Pride Month: Silk Stocking Ball
Rosenberg Treasure of the Month
During the month of June, the Rosenberg Library is displaying a medallion from the 1995 Silk Stocking Mardi Gras Ball. Donated in March of 2022 by Alice Wygant, this 1995 Silk Stocking Ball Mardi-Gras medallion marks the first openly LGBTQ+ item donated to the Rosenberg Library Museum.
| 1995 Silk Stocking Ball Mardi-Gras medallion. Donated by Alice Wygant. | Rosenberg Library Museum |
Started in 1988 as a private and invitation only Mardi-Gras Party, the Silk Stocking Ball grew into one of Galveston’s most exciting and well attended events. An annual highlight of the ball was the elaborate costume contest featuring a parade of costumes.
On February 24, 1995 the 8th annual Silk Stocking Ball was held in the West Arena of Moody Gardens. The black tie event raised $10,500 for many local AIDS charities, including the Galveston AIDS coalition of Coastal Texas, now known as Access Care of Coastal Texas, Inc. (ACCT). Additionally, the Silk Stocking Ball announced a winner of their Founder’s Award, an award given each year to a person and/or persons who gave their time and talent to the community. Local resident, Johnny Brandt won the 1995 Founder’s Award.
Pam Froeschner, Board Member of the Rosenberg Library has been a volunteer with ACCT for 30 years. In 1996 she was an event coordinator for the Silk Stocking Ball, helping raise $12,000 donated to four local AIDS charities.
Access Care of Coastal Texas (ACCT) is located at 707 23rd Street. To learn more, visit accttexas.org/about.
The Treasure of the Month is located on the library’s historic second floor. It can be viewed during regular library hours, 9:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9:00 a.m. – 8:45 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Objects Needed:
The Rosenberg Library Museum is committed to embracing diversity, practicing equity and ensuring accessibility and inclusion. The Museum will continuously strive to achieve a welcoming environment in all our spaces where staff, artists, patrons and the community feel reflected and valued.
In order to build a more inclusive collection and exhibits that better represent our community as a whole, the Rosenberg Library Museum is need of artifacts, archival materials and historic information that represents the LGBTQ+ community among other diverse communities. If you have artifacts, photographs, records or oral histories that you would like to donate to the Rosenberg Library Museum, please contact the Museum Curator, Ivy Albright at museum@rosenberg-library.org or call 409-763-8854 ext. 125.
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Rosenberg Library
Rosenberg Library has offered over a century of community service to the Galveston area, and is the oldest public library in Texas in continuous operation. The building itself was dedicated on June 22, 1904, the birthday of its patron, Henry Rosenberg. The Moody Memorial Wing opened in 1971, more than doubling the floor space and allowing for a children’s library, a history center, several galleries to showcase museum collections, and later, a computer lab. The Library accepted its first museum piece shortly after it opened in 1904. Since then, thousands of rare and interesting objects from around the world have been added to the collection. Each month they display a “Treasure of the Month”. Learn more by visiting the Rosenberg Library page and the Gifts of Henry Rosenberg section.
