Someone mentioned in the comments to the last Obsolete Technology post that Norman Hackerman wouldn’t have needed a word processor because he had a secretary to take care of his correspondence. That is absolutely true. He certainly did have an assistant and she was a doozy. Jackie Bourne retired just a few years ago after many years of service to Rice. She was always a pleasure to be around, smart and fun loving and helpful to me in many ways. Not the least of it was that she could (more or less) read Hackerman’s handwriting, which anyone who’s ever seen it will testify is very, very close to completely illegible. I wish I had a sample with me to show you. It’s astonishing and I don’t believe for one minute that he could read it himself.
Just last week I was grinding my way through some contact sheets and much to my delight I found a whole roll of images of the two of them together. Posing for the photographer, they look quite serious:
But by the last few shots things had reverted to normal:
There’s no identification but I’d guess very late ’70s or early ’80s.
Bonus: Here’s another pretty bookplate from Fondren.
