“Furnished lovingly by Mrs. George R. Brown,” 1965

This afternoon I ran across this fascinating Houston Post article about the opening of Brown College in 1965:

Brown opening article 1965

There’s so much of interest here I almost don’t know where to begin, but a visit yesterday morning to the offices of the Brown Foundation has Alice Pratt Brown (referred to in the article only as “Mrs. George Brown”) on my mind so I’ll start there.

It just so happens that I recently found some pictures of the library space that I now know she and Herbert Wells decorated with both new pieces and some that had been owned by her beloved sister-in-law, Margarett Root Brown. The room is really swell; restrained, elegant and almost shockingly sophisticated:

Brown interior 2

Brown interior 1965

Brown interior 3

Bonus:

L1020228

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4 Responses to “Furnished lovingly by Mrs. George R. Brown,” 1965

  1. I notice that one of the freshmen is holding a rose. The “men of Will Rice” gave a rose to each incoming woman.

    In 1977, I followed one rose crew around until I got the right shot for The Thresher. You can see it here. I’m pretty sure this was in Brown.

    http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245340/m1/7/

  2. This looks like the clipping I saved for 50 years. Please see http://mksconbrio.com/history/brown-college-50th-anniversary/. Happy to subscribe to Rice History Corner.

  3. Kathy says:

    I’ve seen that article, too. And wow! Those pictures of the Brown library really take me back. At least part of it looked essentially like that when I was there in 1967-71. We had some parties in there, and I remember attending a reception for Jonathan Miller there when he visited campus my freshman year: my first (and almost only) close encounter with a really famous person!

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