One of the things that struck me about Joan Wilson’s lovely scrapbook was that as thoroughly as it documented her life at Rice it contained almost no photographs. I was surprised, then, when I discovered that she was an avid photographer and that some of the images she took as an undergraduate were selected for the MFAH’s 1932 exhibit of work by Texas photographers. This page tells the whole story. I assume that the photo below is the one titled “Arcade”:
Then I found this charming little drawing a few pages later and it brought a smile to my face. The style is instantly recognizable so even without the tiny “KT” at bottom right I would have known this was produced by Joan’s lifelong friend Katherine Tsanoff:
And happily Joan did indeed go on to become a professional photographer. It took just a bit of digging to turn up this 1955 ad for Joan Wilson Sherred’s photography studio in La Marque:
Bonus: In the comments to last week’s post about Joan’s scrapbook, reader James Medford pointed out that the Wilsons’ house at 5510 Chenevert is still standing. I went and looked and it sure is. It looks really good too and most of that block has survived intact. It was refreshing to see.
Extra Bonus: Note that Joan underlined the names of two other exhibitors. One of them is Vera Prasilova, wife of early Rice chemist Arthur Scott. She is the subject of this short film by Paul Hester ’71 and my Woodson colleague Dara Flinn. We have an extensive collection of her work and it is all beautiful. It’s worth your time.
