Rice History Corner

I’d run across these images a couple of times in the past and just set them side as hopelessly enigmatic. None are dated and only one has any label at all, which is written so sloppily it’s impossible to make most of it out. All I can be sure of is that the first name of the gentleman is Fred. Here he is:

It occurred to me when I saw them again today that one of you might be able to tell me something about this. I don’t know if the computer is for the library or for something else, if its purpose was research or administration. The file folder only says “Fondren Library Computer Project.”

The clothes suggest late ’50s or early ’60s, clearly sometime before the world went crazy, which I would put at about 1965 (at least clothes-wise).

There’s something else interesting here, in my favorite picture of the bunch:

Where’s that door?

One of the things we understandably don’t think about much is that the names of streets, even major streets, sometimes change over time. Why does this happen? I guess sometimes it’s to honor a person but other times I just don’t know. In any event, it can leave gaps in my understanding even of photographs that are labeled. Here’s one that I noticed a while back, a picture of the April 1912 flood that I’ve talked about before, labeled neatly in the bottom left corner:

It’s an impressive amount of water, but where the heck is the intersection of Reynolds Avenue and Westmoreland Boulevard?

There’s a nice clue in the box full of maps and drawings that I came across before Christmas, a 1909 map I’ve never seen anywhere before called “Westmoreland Farms.”

Zoom in and there’s Reynolds Avenue Road, running north to south along the west side of the still undeveloped Rice Institute property. (You can also see the notch along Main Street where Charles Weber’s farm was.) What I can’t find is any evidence of Westmoreland Boulevard, although it must be near campus somewhere for them to have bothered to photograph it. I wonder if it might actually refer to Bellaire Boulevard, which goes out to Westmoreland Farms. That would explain the presence of those tracks in the foreground of the picture, wouldn’t it? Or am I all turned around? Help me out here, people.

Oh girl, I know the feeling.

This must have been taken shortly after Jones College opened.

Update: Someone mentioned in yesterday’s comments that a book ought to be written about the goings-on surrounding the Economic Summit. As it happens, such a book has already been written. It’s very thorough and quite candid but unfortunately it was never offered to the general public and it’s hard to find. We’ve got several in the Woodson, though, if you’d like to have a look.

The G7 Economic Summit that was held at Rice in 1990 has become the stuff of campus legend. Most of these legends have to do with either security preparations or borderline insane efforts at sprucing things up for the dignitaries. The Woodson has quite a fine collection from this event but not long ago I was thrilled to have a look at something that isn’t in our holdings.

FE&P employee Richard Stearman has been around a long time—he came to Rice in 1987 as a mechanic and is now a construction services manager—so when he told me he had a scrapbook I could scan images from, I jumped at the chance to get ahold of it.

The scrapbook chronicles Richard’s own experience of the Summit and I saw several  things I’ve never seen before, including pictures from the post-summit picnic at the University of Houston. I was utterly enchanted, though, by his photos of the construction of the special air-conditioned platform that was built in the quad for the politicians. (It was July!)

For those of you unfamiliar with this episode, here’s a Chronicle article about the last minute effort to keep the big wheels cool:

My favorite picture is this one. The graciously offered thanks were well deserved.

Bonus: Here’s the crew, with Richard at the far left. Some of these guys are still around, although perhaps with a few more pounds and maybe a bit less hair.

It was my first day back in the archives today and I’m trying to dig out. I have neither inspiration nor enough time to dredge any up, so apropos of nothing here is a photograph that I love but have no comment about (other than that I think it’s beautiful and I can’t remember where it came from). I’d guess it to be about 1950.

Well, ok, now that I look at it again I guess I do have a comment: I wonder where the photographer was standing. Anderson? Lower roof of Fondren?

Bonus: Apparently they tried to sneak this out over break, hoping I wouldn’t notice.

I meant to post this yesterday but I got distracted and forgot all about it.

It’s hard to believe now but for decades the New Year’s Eve party at Cohen House was one of the highlights of campus social life. While the Cohens were alive they hosted this party and they took it very seriously indeed. In those days the parties were epic–dancing all night, games, glamour and real revelry, just like in the movies. Over the years I’ve heard some wild tales of these legendary events. I suspect that by 1976 this was waning, but that’s just a guess.

Bonus: I got distracted yesterday by our own ’70s throwback New Year’s Eve party. We made fondue!

As long as we’re already in the old gym, let’s have a look around.

There are more of these, but I’ll spare you.

Bonus: 

I found this picture in the gym folder. It’s undated and while it certainly look like the gym, I have no idea where it was or what it is. Help?

I probably shouldn’t admit this but I kind of miss the old gym. It had a certain . . . . shabby . . . . something. For example:

Zoom in and check out the sign directly over the guy’s head: “Please Ask For T-shirt If You Need One.”

Sometimes people did need one:

The first fellow seems to have left his tennis racket behind. I imagine that if there were a third photo, we’d see him coming back to fetch it. Or was it checked out too?

Here’s the inside:

And here’s the front:

I’m not certain what year this was sent but there are two things about this image that I do know. First, I know who took it: Margie Sass, Ron’s wife, who was a talented photographer. Second, I know whose bike that is.

Merry Christmas! The Woodson is closed until January 2nd. I’ll probably keep posting because I don’t know what else to do, but it will be the equivalent of cleaning out the refrigerator. I’ve got a bunch of strange leftover images and I’ll do my best to make something interesting out of them.

Non-Obsolete Technology Bonus: I was at the Texans game yesterday and the highlight of the whole sorry affair for me was a sighting of this guy. He was filming the game with actual film! I watched him pretty closely and he looked like a real pro. It’s kind of blurry so it’s hard to see, but the pinkish thing on the table at the far left edge of the picture is actually a stack of film canisters.