Rice University postcard collection

Collection

Identifier: UA 0246

Staff Only

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

This collection consists of postcards featuring Rice Institute and Rice University, gathered from various sources. The largest segment is an album in which are mounted 35 3-1/2” x 5-1/2” color scenes identified by the donor as the first cards made following the change of Rice’s name from Institute to University. They were all made after July 1, 1960 and most in 1961. This album was a gift to Rice from Damon D. Hickey, class of 1964. The remainder of the collection consists of loose cards of varying sizes and dates. Most are 3-1/2” x 5-1/2”, but the most recent are 4” x 6”. The latter feature images of buildings “inside” contemporary graphic lettering. The smaller scenic cards have labels identifying buildings at either Rice Institute or Rice University. Three cards are not pictorial of Rice, two of which report a football score (Rice 7, A&M 6), and one which juxtaposes images of the mascots of Rice and the University of Texas. The date of the earliest card in the collection is identifiable by a 1913 postmark.

Dates

Creation: 1913-1990s

Creator

Rice University (Organization)

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 Rice Institute/University Postcard Collection must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical / Historical

Rice University opened as the William Marsh Rice Institute in 1912 on a 300-acre campus in Houston, Texas. At the beginning there were the administration building a residence hall, an academic building, and the mechanical lab and power plant, as well as an elaborate plan for additional buildings, all by the renowned Boston architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson. Major growth took place after World War II, and in 1960 the name change from Institute to University acknowledged a broadened curriculum. As far as construction of new buildings is concerned, there have been several periods of growth: the late 40’s, the late 50’s, the 60’s, the early 80’s, the 90’s and the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Postcards in the collection document two events of national historic significance that took place at Rice: President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech calling for a manned landing on the moon, and the 1990 gathering of eight international heads of state for the Economic Summit.

Based on John B. Boles, “Rice University, Handbook of Texas Online (http://www. tsha online.org/handbook/articles/kbr05), accessed May 13, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet ( (1 box))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists of picture postcards featuring primarily buildings on the campus of Rice University in Houston, Texas. Included are scenes from as early as 1913 ranging to representations of buildings added to the campus in the 90’s. There are also scenes documenting two nationally significant historical events that took place at Rice: President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 speech calling for a manned moon landing, and the 1990 Economic Summit, which brought together eight international heads of state.