Author Archives: Melissa Kean

The Ralph S. O’Connor Building, 2023

It was pointed out to me just recently that although the inside isn’t yet finished, the construction fence around the new O’Connor Building has come down and we can finally get a good look at it. While I don’t absolutely … Continue reading

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“I have obtained a gift . . . for the purchase of a globe,” 1950

There were a couple boxes of old Fondren records sitting on a cart the last time I was in the Woodson and in one of them I discovered correspondence about the potential purchase of a large globe for the map … Continue reading

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“Football Ticket Options for Sale,” 1949

The immediate problem once we decided to build the new stadium was how to pay for it. Rice was prohibited by its charter from incurring debt (this restriction stood until the early 2000s, when we did one of our periodic … Continue reading

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Houston Stadium?

A loyal reader recently sent me a scan of a Houston street map that was produced by Shell, the kind of map, I think, that you could get at gas stations. I don’t see a date on it anywhere but … Continue reading

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Inside Bonner Lab? 1970s

There aren’t a whole lot of pictures of the Bonner Lab, and the ones I do have are almost all of the outside: I’ve only ever seen a couple images taken inside. The first one provides almost no clue to … Continue reading

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“If it matters to you . . . the young man on the left is James Hackney,” 1948 and 2023

I’ve mentioned before that I routinely troll eBay for Rice materials. In the course of this business a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon something unexpected. There are always a lot of archival photos from various newspapers–mostly sports related–but … Continue reading

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“the idea of having a girl grade their papers”: Katherine Fischer Drew, 1923-2023

Sometimes when I don’t know where to start I just go all the way back to the beginning. This is Katherine Martha Fischer. We would know her later as Mrs. Drew but here it’s 1944 and she’s a graduating senior … Continue reading

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Pall Malls, Pizza, and Pepsi-Cola, no date

I found these, undated and otherwise unlabeled, in a packet in a box of things from Space Science. They are hard at work, building something: Maybe working late, with pizza for dinner: I don’t know where they are, what they’re … Continue reading

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Two Things That Aren’t Here Anymore

I’ve been thinking we haven’t had a good aerial in a while, then I suddenly found two. Both show things that I’m interested in and that have long since disappeared. This first one was sent to me by my friend … Continue reading

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“My Hero Is,” 1996

Sorry for the long absence–I was distracted. But I’ve recently been trying to pull together the history of the Rice Quantum Institute, which has not proven to be an easy task. The records are spotty and scattered through several collections, … Continue reading

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