We meant to go to Wyoming, then do some driving in Montana. We did make it to Laramie, where I had a very productive day in the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. They have an enormous collection up there, with one focus on popular culture, all housed in an odd looking but massive building.

What drew me were the papers of Jack Glenn, the director of “The March of Time” newsreels and a member of the Rice class of 1926. I wrote about him a couple of years ago when I came across pictures of him being greeted on the tarmac by a throng of admirers when he returned for Homecoming in 1951.

Glenn led what looks like a pretty frenetic life. Here’s a short bio he put together at some point later in his career–it’s pretty wild:

Not too surprisingly even as a student he seemed to be everywhere. He was variously Thresher editor, Campanile editor, head yell leader for three years, cartoonist, confidant of Coach Heisman, founder of the Rally Club. The stop in Laramie to look at his collection turned out to be quite worthwhile. There’s all kinds of stuff in there from those busy Rice days, from pictures to drawings to letters, even a copy of the remarks he gave at that Homecoming celebration. There’s a story here that will take me a little while to piece together but in the meantime here’s one of the best things that turned up:

Just look at Lovett’s grin!!

Anyway, after a great afternoon in the archives I found myself semi-delirious in the Laramie Urgent Care Center with a nasty fever and a case of strep throat so we skipped Montana, came home and laid around the house for a week. If I owe you an email, well, I’m working on it.

Bonus: I have a bad case of storage envy. Before I got sick I got a tour of the archives facility at the University of Wyoming. I was astonished to learn how big it is, and how important. (They have Stan Lee’s papers, for heaven’s sake!) I saw room after room after room like this, 100,000 square feet altogether. I nearly wept.