, First-Year Director
• Samuel S. "Sam" Lusk, First-Year Director
• Nick H. Sorensen, First-Year Director
• Wallace E. "Wally" Davenport, Second-Year Director
• Gloria LaVonne Wright Russell, Second-Year Director
• Frances Trimble, Second-Year Director

• Susan Kaufman, Manager, Clayton Library
• (The position of parliamentarian is currently vacant.)

Quarterly Programs

Meeting Schedule for 2006:
• February 11, 2006: Donald E. Lee, Immediate Past President of the Sam Houston Chapter, Sons of the Republic of Texas. Topic: “Lee After Appomattox.”
• May 14, 2006: Speaker and topic to be announced. At this meeting, the membership will elect four individuals for the nominating committee. (This committee will report their nominations for 2007 offices at the November 2006 general meeting.)
• August 13, 2006: Speaker and topic to be announced.
• November 12, 2006: Speaker and topic to be announced. At this meeting, the membership will elect officers and directors for 2007 and the annual Volunteer-of-the-Year and President’s awards will be presented.

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Volunteer Opportunities

• Shelving: Clayton is an "open stack" library, and patrons are free to browse the shelves and select the books they need. When the books are returned to the book carts at the ends of the stacks, library staff members and volunteers return them to their proper place on the shelves. Even if you can only spend a few hours once a week or once a month, the library could use your help in this area. To become a shelving volunteer, you must register with the library (forms available at the main desk) and attend a shelving class taught by a member of the library staff.
• Clayton Home Monitors: To satisfy the library’s policy to have at least two staff members or volunteers present in the Clayton Home, trained CLF volunteers are scheduled in for this purpose on a regular basis. While in the Clayton Home, these individuals perform administrative tasks similar to those assigned to the regular staff.
• Film-Box Relabeling: Currently, the library is seeking volunteers to participate in the re-labeling of census microfilm boxes. It has been discovered that, in many cases, the enumeration districts listed on the box labels do not reflect the correct order in which the enumeration districts appear on the microfilm. Volunteers, working with library staff member David Hardin, are examining census microfilm and preparing corrected labels as needed. A brief training session is required for people working on this project.
• Tags and Stops: When new film collections arrive, volunteers are used to affix security tags and film-leader stops to the film reels. Not a regular volunteer activity, “tags and stops” support is only needed when large collections arrive and must be processed in as short a time as possible. About five minutes of training is required.

• Educational seminars
• CLF office adminsitration
• Articles for The CLF Newsletter
• Fund raising projects
• Grant application development
• Microprint Finding Aid Project

CLF Newsletter

• "The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records" by John Dorroh (vol. 8, no. 4, November 1994).
• "Taking a Look at Clifford Neal Smith’s Federal Land Series " by Gay E. Carter (vol. 9, no. 1, February 1995).
• "The Leon S. Hollingsworth Card File" by Mic Barnette (vol. 9, no. 1, February 1995).
• "Using the Georgia Tax Digest Indices" by Mic Barnette (vol. 9, no. 2, May 1995).
• "American State Papers" by Gay E. Carter (vol. 9, no. 2, May 1995).
• "Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons, ‘Amnesty Papers’" by Kelvin Meyers (vol. 9, no. 2, May 1995).
• "The Robert Bruce Blake Research Collection" by Karen Stein Daniel, C.G. (vol. 9, no. 3, August 1995).
• "Society of Friends" by W. Arthur Allee, Ph.D. (vol. 9, no. 3, August 1995).
• "Internet Basics and the World Wide Web" by Donald E. Pusch (vol. 9, no. 3, August 1995).
• "Perusing the PERiodical Source Index " by Gay E. Carter (vol. 9, no. 4, November 1995).
• "Recent Advances in New England Research Available at Clayton Library" by Gary Boyd Roberts (vol. 9, no. 4, November 1995).
• "The Papers of Panton, Leslie and Company" by Ruby Dusek (vol. 10, no. 1, February 1996).
• "Clayton Acquires Texas Freedmen’s Bureau Papers" by Patricia Smith Prather (vol. 10, no. 1, February 1996).
• "Let’s Talk of Graves, of Worms, and Epitaphs" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 10, no. 3, August 1996).
• "The Nationial Union Catelog of Manuscript Collections: An Untapped Source" by Karen Stein Daniel, C.G. (vol. 10, no. 3, August 1996).
• "Have you been SWEM-ming lately?" by Emily Croom (vol. 10, no. 4, November 1996).
• "The ‘Other’ Colonial America: An Overview of Clayton Library’s Research Material on New France" by Donald E. Pusch (vol. 10, no. 4, November 1996).
• "The Southern Claims Commission: A Little Known Source of Genealogical Information" by Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks (vol. 10, no. 4, November 1996).
• "Sometimes Taxes Are Fun" by Emily Croom (vol. 11, no. 1, February 1997).
• "Soundex for Dummies" by Joseph P. Wolfe (vol. 11, no. 1, February 1997).
• "Bodies in Transit" by Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks (vol. 11, no. 2, May 1997).
• "Georgia Civil War Salt Rolls, 1862-1864" by Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks (vol. 11, no. 2, May 1997).
• "Who were the Huguenots?" by Vivian Hill Jordan (Part 1: vol. 11, no. 2, May 1997. Part 2: vol. 11, no. 3, August 1997).
• "We Dined on ‘Steak and Whiskey’: An Overview of the Shane Manuscripts" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 11, no. 3, August 1979).
• "Irish Research at Clayton Library" by John Dorroh (vol. 11, no. 3, August 1997).
• "Southwest Louisiana Records" by Rose Mary Fritz and Ruby Dusek (vol. 11, no. 4, November 1997).
• "World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards" by Charles L. Jensen (vol. 11, no. 4, November 1997).
• "Murder Most Foul...Threats and Insults!" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 12, no. 1, February 1998).
• "Texas County Records" by Suzanne (Susie) Sandlin Gay (vol. 12, no. 1, February 1998).
• "The Works Progress Administration Index to Texas Naturalizations, Texas State District and County Courts, 1846-1939" by Karen Stein Daniel, C.G. (vol. 12, no. 2, May 1998).
• "Enjoy Some R&R at Clayton Library" by Suzanne (Susie) Sandlin Gay (vol. 12, no. 3, August 1998).
• "The National Archives: A Guide to the Guide" by Gay Carter (vol. 12, no. 3, August 1998).
• "The Eagle Pass Entry Card" by Don Pusch (vol. 12, no. 3, August 1998).
• "Cavaliers and Pioneers: Virginia Land Patents" by Emily Croom (vol. 12, no. 4, November 1998).
• "The Holbrook Collection on Microform: Massachusetts Vital Records and More" by Karen Stein Daniel, C.G. (vol. 12, no. 4, November 1998).
• "Marriage and Death Notices from the National Intelligencer" by Don Pusch (vol. 12, no. 4, November 1998).
• "Do You Have an ‘Urban’ Ancestor? Check out that City Directory!" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 13, no. 1, February 1999).
• "A Visit to the Pennsylvania Archives...At Clayton Library!" by Joseph P. Wolfe (vol. 13, no. 1, February 1999).
• "Native American Research in the Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940 " by Karen Stein Daniel, CG (vol. 13, no. 2, May 1999).
• "The 1890 Census: Sifting Through the Ashes" by Don Pusch (vol. 13, no. 2, May 1999).
• "French Archives Finding Aids" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 13, no. 3, August 1999).
• "Laws of the King" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 13, no. 3, August 1999).
• "Southern Legacy: The Leonardo Andrea Collection" by Gay E. Carter (vol. 13, no. 3, August 1999).
• "Acquiring Land in ‘Penn’s Woods’: Pennsylvania Land Records on Microfilm" by Joseph P. Wolfe (vol. 13, no. 4, November 1999).
• "The Statutes at Large of Virginia" by Emily Croom (vol. 13, no. 4, November 1999).
• "Using WorldCat and HPL’s Interlibrary Loan Service for Genealogical Research" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 14, no. 1, February 2000).
• "Right of Passage" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 14, no. 1, February 2000).
• "The Southern Claims Commission "Revisited" by Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks (vol. 14, no. 2, May 2000).
• "Houston Public Library On-Line Databases: Saving Time with PERSI, Part One" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 14, no. 2, May 2000).
• "Kuntz Collection Catalogue" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 14, no. 2, May 2000).
• "Rising Toward Heaven: Church Members and Their Records" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 14, no. 2, May 2000).
• "The McCubbins Collection of North Carolina" by Constance Seger (vol. 14, no. 3, May 2000).
• "Faith of Our Fathers: Church Denominations" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 14, no. 3, May 2000).
• "Texas Before the Republic: The Béxar Archives" by Don Pusch (vol. 14, no. 4, November 2000).
• "Atlases of Historical County Boundaries: More Than mere maps" by Emily Croom (vol. 15, no.1, February 2001).
• "Republic of Texas Claims: We need this microfilm!" by Don Pusch (vol. 15, no. 1, February 2001).
• "Freedman’s Savings and Trust Records" by Don Pusch (vol. 15, no. 2, May 2001).
• "The Natchez Trace Collection" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 15, no. 3, August 2001).
• "Cuban Papers Being Acquired" (vol. 15, no. 4, November 2001).
• "1930 City Directories: The ‘Other’ Finding Aid at the Clayton Library" (vol. 16, no. 2, April 2002).
• "Those Natchez Trace Papers Revisited" by Trevia Wooster Beverly (vol. 16, no. 2, April 2002).
• "Texas Newspapers on Microfilm" (vol. 16, no. 3, July 2002).
• "What’s New? [Irish Research]" (vol. 16, no. 4 October 2002).
• "Coming: The Atascosito District Archives" (vol. 17, no. 2, April 2003).
• "French Ship’s Logs Now at Clayton" by Don Pusch (vol. 17, no. 3, July 2003).
• "Preserving Texas Records" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 17, no.4, October 2003).
• "Cuban Papers are Here!" by Robert de Berardinis (vol. 17, no. 4, October 2003).

Library Seminars

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