The early history of the Peabody Building goes back in time to when Sam Houston State University was known as Sam Houston Normal Institute.George Foster Peabody, a wealthy New England banker and merchant, established a Peabody Education Fund in 1867. The $2 million fund was dedicated to the development and improvement of public educational systems and to the training of teachers in southern and southwestern states.In “The Peabody Memorial Library: A Commemorative To Northern Philanthropy” book, the term “normal school” referred to an institution that would provide both subject matter and pedagogical training for prospective teachers in order to raise the performance level to an acceptable standard or “norm.”In 1878, a group of Texas educators met in Austin to address various revisions in the state school law. Dr. Barnas Sears, an administrator, wished to pursue the Peabody’s Fund in interest of creating a normal school.A committee was then comprised of Dr. Rufus C. Burleson, William Carey Crane, W.C. Rote, Milton Park, T.L. Norwood and Oscar H. Cooper, who became the first faculty at Sam Houston Normal Institute. By April 21, 1879, the Legislature adopted a bill creating Sam Houston Normal Institute and establishing the school in Huntsville, Texas. When Old Main was first completed, one of its first-floor rooms was designated as the Peabody Memorial Library. The room accommodated 2,600 volumes and by 1901, the number increased by 6,000. An adjacent reading room was maintained for displayed newspapers, journals and reports.A little less than two months later, the local board started reviewing drawings for the proposed new Peabody Library Building. An architect from Austin, J. L. O’Connor had already prepared the plans. The design was adopted and Principal Henry Carr Pritchett instructed a contract with O’Connor for the specifications.The Peabody Library was completed with a cellar room for heating apparatus, a book room, a reading room, an office room, a cloakroom, hallway and porch. Since 1928, the Peabody Building has accommodated rehearsal and storage needs for the Bearkat Band. It has provided space for a dance studio, a supply storage area for military science and, from time to time, faculty offices. In the radio and television programs, the building served as a studio.The Peabody Memorial Museum Building was restored in 1991, taking all the alterations over the years, and adding new lights, restoring the ceiling, rebuilding the chimney and redoing the windows. All the stained glass restored was the original to the building.Barbara Mason, a university archivist, explained that the Peabody Building now holds archives from the university, including old yearbooks, presidential papers, blueprints and administrative reports.”A lot of people have called to see if I’ve kept old Payroll slips from the 60s. A good portion of people also call to see if I can show them their grandmother in one of our yearbooks,” she said.For more information about the Peabody Memorial Museum Building, the above-mentioned book can be checked out at the Newton Gresham Library.