I usually post in the evening but this is so exciting I just can’t wait that long. I got an email last night from Bill Kendall ’55 ’56, who has turned out to be my Santa Claus this year. He said this: My dad, William B. Kendall Jr., was a member of the Rice Institute class of 1927. (His two brothers also attended Rice.) He was an avid movie maker, and on a visit to the campus in 1929 he shot a short (~1 min) 16mm movie of the campus. I have recently found that movie and have had it digitized and converted into an mp4 file.
I actually had a physical reaction to this–my heart began beating fast and I got so warm I had to ask Mr.RiceHistoryCorner to turn down the heat. It’s a haunting little film and by far the earliest we have of campus. I’m as grateful to Mr. Kendall (both of them, actually) as it is possible to be.
Bonus: The story of the morning is fog. (Many thanks to a loyal reader who covers a lot of ground.)
Wow.
Just… wow…
Precisely my words, too.
As close to time travel as we’re going to experience!
That’s really amazing. I presume that Mr. Kendall didn’t build the title card himself… I’m sure he wouldn’t have misspelled “Institute”.
That is utterly awesome.
I agree with “wow”. The view down Entrance 1 towards Lovett Hall is great.
An amazing piece of history. I only wish it were longer.
Me too.
Superb. It shows the power of moving images as historical artifacts. Thanks to Mr. Kendall for his ‘act of historical preservation.’ CK
Ditto on the wows. This is amazing.
Rice looked pretty good in 1929.
Gotta add another wow. I’ve wondered for a long time if there was any existing movie footage of campus from the early days.
Fantastic! MORE! Would love to see some old sports action.
Me, too. CK
What a gift! Lucky us!
Two thumbs up! 👍👍
When I was a kid, I remember driving around Rice around 1960 or so, which would have been about 30 years after this. Other than the cars, much of the area still looked like this then, except the front entrance road had been paved.
When I was a kid, I remember driving around Rice around 1960 or so, which would have been about 30 years after this. Other than the cars, much of the area still looked like this then, except the front entrance road had been paved.
Which service was used to digitize the film? I’ve hot heaps of old 8mm family (not Rice related) films round back. This transfer was very well done.
I believe that the last scene is main street, looking north from the vicinity of the Rice campus, with what is now the ZaZa Hotel, originally opened in 1926, in the distance.