Monthly Archives: May 2015

I have no idea who these people are and I’m only guessing that it was the late ’70s but you can see the same scene every year: God speed, my friends.

This nice photo caught my attention for a couple of reasons. I recognized Herbert Allen ‘29 on the left right away but I didn’t know who the other two characters were. A little bit of digging revealed that to my great … Continue reading →

I came across a whole bunch of these recently: I know there’s data on there but have absolutely no idea how this worked. I started looking through old pictures of computers to see if I could figure out what machine … Continue reading →

Preparations for commencement are now in full swing. This morning I attended the inclement weather meeting, which turned out to be eye-opening: We’ve handled it different ways in the past and as I listened I thought about Rice’s original rain … Continue reading →

This turned up the other day and I was fascinated by it. In the first place, it isn’t dated and it’s not easy to come up with a good date. Zoom in for a closer look: The best I’ve been … Continue reading →

There are several dozen pictures in the files of students hanging around in the Administration Building parking lot but only one of them features a car with white tires. I didn’t even know that could happen! Bonus: This is the … Continue reading →

It was here for a long time, planted by General Pershing on February 5, 1920: It came down today, the victim of disease: They kept the big pieces for some future project. The little pieces looked pretty in the back … Continue reading →

A few days ago I got an email from a young man at the University of Houston who had written a paper for his architectural history class and needed to get it published as part of the course requirements. Apparently … Continue reading →

The latest strangeness: three times in the last two weeks questions have arisen about the  vendors who worked football games in the stadium. Apparently this was a job sometimes (often?) held by boys and young men who in later years … Continue reading →

I’ve written once before about the timber lands in Louisiana that came to the Institute as part of William Marsh Rice’s estate. This has proven to be an important part of Mr. Rice’s legacy: harvesting this timber provided the funds … Continue reading →