Rice History Corner

This year we’re commemorating the 50th anniversary of black undergraduates at Rice and the Woodson is participating with exhibits in the trophy case in the RMC. This pamphlet was part of that but I thought I’d also post it here for those of you who can’t just saunter over for a look.

These early years of black enrollment were interesting times indeed. They were here but no one knew quite what to do with them. I’m not sure we’re totally clear on that even now.

Bonus: The sun came out for a while this afternoon and lo and behold it seems to be Spring.

This communications technology (down on the floor) is even older than the portable Compaq I found the other day:

I love the chairs too. And the lamp. And the floor. And her socks. All of it really.

Bonus:

My first reaction when I saw these was “Hey, cool, a tumbling squad!” Tumblers, like pole vaulters, are usually good for a striking photograph or two.

Here they are:

And here they are, well, tumbling, I guess:

My second thought was “Is there any way to date these?” We can start with the building in the background, which is clearly the original field house. This means it could be no earlier than 1921. But in the top picture you get a really good look at the shrubbery near the window. I’m sure you all remember that we’ve seen shrubbery like that before–in this inexplicable photograph that may (or may not) show a seated Knute Rockne:

This picture was taken at the east end of the building and the tumblers were at the west end but the size of the shrubs is just about the same. I know this one was taken in 1929 so I’m going to call the tumblers circa that same year.

Anybody want to argue with me?

Bonus: Came across this yesterday in George R. Brown, where they’re getting ready for a remodel. It’s small enough that I think it might have been meant to be portable.

Last week I ran across these wonderful images of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan speaking in the spring of 1977. I’d never seen the room before and so wasn’t at all certain that they had been taken at Rice but we seem to have reached consensus that she was in the old Wiess Commons. True or false?

This is my favorite of the batch:

I don’t think there’s going to be another one like her anytime soon.

Bonus: The radioactive stuff goes out the back window.

Forget the guy; check out those cars!

Bonus:

Someone asked in the comments yesterday if there were photos of Drs. Girard and Ross at their recording session in 2005. Well, loyal reader Marty Merritt made one appear (I can’t help but wonder what else he’s got squirreled away.)

This was in March, 2005. I’m pretty sure that Jeff Fitlow took this photo. I did have to identify the two gentlemen for Lindsey Fielder from Rice News. It’s Dr. Ross on the left and Dr. Girard on the right. Another interesting tidbit was that Brian James (Hanszen ’78) helped audio enhance some of the tracks. His mother worked in Dr. Girard’s office when he was at Baylor.

They look just fantastic, don’t they?

Bonus:

Here’s the find of the semester (so far). A couple of days ago I received this surprising email from loyal reader Marty Merritt:

In about 2005 I recorded some songs for the elderly Dr. Girard and his classmate Dr. Ross. They played two pianos and I think they sang. One of the songs was the fight song, another was the Rice Hymn, and there were some popular songs of the day and songs they wrote. Did they give you a copy of that recording? If not, would you like one?

Um, hell yes, I’d like one.

And here we go. First up, the Rice Fight Song:

And next, the Rice Hymn:

And a million thanks to Marty!

Bonus:

Here’s a 1939 Thresher article about the Rice Hymn, also written by Louis Girard and his classmate Nealie Ross. It’s interesting enough but what really caught my eye was the section about the origin of the “Rice Fight Never Dies” yell that goes along with the fight song. Just this week I had occasion to discuss this chant with someone but I didn’t know exactly where it came from. The very next morning I came across this:

More Rice song goodness to come.

Bonus: There’s an “S” on the end, dammit.

I’ve recently begun digging around in materials about the history of various Rice songs. I don’t know whether this is surprising or not but that history is quite tangled. Songs–fight songs, alma maters, hymns– kind of came and went, some disappearing altogether, others changing tunes or lyrics at various points. I was especially delighted with this one, a very popular fight song from the 1940s that I wasn’t familiar with. Charmingly, it was written by Louis Girard ’40, last seen in the pages engaged in a quixotic battle to make hockey popular in Houston.

It was reprinted in an insert in The Owl, a student humor publication that was a thorn in the side of the Rice administration in the ’30s and ’40s:

When I turned it over for a look at the back I  was rewarded with this rare and spectacular shot of the old stadium taken at ground level from the middle of University Boulevard:

Wow!

But . . . but . . . the lamp post!

It’s got one of those ugly globe tops and this was taken at least six years before this one was installed in front of the gym, blowing my theory about their origins straight to hell.

Bonus: I can’t remember where this is.

It’s spring break next week so summer is on the way. This picture of a couple guys rolling the clay tennis courts (circa I’d say 1918ish) made me laugh. Or rather the decoration etched on it made me laugh. Two days in a row I can say that I know the feeling: