The old business office papers, most of which date from the days of A.B. Cohn, are a treasure trove of oddball documents. There are quite a few things in there that don’t really directly relate to the Institute, but which sort of touch on it. I recently discovered this piece of advertising from 1931 for the newly opened Southgate subdivision. The Institute was of course always cognizant (and sometimes even involved) with the development of the areas near campus, but this brochure was particularly interesting to me because of the prominent use of campus photographs in the sales pitch. (The brochure is in pretty rough shape, as you can see–looks like water damage.)
Note also that one of the men listed as shareholders in the Southgate Corporation is long-serving Rice Civil Engineering professor L.B. Ryon, the first mayor of West University Place and donor and namesake of Ryon Lab.
Bonus: I had a meeting at U of H today, while it was still warm and sunny.
