In the midst of the near chaos of centennial preparation, I had a quiet and pleasant surprise this afternoon. We have about a half dozen boxes of oversized photographs in the Woodson. They sit on top of the general information files in the back. I had never paid any attention to them at all. That’s them in between the trophies and the paintings on the wall.
I can’t explain why but today I decided to take a look. I picked up the first box and it turned out to be filled with wonderful images, many that I was seeing for the first time. I hadn’t even gotten halfway through it when I found this one:
I know exactly what this is! Not long ago I was looking for evidence of Rice’s international activities over the years and I scanned this short piece about President Houston (he’s in the bright blue shirt on the right) going to Japan in 1947 as part of a delegation of American scientists. I found it in one of those huge alumni scrapbooks:
I’m slightly boggled by the sight of the very formal Dr. William Vermillion Houston sitting on the floor, but I have to admit that this is easily the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him.
Bonus: ID scanner at the back door of the library. Sad, but true.
I encountered an ID scanner with a note like that some time during my high tech work days. As I remember, the scanner sat in full sunlight, and got quite hot. During the day, you had to scan and scan to get it to work. At night, once was enough. Obviously a heat-related problem.