By Robert Taylor
Although she’s only been with the City of Boerne a few months, Sarah Habeeb has already shown how her work as the Memory Lab coordinator at the Patrick Heath Public Library will benefit the community for generations to come.
The Memory Lab, located on the library’s second floor, officially opened its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the end of September. It is a dedicated space for the public to digitally preserve their personal and family history, whether it be photographs, home videos, audio recordings, cookbooks, and more.
As the lab coordinator, Habeeb manages its operation and helps patrons with the equipment, providing a peace of mind for families that their memories will be accessible for the long term. Digitization also helps families more easily share items with others who might live further away.
She has also taken a leading role in the work of the library’s Dietert Community Archives, focusing on collecting, preserving, and digitizing the area’s history. Habeeb’s research frequently has her digging through old census records and documents, identifying connections to past that run all the way to today.
“I like how versatile the work is. I’m not stuck in one project,” she said. “I get to help people preserve their family history one day, then work with a volunteer to organize the archives, or go out with the Texas Historical Commission on site visits to help measure building foundations where the only thing left is the rocks placed in the ground more than a hundred years ago.”
A focus of her current research are the freedom colonies in the area, settled by the families of black slaves who were brought here by English settlers and later freed after the Civil War.
“These freedom colonies in the Hill Country, and in other areas of the United States, were slightly off from the main cities because they were usually not welcome, or they couldn’t find work or housing,” Habeeb said. “They would buy land from someone who was willing to sell and form essentially smaller communities. We have one of those communities in town, which is called the Flats.”
“I know that sense of community is here, which is something I was really looking for in a job.”
She also recently worked with the Kendall County Historical Commission to interview Charles Smith, the son of world-famous polo player Cecil Smith, who had a ranch in Boerne. Through that they learned about other famous polo players who spent time in Boerne while playing matches in San Antonio.
Habeeb preserves the community’s history with respect and an appreciation for both the stories and the storytellers.
“Having relationships with other historians, but also, especially in my position where it’s public history, which is more community based, having that relationship with the community that you’re preserving the history of and researching is very important,” she said. “That is especially true when it comes to the families who haven’t had the chance to showcase their history. You need to build those relationships, because it’s their history; it’s not yours.”
Because historical preservation is not work that can be done in a silo, Habeeb relies on these connections to the community and collaborative partners like the Kendall County Historical Society, the Boerne Area Historical Preservation Society, and others to tell Boerne’s story.
“I know that sense of community is here, which is something I was really looking for in a job,” she said. “I really like the atmosphere working with the City, and I’m glad to have found that here in Boerne.”
Habeeb grew up here most of her life and graduated from the Geneva School of Boerne before earning an undergraduate degree in history from St. Edward’s University in Austin and a graduate degree in public history from Texas State University.
Before the City of Boerne, she worked at the Conservation Society of New Braunfels, interned at the City of Round Rock, and volunteered at several historical associations.
Habeeb loves the beauty of Boerne and its people, both of which make it a warm and welcoming place to call home.
