Sometimes what happens when you work in the same archive for a long time is that you just get used to it. It seems so normal when you’re in it every day and it becomes easy to take things for granted, to believe you thoroughly understand things and don’t need to think hard about them any longer. I mention this because I read something today that Edgar Odell Lovett–a man whose greatness is an article of faith at Rice–wrote in 1946 about the plans for the new library. I’d never read this before and it struck me as a specific, immediate and forceful reminder of why it is that Edgar Odell Lovett actually deserves to be revered.
Wonderful article, apparently written after Lovett had resigned and President Houston had taken over. I had never heard that Rice and several other universities pooled their ideas for new libraries. Impossible to imagine that happening today, I fear.
Which other universities were among the 12 collaborators … and what were the common outcomes/benefits of the discussions?