Author Archives: Melissa Kean

When I heard last weekend that Sidney Burrus had died I felt simply heartsick, bogged down with grief. Sid was the person most responsible for me staying at Rice after I graduated. People are often surprised to learn that my … Continue reading →

One of the more underused resources in the archives is the collection of Rice Institute Pamphlets, our own scholarly journal, which became Rice University Studies after we became Rice University in 1960. There’s a lot of miscellany in these volumes … Continue reading →

A couple weekends ago I had to go to campus for a few minutes and I got Mr. Rice History Corner to drive me over there. As we were leaving through Gate 2, I blurted out “stop! back up quick!” … Continue reading →

So this got started when I ran across a little snippet in the Houston Post about the 1918 Rice Institute garden party. I paid attention mostly because although I’ve seen many images of the annual garden parties given in honor … Continue reading →

In preparation for Rice’s formal opening in 1912, invitations were delivered to institutions of higher learning all over the world. Some of these schools sent representatives, others regretted their inability to attend but offered their best wishes and congratulations with … Continue reading →

I’m actually out of town on a ski trip–just got some sweet new cross country gear–but apparently I should have just stayed home: Many thanks to loyal reader and intrepid photographer Owlcop for this morning’s pictures of a cold, snowy … Continue reading →

I’ve been browsing through some old images this morning and noticed that this photograph was taken precisely 108 years ago: This was the state of affairs four months after the formal opening. Yikes. And it looks to have been exactly … Continue reading →

With the Woodson closed I’ve been digging around in my laptop quite a bit and I keep being surprised by what’s in there. This image of the band, dated 1927, stopped me in my tracks just now: Those uniforms were … Continue reading →

So I’m idly leafing through someone’s scrapbook, thusly: And suddenly here appears a guy, ninety-one years ago, just hanging out with his boys, relaxing with a little with a nice game of leap frog and the next thing you know … Continue reading →

I can’t remember where I first came across this 1954 photograph of Rice’s Glee club but I certainly do recall why I bothered to scan it–those wonky light fixtures instantly caught my eye. So before I thought about who is … Continue reading →