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Rice University School of Architecture Alumni Archive

 Collection
Identifier: UA 254
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of materials about the Rice University School of Architecture and materials created by its alumni over years from 1927 to 1990. Included are a booklet titled Rice Institute Department of Architecture 1928 and another titled The Rice Institute Traveling Scholarship in Architecture, 1928-32. A large part of the collection is drawings of the individuals who won this award in six years between 1953 and 1982. Also included are a folio from 1930 to 1932 of Frank Vesey, a 1932 Architecture 410 sketchbook from Walter Johnson, 1946 biographical sketch and traveling information of Milton B. McGinty, Guy Rollins’ memoirs of architecture school spanning 1963 and 1990, the 1973 student newspaper Intercourse, and weekly calendars for 1969 to 1972.

In the map case drawer are pen and ink drawings and watercolors by several individuals, some of them winners of particular awards. There are seven copies of pen and ink drawings of Rice University and transparencies of the same. An ink and watercolor on board titled Sacristy Santo Spirito by Milton McGinty is identified with the 1928 Rice Institute Traveling Fellowship in Architecture. There are eight pieces by Erik T. Sprohge: two pen and ink drawings with watercolor associated with the 1954 William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship; materials that won the Walsh Prize in 1953, sections, plans, rendering in ink and watercolor on board for A Theater for the Motion Picture Association of America; an undated watercolor on board, A Municipal Library; materials that won the 1952 Kenneth Murchison Prize, elevation, plans, sections, and rendering in pen and ink and watercolor on board for A Mission Chapel on a Barge; and three 1955 watercolor renderings. There is also an undated set of perspectives, elevations, plot plan, floor plans, and watercolor and pencil on board for An Office Building for a Pipe Fabricating Company.

Also included is a grouping of 18 items associated with Frank W. Vesey. These are comprised of pencil and ink, chalk and charcoal drawing, ink and watercolor, and watercolors that range in date from 1927 to 1982. There are four photocopies of shrimp boats, the Cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand, a European house, and Chartres Cathedral from the northwest.

Finally, there is an undated unidentified building rendering in pencil and colored pencil on paper by Ray Morris, Jr. of Wilson, Morris, Crain, and Anderson.

Dates

  • 1953 - 1990

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

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

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the [School of] Architecture Alumni Archive must be facilitated through the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical / Historical

This collection is comprised in large part of materials created by alumni of the Rice University School of Architecture who have been awarded the Traveling Fellowship—subsequently named the William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship in honor of the first chairman of the Department of Architecture. The Fellowship was created in October 1927 with donations from eight individuals, including William Ward Watkin. Its purpose was to provide opportunity for travel and study to the architecture student whose submission of work to the competition was judged to be the best. Beginning in the sixth year the Rice Architectural Society, a student honorary group, assumed responsibility for raising the funds. Subse- quently the Fellowship was endowed by Mrs. Ray Watkin Strange, Rice architecture alumna and daughter of Mr. Watkin.

By 1962 the funds available were $2000, intended to cover at least four months’ travel and study abroad. The winner of the competition was required to submit a proposed itinerary before the trip and afterward, a brief report of his observations and sketches or photographs to illustrate his travels. The William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship has been awarded as late as 2013.

Extent

1 Linear Feet ( (1 box plus oversize))

Language of Materials

English

Overview

The collection consists primarily of materials created by alumni of the Rice University School of Architecture. Dates of the materials range from 1927 to 1990. A large portion of the collection is made up of drawings that won the William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship. There are also a 1932 sketch-book by Walter Johnson for Architecture 410, a copy of the 1973 student newspaper Intercourse, and pictorial works in pencil, ink, ink and watercolor, and watercolor by Milton McGinty, Erik T. Sprohge, Frank W. Vesey, and Ray Morris, Jr.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donations from Milton B. McGinty, 1990; Stephen Fox. 1990; Erik T. Sprohge, 1990; Unnamed individuals, 1992, 1993.

Creator

Title
Guide to the Rice University School of Architecture Alumni Archive, 1953-1990
Status
Completed
Author
Mary Tobin
Date
2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
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