MS171: Interview with Katie McGready

Authors

Katie McGready
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Author Biographical Info

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.

Publication Date(s)

March 1, 2016

Language

English

Keywords

medical librarian, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, medical library, Texas Medical Center

Abstract

An oral history interview with Mary Catherine Bussey Boice (Katie) McGready, the first medical librarian in the Texas Medical Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.

Mary Catherine Bussey Boice “Katie” McGready became the first medical librarian in the Texas Medical Center when Dr. Ernst W. Bertner asked to her to begin the medical library at what was then the fledgling MD Anderson Cancer Center. She was among the first employees at the Cancer Center, then located at “The Oaks,” the estate of the late Colonel James A. Baker at 2310 Baldwin Street in Houston.

Born in rural Timpson, Texas, she was the only daughter with four brothers – two older and one younger. Her journey from running the soda fountain in her father’s drugstore to several jobs in the nascent Texas Medical Center reflects not only the early days there but also the lives of young women in Texas in the early 20^th century.

She married twice – first to Dr. Edward Henry “Ned” Boice, whom she met when she was learning medical librarian duties at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. They had five children – Betsy McPhaden of Seattle, Bill Boice of Atlanta, Peggy Boice of Houston, Cathy Bacon of Houston and Jim Boice of Austin. Later, as a widow, she married Frances Cornelius “Mac” McGready, which whom she lived many happy years before his death in 2009. See more at Texas Medical Center-Women's History Project and its finding aid.

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Comments

Interviewed by: Natalie Garza

Transcription: Ruth SoRelle

Edited by: Ruth SoRelle

Date: June 26, 2015

Recommended Citation

McGready, Katie and Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library, "MS171: Interview with Katie McGready" (2016). Texas Medical Center - Women's History Project. 24.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/tmc-whp/24