Monthly Archives: August 2017

I’m not going to have time to write anything today but I do have a photograph to post. I found this image of future Rice coach Johnnie Frankie in Mary Jane Hale Rommel’s scrapbook. My best guess is that it … Continue reading →

It was’t until I walked through this gathering last spring that I realized the courtyard in front of Duncan Hall has a name. Click to zoom in and you can see it’s the Pollard Courtyard, named for Jack Pollard ’25 … Continue reading →

I did not expect this. It seems to have had the intended effect: But George Brown was a man who paid intense attention to detail. He had some questions about the process: Bonus: Here’s the best part. I laughed aloud. … Continue reading →

The most precious commodity on any campus is space. Because it’s so valuable and because needs and activities are constantly changing, offices and even whole departments move around with some regularity. For many decades the campus directory was produced and … Continue reading →

Here’s Harold Rhodes, Director of Campus Police from 1966 to 1989, with what looks like his prized ashtray: The shirt and tie combination is also eye-catching. Lots to look at here but no date. Any thoughts?

The most entertaining thing I saw today (by far) was this report from June of 1950 about how the telephone system in the dorms worked. Prepared at the request of Building and Grounds chairman George Brown, it describes what today … Continue reading →

I was using a box of William Houston’s papers this afternoon and there happened to be a folder in it that held congratulatory letters from friends and colleagues who had learned of his appointment as Rice’s president. They were pretty … Continue reading →

The summer is the least of it. Where the hell have the last forty years gone?! Bonus: I’m not going to say I like it better this way, but it does have a certain panache.