Monthly Archives: April 2019

First Draft, 1947

I’ve been poking around the sallyport recently and have realized that I’ve never talked about the renaming of the Administration Building for Edgar Odell Lovett. This was done in a ceremony held on the afternoon of Thursday, December 4, 1947, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Coffee with Mrs. Pitzer, April 29th 1967

I found this today on the Cart of Mystery. It seems to have come in with a batch of intriguing materials from Jones College in the mid-1960s that I have just begun to explore. At first I was just charmed … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

HMRC Thursday: Shedding Light on Some Rice Buildings

I’ve always wondered (in a non-snarky way, honestly) what they were thinking when they built the post-WWII science buildings. To me they look and feel like motels, with all those straight skinny lines and corridors and staircases along the outside … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

The Rise and Fall of That Tree on the Quad

I was chatting with a colleague right after lunch about the water oak out by Rayzor Hall, which was reduced to this the last time I looked: She asked how old it was and I said about fifty years. But … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

“What Rice is to become will depend upon our common labors and devotion,” 1914

I’ve been trying to track down a copy of Dr. W.E. Garrison’s remarks at the 1965 dedication of the Bethany College plaque honoring Dr. Lovett, which I am reliably told were very amusing. I haven’t had any luck but I … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Obsolete Technology: “our policy on TV sets in student rooms,” 1952

File this one under “Things That Never Crossed My Mind.” I am fascinated with the idea that the major problem with televisions in the dorms was the antennas. But of course that’s right–absent adult supervision the buildings would have been … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Pre-Easter Service, circa 1965

For close to twenty years after it was built the RMC chapel maintained a pretty robust program of religious and cultural events, including many mainstream (but carefully non-denominational) worship services. This is the program for a beautiful Holy Week service, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Campus from West Hall, circa 1915

This morning I was gazing at this picture, which I had scanned on March 20, 2014 and labeled “Glass Campus from West Hall, circa 1915.” (The “glass” is so I would remember that I found it with the glass plate … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The New Gym, 1950

After spending many months digging around the gym before they did the big renovation about fifteen years ago I grew quite familiar with its spaces. But that was the building after fifty years worth of additions and rejiggering and I … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Guidance for Girls, 1956

I found this in the Dean of Undergraduates collection: I can hardly imagine a worse introduction to the life of higher learning. I would have been hiding in the library the entire time. There’s a lot of interesting and sometimes … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments