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Rice University Margarett Root Brown College Records

 Collection
Identifier: UA 074
Finding aid note: Stored offsite at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

The Margarett Root Brown records consist of 20.5 linear feet. Files included here pertain to activities, correspondence, newsclippings, obituaries, minutes, freshman materials, publications, governmental and budget documents as well as other information relating to the general operation of the college. There are also files on the Brown students such as lists of members and room assignments. In addition, there are many scrapbooks and slides.

Dates

  • 1965 - 2017

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

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

Access Restrictions

No access restrictions, this material is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Margarett Root Brown College Record group must be obtained from Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Historical Sketch

In 1963 Jones was the only women's college at Rice, and there was such a severe housing shortage that some Rice women were being housed in another university's dorms. In October of that year, George R. Brown and his wife Alice Pratt Brown donated one million dollars through the Brown Foundation to build a new dorm for women at Rice. The new college was established in memory of their sister-in-law, Margarett Root Brown, (1896-1963) who was the wife of the also late Hermann Brown. Margarett Brown was devoted to the fine arts as an art critic and collector and served on the boards of several of organizations. As a tribute to her love of the arts, the first floor of Brown College houses a wide variety of paintings and antique furniture donated by the George R. Brown family and others.

The College was dedicated on October 3, 1965 and was filled primarily by women who had volunteered to leave Jones College to start a new college. Since then other colleges have been added to Rice, and beginning in 1971 some colleges went co-ed. Brown held out as the last all female college until 1987 when it agreed to accept male members.

The College is an eight-story masonry structure on the northeast campus. The high-rise was devised to spare trees. In 2001 new construction will change the Brown College complex. An addition will connect to Brown College on four levels and will extend west of the College in the area occupied by the current Jones Masters' House. New Brown Commons will anchor the west end of Brown Quadrangle with the existing Brown Master's House on the South Side.

Excerpted from Rice University Construction Web Page and Brown College Web Page

Extent

20.5 Linear Feet ( (35 boxes))

4.2 Megabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_001 (4.2 MB))

9.7 Megabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_002 (9.7 MB))

4.23 Megabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_003 (4.23 MB))

0.02 Gigabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_004 (0.02 GB))

0.18 Gigabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_005 (0.18 GB))

4.33 Megabytes (Nearline access: UA0074aip_006 (4.33 MB))

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Correspondence, newsclippings, obituaries, minutes, freshman materials, publications, governmental and budget documents as well as other information relating to the general operation of Brown College. There are also files on the Brown students such as lists of members and room assignments. Brown College was dedicated on October 3, 1965 and was filled primarily by women who had volunteered to leave Jones College, then the only women's college, to start a new college.

Acquisition Information

The original records held by Woodson Research Center (.75 linear feet) were mostly from the files of one of the Brown College Associates, Nancy Parker Boothe. Other material included photocopies of newspaper articles, programs, etc., collected by the Woodson staff.

In November 2002 Woodson received twenty-two Eclipse File boxes of Brown College records dating from 1965-87 from Nancy Henry, Brown College Coordinator. In 2014, Nancy Henry donated scrapbooks. Also in that year, John Muller, President 2013/2014, started uploading documents to the Brown College Digital Archive.

Related Materials

See Rice University Archives for records of other Rice University residential colleges. Contact Woodson Research Center staff for assistance.

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Lee Pecht and Sharon Link, in 2003. Norie Guthrie reprocessed this collection in 2014.
Title
Guide to the Rice University Margarett Root Brown College Records, 1965-2018
Status
Completed
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA