Woodson Research Center

The Woodson contains more than 700 manuscript collections focused on the history of Texas and the greater Houston area, politics, entrepreneurship, oil and gas, theater, architecture.[1] Other subject areas include American Civil War history, hip hop/rap music-related materials from the Swishahouse record label,[2] science, and literary authors with Rice connections. Also in the Center are the papers of Rice University faculty members and alumni with achievements in the humanities, sciences, engineering, and the arts.

The Americas collection[3] documents the 19th and 20th century political and cultural relationships between North, Central, and South America.

20th century materials include the papers and oral histories of Texas liberal Democratic politicians; the papers of the author of the Marshall Plan, William L. Clayton; Oveta Culp Hobby papers; Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana papers; Gus Wortham family and business papers; Jesse H. Jones personal papers and corporate records; Brown and Root company records; the papers of the scientist Julian Huxley, his wife Juliette Huxley, and his brother Aldous Huxley.[4] The Woodson holds papers of such prominent Texas families as Autry, Fondren, Hamman, Hutcheson, Lovett, Masterson, Sharp, Townsend and Watkin. Oil and gas related collections include Panhandle Eastern and several smaller companies.

The Woodson collects architectural records with collections from Anderson Todd, Arthur E. Jones, Charles Tapley, Brochsteins Inc., and Ralph Anderson Jr., and Weber-Staub-Briscoe architectural ironwork.[5]

Fine Arts has also become a large focus of their collecting efforts. This includes collections from the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston,[6] Ann Holmes, William Camfield, Elinor Evans, and Stages Repertory Theatre.

Particular subject strengths include the history of science, Confederate imprints, Texana, 18th century British drama, the history of aeronautics, and a historical atlas collection. Large collections of note are the Masterson Texana collection, the Axson collection of 18th century plays, and the Anderson collection on the history of aeronautics. The Cruikshank collection offers a wealth of Cruikshank’s illustrations from the 1800s. The Woodson houses the Ricketts and Shannon collection of 19th century printing arts, the Stevenson collection of printing and watermarks, the Wilson collection of historical maps and atlases, and the Hirsch Limited Editions Club Collection of fine books.

The William Ward Watkin and Annie Ray Watkin University archives contain the historical records of the University’s Board of Governors, administrative offices, the papers of Rice presidents, university committees, academic departments, student organizations and university-related groups. The archives also contain campus plans, drawings and blueprints, photographs, publications, video and audio tapes, ephemeral material and memorabilia.

The Woodson Research Center has a large amount of digitized material online. Historical images of Rice University, its buildings, people, and events are online in the university's institutional repository. There are also digitized materials in the institutional repository related to items from their cultural heritage collections. The Woodson maintains an array of digital exhibits on a variety of topics: Jesse H. Jones, Liberty Hall, the Houston Folk Music Archive, the Houston Asian American Archive, and many others. Through the Fondren Fellows program, participating students have used Woodson Research Center materials and ArcGIS software to tell new stories and extract data from archival materials related to the U.S. Civil War.[15] One project focused on mapping Civil War narratives and another focused on mapping data from Civil War journals.

• Woodson Research Center home page
• Woodson materials at the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive
• Searchable inventories available via Texas Archival Resources Online and ArchivesSpace