The Neilson Hays Library is like a quiet, forgotten corner of Bangkok. The library was was built in 1921, although its origins go back to the Bangkok Ladies' Library Association established in 1869. Jennie Neilson Hays was a very active member of this association around the turn of the century. When she died in 1920 her husband Dr Thomas Heyward Hays, Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Hospital, commissioned a library in her honor - the first dedicated home for the Library Association she served as president of three times.