In yet another sign that I may have been here too long, after I wrote yesterday about the freshmen arriving in the rain I had this thought: “Hmmm, didn’t it rain when they were first moving into the new colleges?”
The answer is yes, yes it sure did. The switch to the college system did not take place in the fall, as you might expect. Instead we decided to do a sort of wild upset in the spring of 1957. (I think but am not certain that this was because of construction issues rather than perversity.) Over the course of a week at the end of that March everyone scattered out of their dorms into their newly assigned colleges. It didn’t rain the whole time, but it did rain quite a bit. And how would I know this? I’d know it at least in part from Vetta Masterson’s journal. Here’s her description of the move into the new Hanszen Master’s House, followed by an absolutely wonderful description of their first open house:
I didn’t have time to look this up. Sorry! If anyone really wants to know I can check tomorrow.
Bonus: The first masters, inside.
Left to right they are Cal Class, William Masterson, Street Fulton, Carl Wischmeyer, and Roy Talmage. (Talmage, incidentally, once told me almost offhandedly the single most surprising thing I’ve ever heard at Rice. Unfortunately, I don’t dare repeat it. Yet.)
Extra bonus: The first masters, outside.
Obviously they’ve moved around. I’ll leave it to you to sort them out. On another track altogether, I’m fascinated that both of these photographs are atrociously lighted, each in a different way.
Hi Melissa! I was there when all this happened and we moved into Will Rice. Thanks for the memories. Jim Walzel “59
Thanks, Jim! I’ll bet it was fun.
Wasn’t Talmadge also a Master late ’60s – early ’70s? Wiess?
Talmadge was Master at Wiess around then. Dr. Rudee was the master in 1973 when I arrived and I think he had been serving for a year or two already.
Melissa, you have me awfully curious. There was some incident concerning Dr. Talmadge. The details escaped me, and were probably distorted by time and retelling anyway, but I think it involved him stumbling upon a student or students who were engaged in some sort of unapproved activity. In the 1970s Wiess College conferred an award every year to the Wiessman who had committed some notable act of unusual grossness or depravity. The award was called the Tallyboo, named for the former master.
I don’t think either picture is atrociously lighted. There has certainly been some color fading, and I’d brighten the top one and darken the bottom one a tiny bit, but the faces are recognizable. I have seen far, far, far worse.
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