I spent my whole day today working through several boxes of photographs from the Harper Leiper Collection at the HMRC. Harper Leiper was a prolific commercial photographer, active in Houston from the 1950s through the 1970s. They were hired by Rice frequently so I’ve been trying to stay alert for images of campus. I found some nifty ones this afternoon of an early phase of construction of the RMC, something we don’t really have much of in the Woodson.

This one was taken from the top of the not-yet-completed Anderson Biology. Look at all that mud!

And here’s how I can be so confident that Anderson Biology wasn’t yet finished. This was taken from what’s now the middle quad, just southwest of the Brochstein Pavilion:

This last one is my favorite–we have a clear view across campus and also a glimpse of the photographer:

These can all be found at MSS 0287 9148. Interestingly Harper Leiper wasn’t working for Rice on this job, but instead for Fischer Construction.

Bonus: I recently noticed that they’ve got cherubs down at the HMRC. I’m now suffering from cherub envy.