The buildings that are shown in black are Palmer Memorial Church and the James Autry House on the far right, Hermann Hospital in the middle, the Rice University gymnasium at top, and Baylor College of Medicine, which was under construction, at left (in the middle of the map). The Autry house, rectory for the church, operated a cafeteria that served Medical Center employees and students during the 1940’s and 1950’s

The origins of the library date back to 1915, when the Houston Academy of Medicine (HAM) established a small library in downtown Houston to serve the Harris County Medical Society. This Library was combined with the Baylor College of Medicine’s (BCM’s) small library in 1949 to form a centralized collection. As more institutions joined the Texas Medical Center, they also shared the resources of the TMC Library, thereby creating a unique point of collaboration among the institutions of the TMC.
A permanent home for this new library was built in the early 1950’s, through the efforts of HAM and BCM. Jesse H. Jones contributed funding for the construction, and in 1954, the approximately 27,000 square foot, three-story “Jesse H. Jones Library Building” was dedicated. By 1975, a new addition to the building had added another 76,000 square feet for the Library’s growing collection. At this time, the Library officially became known as the Houston Academy of Medicine – Texas Medical Center Library. Today the library uses the shorter operating name of The TMC Library. Find out more at History of the Library from the library website.