Galveston Bay & Houston waterways images coming on-line

Curious how Houston’s waterways have made it the fascinating mix of recreational space, commerce and industry that it is?

Fondren Library is partnering with the Houston Yacht Club, Houston Metropolitan Research Center at the Houston Public Library, and the museumofhouston.org to bring images of Galveston Bay and Houston waterways on-line.

Some initial images from the Houston Yacht Club are being described in Flickr and we welcome comments.  Full descriptions are being developed and will be available on-line during the period of 2010-2011.

This is a grant funded project via Texas State Library and Archives Commission, part of an IMLS Laura Bush Librarians of the 21st Century grant.

KTRU Radio recordings and business records available

KTRU Radio recordings and business records, 1962-1989, are available for research!

What was the news then? Was your favorite band interviewed backstage at the Summit or Fitzgeralds?

See the guide on-line!

New guides to Houston collections posted on-line!

Ellington Field research collection

• This collection contains ten boxes of material related to the history and operation of Ellington Field, also known as Ellington Air Force Base, near Houston, Texas. The majority of the records date from 1917-2007, and include historical research materials, photographs, books, microfilm, postcards, and memorabilia.

Houston Arts and Media Oral Histories

• A collection of compact discs containing 53 interviews with members of various Houston, TX communities, documenting their memories of the old neighborhoods. Interviews conducted by members of Houston Arts and Media for the organization’s Neighbor to Neighbor project. 2006-2007.

Major additions to the James Lockhart Autry family papers, 1834-1992

• This collection has doubled in size as latest addenda have been added!
• The papers, 1834-1994, of the James Lockhart Autry family consist of business papers and correspondence, family correspondence and family contents and receipts. Among the business papers are correspondence and legal briefs from the terms Autry served as general counsel to the Texas Company, president of Fidelity Trust Company, and vice-president and general counsel of the American Republics Corporation.

Detailed guide to the papers of Julian Huxley now available

A PDF of the Guide to the Papers of Julian Sorell Huxley, written by Sarah C. Bates, Mary G. Winkler, and Christina Riquelmy, is now available to view here:
http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/guide.pdf

The guide includes biographical information, scope and content notes, inventory of letters and materials, genealogical information, and an index of correspondents with dates.

Otto Eisenlohr Letters describe Rice, 1915-1921

The letters of Otto Eisenlohr, a student at the Rice Institute during its early years, can now be found online from the collection’s finding aid at:

http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0536

Almost entirely addressed to his high school sweetheart, Gainor Roberts, the letters are a window into student life, academics, and athletics at Rice from 1915-1921. Topics include Rice during the First World War, science at Rice Institute, hazing of freshmen by upperclassmen, secret societies on campus, popular movies, dances, Rice football, basketball, and baseball, and ROTC activities during the First World War.

The Life and Imaginations of Sally Paul

Woodson’s copy of The Life and Imaginations of Sally Paul has been digitized and is available here:

http://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/26764

This is the only known copy of this text. It was published in 1760 and printed for S. Hooper in London, “at Caesar’s Head, near the New Church, in the Strand.”

The introduction reads:

TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE
Countess of Huntington;
THIS
HISTORY
OF
PURE AND SIMPLE FACTS,
With their
MORALS AND EMBELLISHMENTS;
AN EPISODE,
AND
Other MATTERS,
IS
ADDRESS’D
By Madam,
Your Ladyship’s
Most humble Admirer,
SARAH PAUL.

Ye Old College Inn recipe book now available

Please visit DSpace to see a PDF of Ernest Coker’s popular recipe book from the 1950s:

http://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/26744

Ye Old College Inn on South Main was established in 1918 and quickly became a popular dining and hang out spot for Rice students and the local community.  Ernest Coker took over operations of the restaurant in 1946 from George Martin, the original proprietor, and soon after published a book of his recipes.  The restaurant was demolished in the 1980s to make way for the St. Lukes medical tower.

WWI hero & Rice faculty member’s papers available

A finding aid for the Thomas Lindsey Blayney Papers, which chronicles the life of one of Rice’s first faculty members, is now available on-line. The 23-box collection includes family genealogy, photographs, personal and professional correspondence, collections of poetry, published and unpublished manuscripts, and newspaper clippings.

Blayney is a World War I hero, and the memorabilia collection includes a number of items pertinent to that era. Uniform jackets and hats, the Croix de Guerre medal awarded to Blayney, and a trunk of cavalry horse tack are part of the collection.

See the finding aid for the collection as well as selected photos on-line.

Rare African American history in Houston book now on-line

The 1915 “Red Book: a compendium of social, professional, religious, educational and industrial interest of Houston’s colored population” is now available freely on-line at http://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/26632.

Only two print copies of this book are available in the world, according to OCLC’s Worldcat, and handful of microfilm copies.

This freely accessible PDF version provides easy access to a fascinating view of the African American population in Houston at the beginning of the 20th century. Topics include Education, Careers and Employment, Education, Social Activities, and more.

Arthur E. Jones Architectural Records

The Arthur E. Jones Architectural Records contain information, news clippings, photographs, awards, and plans of over 100 projects he was a part of during his career.  Jones is a 1947 Rice University graduate and worked with Hermon F. Lloyd, William B. Morgan, Benjamin E. Brewer, and Bob G. Fillpot.  Jones’ projects with the firms, which were primarily but not only in Houston, include the Astrodome, the Allen Centers, the Melrose building, and various buildings in Greenway Plaza, the University of Houston, and Rice University. Photographers in the collection include Richard Payne, Rick Gardner, Bob Bailey, Balthazar Korab, and André Kertész.

See the guide to the collection here:

http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0535