Some things rarely change, by intention. Academic regalia is one of those things.

Barry Dunning, still looking sharp.

The thing I was most determined to do during the centennial festivities was to get some pictures of the faculty and delegates robing for the procession.

Will Cannady (whose 75th birthday it was) tries to get Chandler Davidson squared away.

We have almost no historical images of this and it hurts my heart, so I camped out in the library and snapped away.

Edward Summers, ’59, was the delegate from the University of Texas. He is the great nephew of Miss Alice Dean, Rice’s first librarian.

The images I wound up with are a bit random but I basically got what I came for.

Italians always have great outfits.

As I’ve been looking through this mad pile of photos, something else was rattling around in the back of my mind. I just let it alone and waited for it to make it’s way to the front, which it did today.

What I was remembering was this 1947 article that appeared in the Houston Chronicle on the occasion of Rice’s 34th commencement, which reveals the same fascination with these strange outfits that I feel. (I found it in one of those gigantic alumni scrapbooks.)

Bonus: It looked forlorn in Founder’s Court today.