I think we all have a tendency to think of some things as unchanging and the Sallyport seems like a likely suspect in that regard. But I walked through it the other day and I noticed something. Here’s a thing that has to have come into being fairly recently—some sort of interactive campus map. There’s a regular map plus a screen and some speakers, anyway. (Oddly, I didn’t think to touch it at the time. Saving that treat for later, I suppose.)
But I knew what had been there before. I couldn’t remember where the picture was, though, and only some sort of idiot would spend a dozen hours looking for it.
So, here it is:
I found it in Pender Turnbull’s collection and the thirsty young lady is Margaret Schultz Williams. It’s circa 1916, and (unsurprisingly) I didn’t have time to look her up and see what class she was in.
Nothing like a little modern repurposing!
I seem to remember a (non-functioning) water fountain there in the late ’60’s, so you didn’t need to go back to 1916 to see it. Although that is a charming picture.
The screen and speakers appeared some time ago (after the similar kiosks appeared in Duncan Hall in 1996). For a while, it was a functioning campus information kiosk. I assume that the presence of a printed map in that spot is an indicator that the kiosk itself stopped working.
Yes Keith, I work in Lovett Hall and remember how cool I thought the interactive little system was when I first arrived. About 2-3 years ago the speakers started making a gastly noise that took forever (days) to stop. The system may have been mercily put to death at that time. (At least mercy for those of us who had to listen to it!) Melissa, kudos to this great blog. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it.
Margaret Ellen Schultz Williams was in the class of 1916.
These photos raise a couple of questions:
1. When were the fountains taken out of service? They were no longer functioning when I arrived in 1958.
2. What was the original water source? Was there municipal service to the campus in 1912, or were there wells somewhere?
It was clearly a water fountain, albeit non-functioning, in the 80’s. There was one on the Physics building, too, if I remember correctly and maybe also the Power House.
Here’s a brilliant idea. Turn it back into a functioning, period-style water fountain. In this day of laptops and smartphones, do we really need a potentially malfunctioning electronic kiosk as part of one of our campus’s iconic buildings?
Dear Melissa…
Sue Hutchings here…I was the Welcome Center coordinator in the late 90s-2003, one of Greg Marshall’s staff. I used to lug a free-standing “sandwich board” out each morning directing visitors to the Welcome Center and the Admission Office, However, on weekends, when neither office was open, Greg came up with a way to be more helpful to visitors by converting the non-functioning water fountain into an interactive map of the campus. I’m sure Greg’s memory for the details of how the interactive map came about would help all interested to understand what he went through to get the OK and then the process that made it a reality. Cheers to you for your terrific read through Rice history.
Best…
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Margaret Ellen Schultz Williams was my grandmother. I was always under the impression that she was in the class of 1916, along with her cousin Edith Jo Leesemann, but I can not find her name on the list of graduates. I know she went on to become an English teacher in Houston.