New exhibit online! Rice Presidents and Provosts!

Dr. Neal Lane, Rice University Provost, 1986-1993

Rice Presidents and Provosts exhibit online!

The president of Rice University is the chief executive officer, handling the top level direction of the university in collaboration with (and reporting to) the Board of Trustees. The provost of Rice University is the chief academic officer, reporting to the president.

Over the years, Rice has always had a president (with one notably bumpy transition) and sometimes has had a president who was also the provost. In several situations, provosts served officially as vice-president or acting president.

Presidents and provosts at Rice have significantly shaped the landscape of the university with their dreams and goals – read on to learn what each has been known for at Rice!

Early Rice yearbooks now online!

The Rice Institute (later Rice University) opened in the Fall of 1912. Rice University’s yearbook, The Campanile, was first published in 1916, by the seniors of the first graduating class. Another important publication, the Rice Thresher (student newspaper), also began publication that year, in January of 1916.

From the very beginning the yearbook featured portraits of students and faculty, societies and clubs, athletics, major campus events and festivities, as well as advertisements from the community.

The first twenty yearbooks are now online as full text searchable pdf files.

Other viewing and download options such as online page turning view and Kindle downloads are also available on the Internet Archive, at http://www.archive.org/details/riceuniversity.

This project was made possible by funding from the Fondren Library and collaboration between the library’s Center for Digital Scholarship and the Woodson Research Center.

Due to privacy concerns, there are no current plans to digitize later years of The Campanile. A full run of the yearbooks is available at the Fondren Library. Enjoy!

Campanile, 1928

Exhibit: The Life and Work of Architect William Ward Watkin

William Ward Watkin, Supervising Architect, Rice University

New exhibit online & in Fondren Library!

As part of the Rice University Centennial celebration, the Woodson Research Center at the Fondren Library is mounting two exhibits profiling the architectural and academic career of William Ward Watkin and his profound effect on the development of Rice University and the city of Houston. The Life and Work of Architect William Ward Watkin is now available online, and the companion exhibit “William Ward Watkin: A Life in Images” can be found at the Woodson Research Center, 1st floor of the Fondren Library. The exhibits feature Watkin’s work at Rice, buildings and residences designed for his private practice, publications, and a profile of his eldest daughter, Ray Watkin Strange, and her support of her father’s legacy.

Watkin’s life

Born in 1886, Watkin grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated number one in his class in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. After a year spent taking the Grand Tour in Europe and absorbing its architectural legacy, Watkin joined the Boston office of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, then one of the most prominent architectural firms in the United States. At the time of Watkin’s employment, 1909, Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson had received the commission to produce a campus plan and to design the initial buildings of the Rice Institute in Houston, Texas. Watkin worked on the development of both the campus plan and the building plan in the Boston office, creating graceful adaptations of Neo-Byzantine architectural vernacular for the Institute; when construction was to begin in the summer of 1910 Watkin was sent to Houston to serve as the firm’s representative supervisor (see examples of Watkin’s work at the Rice Institute).

Rice Institute master plan, ca. 1911

Watkin at the Rice Institute

As supervising architect he worked closely with Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, President of the Rice Institute, and was offered a faculty appointment in Architectural Engineering at the Institute. Watkin became the first Chairman of the Rice Architecture Department, and began accepting independent commissions. He developed a thriving private practice in Houston and other Texas communities, designing buildings for educational institutions and other public spaces, commercial ventures, and residences (see examples of Watkin’s contributions to the community).

Resources

• Full archive online of William Ward Watkin architectural records
• Finding aid to the William Ward Watkin papers, 1903-1956, MS 352 is available at http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0352
• Finding aid to the William Ward Watkin family papers, 1899-1999, MS 508http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0508
• Finding aid to the Ray Watkin Strange research materials, 1917-1985, MS 465http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0465

The original materials which these digitized versions represent are held by Rice University, Fondren Library, Woodson Research Center.

Rice Commencement programs & ephemera since 1916 online

Rice Commencement seating map, 1990.

A fascinating view of commencement at Rice over the years  - and the size and shape of each graduating class since 1916 -  is now available online.

Fondren Library is pleased to announce that Rice Commencement programs and ephemera such as invitations to Senior Banquets, Baccalaureate Services,  lists of graduates, types of degrees, brief class histories and newsclippings from Houston and Texas newspapers are becoming available online in full text searchable PDF format.

The programs detail the order of events for commencement at the Rice Institute and later Rice University, including location and dates of events, speakers’ names and subjects and songs sung.

From the 1980s forward, the commencement programs include historical background on commencement at Rice, such as this excerpt from the 1990 program:

“Rice Institute’s first graduation exercises were held on Sunday and Monday, June 11 and 12, 1916. The Baccalaureate on Sunday included a sermon and the singing of Latin and English hymns. At Commencement, which followed on Monday, Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chancellor Emeritus of Stan ford University, addressed the
thirty-six candidates for degrees and their families on the subject “Is War Eternal?” That same June, President Woodrow Wilson, longtime friend and former Princeton colleague of Rice President Edgar Odell Lovett, was working for a negotiated settlement to hostilities in Europe. Ten months later, the United States officially entered World War I.

Since that first graduation the ceremonies have been held, at different times, in the Academic Quadrangle, in the courtyard of the Chemistry laboratories, in the Rice gymnasium, and in local high schools and churches.  In 1960, when the grounds in front of Lovett Hall were converted from a parking lot to lawns, Commencement was moved to the lawn east of Lovett Hall. In 1986 President George Rupp returned the ceremony to the Academic Quadrangle, where the first Commencement was held.”

The Sallyport tradition of students walking in through the Sallyport as freshman and not passing back through the Sallyport until their graduation day is believed to have begun in the late 1980s, after commencement was was moved back inside the academic quad. With the quad being full of seating for the ceremony, the front lawn of Lovett Hall makes a natural gathering and celebrating place on that day, with students processing out through the Sallyport and symbolically beginning their path as graduates.

 

Slavery and the Law in the Old South

An excerpt from the original document, State v. Nathan, a Slave, Papers of Judge Peter W. Gray, MS417, folder 2, wrc01466, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

One of the Woodson Research Center’s original documents is highlighted in a new module entitled “Slavery and the Law in the Old South” written by John Marks, a graduate student in Rice’s Department of History.

The item features a Houston slave named Nathan being tried for murder in the Walker County (Texas) District Court in 1855, with Judge Peter Gray presiding. At that time,  “the courts generally treated slaves as persons when tried for criminal offenses, and as property during civil trials.  This module highlights a document that offers a window into the somewhat contradictory nature of enslaved people’s interactions with the legal system.

Judge Peter W. Gray’s instructions to the jury [see full version as a pdf ] before deliberation during the 1855 trial of Nathan, a slave living in Houston – one item in Judge Gray’s personal papers housed at the Woodson Research Center [see finding aid to the full collection] – highlights the difficulty in dealing with the enslaved as both persons and property, as well as this adherence to procedure.

The State of Texas accused Nathan of murdering George Thomason, a white man. Despite Nathan’s enslaved status, however, Judge Gray instructed the jury that “[t]he prisoner though a slave is entitled by law to the same fair and impartial trial as if he were a white citizen and the same rules of evidence and principles of law are to be applied to the consideration and decision of this case as to that of any other person.” Judge Gray continued, further instructing the jury that “[i]f from the evidence you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused did kill George Thomason…then you will find him ‘guilty,’ but if not satisfied of this beyond a reasonable doubt then Not Guilty.”

Read the full module online to learn how this case was resolved and for links to related materials at the Woodson Research Center.

Houston waterways online exhibit & archive available now

Navigating Buffalo Bayou in Early Days, undated engraving

 

Buffalo Bayou, the waterway destined to become a centerpiece in the Port of Houston’s development, was seen as an essential link between the interior of Texas, the sea, and the rest of the world. And, it was the first home to the Houston Yacht Club. Both organizations—the Port and the Club—grew together on the Bayou, moved in similar geographic directions, and have each gone on to prove their local, regional, national and international importance.  From Allen’s Landing during Houston’s earliest days as a city to Harrisburg and Galveston Bay, Buffalo Bayou has been a part of Houstonians’ recreational and business ventures.

The Houston Yacht Club and the Port of Houston both began to take real shape in the late 1890s, and these archival materials, newly available online, reveal this rich connection.  Along with materials from Rice University’s Fondren Library, and the Houston Metropolitan Research Center at the Houston Public Library, these images and papers  tell the story of Houston’s development along its waterways for both business and pleasure.  Primary source material and vivid images of the past now available online allow researchers to uncover the story firsthand.

The exhibit and online archival material was made possible through a grant funded by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  The project is a collaboration between Rice University’s Fondren Library, Houston Public Library’s Houston Metropolitan Research Center and the Houston Yacht Club.

Exhibit highlighting a portion of the waterways archives
Full archive online of Rice & Houston Yacht Club materials

Full archive online of Houston Metropolitan Research Center materials

The original materials which these digitized versions represent are held by:

• the Houston Yacht Club at their archive onsite at the Houston Yacht Club, LaPorte, Texas
• Rice University, Fondren Library, Woodson Research Center
• Houston Public Library, Houston Metropolitan Research Center.

Questions about the project?
Marie Wise, Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Marie.Wise@houstontx.gov
Amanda Focke, Rice University, afocke@rice.edu

Rare 18th century British drama volumes off for digitization

We  just packed up 60 small bound volumes from our Stockton Axson Collection of 18th century British drama here at Fondren Library for digitization by the Internet Archive. They’ll be online within a month’s time at http://www.archive.org/ under riceuniversity.
Started as a memorial to Stockton Axson, an English professor at Rice, the Axson collection contains restoration and 18th century British drama, representing major and minor literary figures in the fields of dramatic poetry, comedies, tragedies, and operas from 1650 to 1800. The plays represented often have more than one edition, and sometimes more than one variant of an edition is included in the collection.
To search the catalog of this collection of circa 5,000 thousand volumes, use Fondren’s advanced search , in the “Location” field, choose WRC-AXSON from the pull-down menu. Add any other search terms you desire (subjects, authors, etc.) to further limit the search within the AXSON Collection.

Rice Commencement programs and more online now

Rice Institute Class of 1916 Commencement program

A fascinating view of commencement at Rice over the years  - and the size and shape of each graduating class -  is now available online.

Fondren Library is pleased to announce that Rice Commencement programs and ephemera such as invitations to Senior Banquets, Baccalaureate Services,  lists of graduates, types of degrees, brief class histories and newsclippings from Houston and Texas newspapers are becoming available online in full text searchable PDF format.

The programs detail the order of events for commencement at the Rice Institute and later Rice University, including location and dates of events, speakers’ names and subjects and songs sung. Early years are available now and Fondren Library is working towards including every year up to the current.

One example of the stories these programs and related items show is that of the impact World War II on the campus.   Beginning in March of 1943 the Rice Institute collaborated with the military to provide training of both specialists and engineers through the Naval ROTC program.  A wartime accelerated graduation schedule was instituted. Students could graduate as early as a full year ahead of schedule and could graduate in October or March, in advance of the typical late May or early June commencement. This began in February 1944 and lasted until March 1946. Rice’s Campanile yearbook was published in two editions in 1944 reflecting this reality. The commencement programs of March 1946 and June 1946 are an example of this accelerated wartime schedule.

There are many more Rice traditions and exceptions to be discovered in this material.

Enjoy and stay tuned as we add more to Rice’s institutional repository, scholarship.rice.edu.

Houston Asian American interviews online

Gene and Hedy Lee of Houston, Texas

A fascinating variety of oral history recordings featuring members of Houston’s Asian community are now available online.

These recordings form a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University. This collection includes audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with Asian Americans native to Houston conducted by Chao Center staff and student interns in 2010.

This collection features the following Asian Americans native to Houston: Edward Chen, Esther Quan, Gene L. Lee, Lewis Yee, Jane Gee, George Gee, Viola Chan, Wea Lee, Eugenie Chen, and Hannah Chow. The interviewees include one of the first Asian Americans elected to office in Harris County, a former rocket scientist and high school chemistry teacher, a founding member of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, a World War II veteran, and the publisher of a Chinese newspaper in Texas and owner of the first Chinese printing company in Houston. Also included are several recording the KPFT “Echoes of China” radio program produced by Andy Lai, dating from 1980-1981.

Finding aid to Houston Asian American Archives oral history interviews collection is available at http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0573.

See also:

Edward C.M. Chen Family Collection, 1920-2010, MS 561. Finding aid: http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0561

Gene & Hedy Lee Chinese language newspapers & photographs, 1962-2010, MS 556. Finding aid: http://library.rice.edu/collections/WRC/finding-aids/manuscripts/0556/

New exhibit online: Lovett World Tour

Color postcard featuring the R.M. Munster, on which Dr. and Mrs. Edgar Odell Lovett of Rice Institute traveled during their world tour, 1908-1909.

Around the World with Edgar Odell Lovett!

This exhibit features  items  collected on the 1908-1909 world tour taken by Rice Institute President Edgar Odell Lovett, his wife Mary Hale Lovett, and Secretary for Rice’s Board of Trustees, Carrington Weems.

The mission of the tour was to research the best characteristics of the world’s top universities and plan the academic, administrative, student and physical structure of the Rice Institute.

There will be more exhibits on this site soon – stay tuned!