Monthly Archives: August 2015

Grand Central Station, 1941

Not Rice at all, but this is how people got here for a long time. From Neil Brennan’s scrapbook, this is the old Southern Pacific station, in the northeast part of downtown where the now empty Barbara Jordan post office … Continue reading

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Friday Follies: Noon

I love this picture taken by Neil Brennan. I also love that he labeled it simply “Noon.” What I don’t know is how he took it.

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The Masterson Tapes, 1969

Something happened this morning that made the hair stand up on my arms. I got to listen in on the student meeting that was held in February 1969 in the Physics Amphitheater after William H. Masterson was announced as Rice’s … Continue reading

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The Eagle Avenue Trolley Stop, Then and Now

Due to a multi-generational family housing situation of nearly baroque complexity, Mr. Rice History Corner and I are temporarily living in an apartment downtown. It’s definitely a mixed bag but one of the nice things about it is that my … Continue reading

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Neil Brennan Looks At The Chemistry Building, 1942

As I mentioned before, the reason I got so interested in Neill Brennan in the first place was the quality of the pictures he took. It’s not so much that they’re great images as images, but rather that they show … Continue reading

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Here We Go Again

The start of fall semester is always a shock. You can see the end of the year coming from a long ways off, but the beginning just suddenly falls out of the sky. Last week was O Week, and though … Continue reading

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Friday Follies: Is there shrimp?

Just for your information, if I felt like it I could post pictures of Rice alumni crowding buffet tables every day for a solid year. Maybe more. Maybe two. Homecoming, 1968:

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Hooper’s Trail

The reason I was so taken with Neil Brennan’s scrapbook in the first place was the quality of the photographs. They’re quite artfully composed but beyond that they are just flat out interesting. He took pictures of things that other … Continue reading

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“initiative, courage, character, and independence”

One morning last week I stopped to chat with a patron who was walking in to the Woodson at the same time I was. Her errand had to do with family history, not anything I knew about. But in the … Continue reading

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Brennan’s Side and Schreck’s Side, 1941

One of the things I enjoyed in Neil Brennan’s scrapbook is the careful depiction of the tidy dorm room he shared with one other guy. If you zoom in there’s a lot of interest. Here’s Brennan’s side: And here’s Schreck’s: … Continue reading

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