Administration Building, Academic Court Side (left half), October 1912

This collection consists of envelopes of 8” x 10” black and white photographs printed from 111 glass plate negatives. Consisting of images of Rice Institute (now University) building exteriors and interiors and campus scenes, these photographs were taken in 1912 before, at, and after the formal opening on October 12. Also included are envelopes of photographs printed from seven glass plate negatives of drawings of campus building elements by architecture students in 1913 and 1918. Some photos are by E.W. Irish Photo Co., primarily at the Formal Opening, in October 1912. Included in the collection are the glass plate negatives that the photographs were printed from in addition to film negatives.

The comprehensive range of the photographs suggests an intention to record as completely as possible what the entire Rice Institute facilities looked like, outside and in, at the time of the formal opening. Along with shots of building exteriors, some showing the whole and others, close-ups of decorative details, there are interiors including a lecture hall, a physics laboratory, the president’s office, a library area, the dining hall, the kitchen, and even the boiler room of the power plant.

The particular event of the formal opening itself is documented by photographs of the assemblage of distinguished dignitaries in attendance, representing other universities; of students in the first class; of President Lovett speaking during the ceremony; and of the finely dressed members of the public, whose early model cars had brought them to the campus from beyond where the pavement of Houston’s Main Street ended.