Monthly Archives: January 2018

File this one under “Life before email.” Here we have notice of a drama club meeting: And here’s how it was sent: Note the postmark date. For quite some time mail was delivered a couple of times a day. I’ll … Continue reading →

We’re having a snow/sleet/freezing rain day today but this lovely photograph was taken on a true snowy day: The label on the back indicates that it was given to the archives by long time bursar John T. McCants, who I’ve … Continue reading →

Remember the Great Faculty Club Victrola Poll of October 1930? I fear this issue might not have been finally laid to rest until 1934. Which is only too easy to imagine. Bonus: These two look like they’re about to drop … Continue reading →

At first I was interested mainly in this guy’s pipe but then I noticed that he’s wearing the skinniest tie I’ve ever laid eyes on: This amused me because I happen to have scanned several years ago a picture of … Continue reading →

Back in the day, it seemed that nearly everyone on campus smoked. In dozens of photographs there are ashtrays on tables and credenzas. These, ironically, sit next to the experimental artificial heart pieces that David Hellums was showing King Baudouin … Continue reading →

Once I got over my surprise that the scrapbook of architecture lecturers was full of original photographs I began to notice just how good those photos are. Every one of them is interesting and somehow conveys something real. They just … Continue reading →

I was reshelving a book in the back of the Woodson recently and I couldn’t resist a smile when I caught a glimpse one of the blandest, most unhelpful titles I’ve ever seen in all my years in the library: … Continue reading →

Today we have a question about what they might have been doing with the R1 computer. It involves something (safe to say) I’d never expected to be writing about: Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. Many thanks to reader Bill Harris … Continue reading →

I’m feeling grateful today for everyone who hangs out here. I needed a lot of help from readers to figure this out but I believe we have it. (Special thanks to Bob Swanson and Dan McCormack, whose email made me … Continue reading →

[Second Update: Believe it or not, this mystery got picked up by the Houston Chronicle.] So my commenters and I have pretty well concluded that this couldn’t have been taken from the top of the Administration Building circa 1915: Not … Continue reading →