Howard Porper collection

Collection

Identifier: MS 1083

Staff Only

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.

Content Description

This collection contains the materials related to Howard Porper's musical career, as well as his progressive politics.

Dates

Creation: 1946 - 1993

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

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 from the Howard Porper collection must be obtained from Porper family.

The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. These materials include, but are not limited to, student grades, transcripts, and any job applications or recommendations.

Biographical / Historical

Born in New York City in 1925 and educated at City College of New York in geology and civil engineering, he moved with his partner, Dassia Marshack Porper, also a civil engineer, in 1951 to Houston. Both of them worked for Brown and Root. They eventually left Brown and Root, with Howard Porper starting a wholesale diamond business, while his partner helped found and co-directed the Houston chapter of the ACLU.

In addition to his worklife, Howard Porper was a folk musician, mainly from the years 1952-1976. He co-founded the Houston Folklore Group, which has become the Houston Folklore and Music Society, with John A. Lomax, Jr., Harold Belikoff, Pete Rose, Ed Badeaux and Chester Bower. He performed in Hootenanny's with Ed Badeaux, John A. Lomax, Jr., Lightnin' Hopkins, and Mance Lipscomb, as well as Pete Seeger.

Dassia Marschack Porper died in 2003, with Howard passing in 2005.