Author Archives: Melissa Kean

Thirty years on campus spent carefully noticing my surroundings have made my experience something like the movie Groundhog Day. So much stays the same that anything different pops out immediately. So a couple of days ago I nearly jumped when … Continue reading →

I have a couple more pictures from the Tsanoff collection that were clearly taken on the same day that we caught young Katherine on the path between the privet hedges. This first one caught me by surprise: That’s little Katherine … Continue reading →

I had a followup post to last week’s postcards all planned out but instead I’ll try to answer some questions raised by readers about the old stadium picture. First, what is the building between the open end zone and Main … Continue reading →

I recently came across a beautiful postcard I’d never seen before, this one showing the old football stadium and the west end of campus. This is actually what I think of as the New Old Stadium, built in 1938 to … Continue reading →

This beautiful hand made, hand colored card carried holiday greetings from the family of Rice architecture professor William Ward Watkin, circa early 1930s: The house pictured is the Watkin’s home, of course, located at 5009 Caroline, in a neighborhood that … Continue reading →

After all my talk about those Aalto tables in the library, I finally have something to say about a chair. The other day I was looking in the file drawer called “Miscellaneous” where I found this: It was the only … Continue reading →

A while back I noticed a large, mysterious scrapbook back by the vault on the bottom of the oversize shelves. Last week I had time to pull it out and take a good look. It was full of pages from … Continue reading →

I can’t let 2022 slip away without acknowledging something that an alert reader pointed out to me a while ago. This year is the 75th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of Fondren library, just before Christmas in 1947. … Continue reading →

For many years Thanksgiving Day was also Rice’s Homecoming and from the beginning in 1919 these events were absolutely jam packed with functions, making for a very long day.  Our traditional football opponent for all those years was Baylor. In … Continue reading →

I’d first like to account for my extended absence, for which apologies are hereby issued: I was chairing a presidential search at another university and that task took pretty much all of my attention for the last month or so. … Continue reading →