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Rice University Honorary Chancellor Office Records, William Houston

 Collection
Identifier: UA 0272
Finding aid note: Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists primarily of correspondence for the years 1961 to 1968 and budget records for fiscal years 1965 through 1969. Also included are a legal brief (John Coffee et al. v. Rice University), correspondence concerning the Rice University Semicentennial, and the Certificate of Merit for Distinction in Physics presented to Dr. Houston.

Dates

  • 1961 - 1968

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this

collection must be facilitated through the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical / Historical

Inaugurated on April 10, 1947, as the second president of Rice Institute, William V. Houston served in that role until 1960 when a heart attack prompted his decision to resign that office. In the Physics Laboratory he continued his own research, taught one graduate course, and worked with graduate students. In the spring of 1961 he was made Honorary Chancellor, which he remained until his death in 1968. He is the only person in the history of Rice to have had the title Honorary Chancellor.

Dr. Houston’s duties as Honorary Chancellor were at his discretion. The annual budget of his office contained no more than his salary, the salary of his long-time secretary, and modest amounts for office equipment, supplies, and travel. In 1967 he was still teaching one graduate physics course and counseling six graduate students.

Because of his years as university President and his reputation as an internationally prominent physicist, he had formed interesting and well-placed connections which he called upon for the benefit of particular faculty members and the university as a whole. It has been said that he acted “as counselor, facilitator, mediator, and ambassador, all during a period of great transition and change for the university.”

Honorary Chancellor Houston died in 1968 while traveling to attend a series of meetings of physicists.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists primarily of correspondence and budget records. Also included are one legal brief (John Coffee et al vs. Rice University) and printed booklets from the inauguration of Kenneth S. Pitzer and the Semicentennial convocation. The Certificate of Merit for Distinction in Physics presented to Dr. Houston is also included.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These papers were brought to the Woodson 6-20-96 by Physics Professor Stan Dodds, who said he recovered them from the office of Harold Rorschach, also a physics professor and a colleague of Dr. Houston.

Related Materials

See also William Houston Papers, Personal papers, MS 426.

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Rice University Honorary Chancellor Office Records, William Houston, 1961-1968
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

Repository Details

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

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892