mss. Manuscript collections

Overview This collection is made up of eight boxes containing books, bulletins, correspondence, event materials, financial records, flyers, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs, plaques, programs, scrapbooks, videos, and yearbooks from United Orthodox Synagogues spanning from 1935 to 2023.

Scope and Contents While the letters are on a number of different topics, many deal with the Sterling Debenture Corporation and stock offerings in the American Telegraphone Corporation. The corporation was founded in 1903 to manufacture the Telegraphone, a magnetic sound recording device invented by Danish engineer Valdemar Poulson. Although several hundred machines were bought by curious scientists, the product was not a commercial success.

Abstract: This collection consists of twenty-one letters from various U.S. Civil War military departments to other U.S. military departments, regarding various aspects relating to national cemeteries. These aspects include: the location, construction and inspection of national cemeteries, requests for materials and proposed costs, and reports of appointments and comments of national cemetery superintendents.

Overview These photographs taken during the U.S. Civil War reflect a wide range of battles and sites, although not all are represented. The collection includes 84 photographs mounted on 8″ × 91/2″ boards, many labelled with caption information. The photographs were taken by a variety of photographers, including Mathew B. Brady and Alexander Gardner, and many have been published in "The Photographic History of the Civil War" or which are also available through the National Archives.

Abstract: Letter written February 12, 1865, by General Horatio Wright (major general of volunteers in the Union Army), probably while at the siege of Richmond, Virginia, and addressed to “My dear Col[onel?]” (addressee's name is Col. Edward H. Wright, Newark, N.J., appearing below General Wright's signature), in which he tells of family news while on a recent leave, mentions troop activity following an unspecified ‘late movement’ of troops in the Army of the Potomac.

Overview Logbook of a cruise of the U.S.S. Adams along the Pacific coast of Central and South America from December 1, 1879 to February 23, 1881, kept by Cadet-Midshipman John H. Gibbons.

Overview Journal of a Pacific cruise of the U.S.S. Jamestown from January to June 1882 kept by midshipman J. H. Gibbons

Abstract: The logbook includes a list of the ship’s officers and a day by day account of the Tuscarora’s position, course, speed, and weather conditions as she was engaged in taking Pacific Ocean soundings and in survey work in the South Pacific. In addition crew activities such as painting and cleaning are noted, as are the surveys carried out. Ports visited included Port Lloyd, Bonin Islands; Yokohama and Hakodate, Japan; Samoa; San Francisco; and Honolulu.

Abstract: Photographic prints, glass plate negatives and other equipment and supplies related to professional portraiture by Vera Prasilova Scott, mainly dating from 1926-1937 during her time in Houston close to the Rice Institute. Houston and Rice University-related subjects include the Lovett, Baker, Blaffer, Cullinan, Wiess, Hutcheson, Autrey and Sharp families.

Overview This is a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, featuring audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with Vietnamese Americans living in and near Houston, Texas. These interviews are online at https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/79696.