1940, 1942, 1943, 1944 Commencement; March 3, 1946 group in academic regalia

File — Box: 3, Folder: 6

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The collection consists primarily of photographs of events associated with the first thirty-two commencement ceremonies of Rice Institute. There are a few special occasions apart from commencements: in November 1918, the presence of the British Educational Mission and members of the Official French Mission to the United States for the inauguration of the Sharp Lectureship; the Nov. 27, 1919, Thanksgiving Day reunion service after World War I; the February 5, 1920, visit to Rice by General John J. Pershing; and the April 1922 visit of President and Mrs. Lowell of Harvard University for his delivery of the third series of the Godwin Lectures on Public Affairs. All but one of the first thirty-two commencements of the Institute are represented, and typically by the baccalaureate speaker and the commencement speaker. In some years there are photographs of a garden party. In a few cases individual graduates are featured, and there are a number of photographs of academic processions and dignitaries seated on the platform.

Dates

1912 - 1946

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Extent

From the Collection: 1.25 Linear Feet ( (3 boxes))

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

General

Sunday and Monday June 2 and 3, 1940, were the twenty-fifth commencement exercises. There are four photographs, on one of which are identified the Rt. Rev. Henry St. George Tucker, D.D., S.T.D., L.L.D., Presiding Bishop of America, as the baccalaureate preacher, and James Rowland Angell, Ph.D., Litt.D., L.L.D., President of Yale University, Emeritus, Educational Counselor of the National Broadcasting Company, commencement speaker. A second photograph is of the faculty processing for baccalaureate, a third, of the degree candidates processing for commencement, and a fourth, of nine men in academic regalia, including President Lovett, Captain James A. Baker, and Prof. Harold Wilson.

There are no photographs from 1941.

A photograph marked with only “1942” shows the platform at commencement with the faculty seated in the center and a part of the assembled degree candidates in the foreground.

There are two photographs marked “5-31-1943,” one of the facilty seated on the platform and President Lovett at the podium, and the other of the assembled degree candidates standing under a large cover as if for protection from rain.

A single photograph marked “2-28-44” shows students in commencement regalia seated in a large interior space with a balcony, perhaps St. Paul’s Methodist Church.

A single photograph dated March 3, 1946, and titled “32nd Commencement, St. Paul’s Methodist Church” has the fourteen people in the picture identified as Lamar Fleming, Jr.; William Alexander Kirkland; Gus Sessions Wortham; Frederick Rice Lummis; George Rufus Brown; President Lovett; Alexander Sessums Cleveland; William Vermillion Houston; Harry Clay Hanszen; John Thaddeus Scott; Benjamin Botts Rice; Harold Albert Wilson; Rev. Henry Putnam Van Dusen, President of Union Theological Seminary in New York; and Harry Carothers Wiess.