Summer 1939

The last article Ethel published in the August 31- September 10th period was a "meet the professor" type article. Many of the mentioned professors appear in the Rice yearbook from 1938. I added their pictures as well as highlighted their names in red to help us get acquainted with them. Looks like the mustache was "in" during the summer of 1939!!

From the article, it is apparent that many of the professors traveled within the US and abroad. Historically, 1939 was the end of the Great Depression. According to the Rice Historical Society, the Great Depression was felt across the board at Rice. In 1932, salaries were cut by 5-10% and the registration fee for students rose from $10 to $25 a year. Students were also required to live on campus for at least one year and pay an additional $18 fee to support various student associations.

It must have been nice to have a professor's job and be able to travel, while many people were barely recovering from loosing their livelihood. These summer travels are an indication of improving economic times at the Institute and in the country.

At the same time the US was emerging out of the Depression, Europe was heading into War. On September 1st, only days prior to the publication of this particular article, Germany invaded Poland. The Rice professors returned from quieter parts of Europe and there is no mention in the article of the tentions overseas.

Professors at Rice End Europe Trip

Others Returning From Vacation in America and From Research as Session Nears.

September 10th, 1939

Dr. Marcel Moraud
Professor of French

Andre Bourgeois
Instructor in French

Registration for the new semester at Rice Institute Thursday and Friday is calling back professors and instructors from travels in American and Europe, and from study in libraries and research laboratories.

Four Rice faculty members spent the summer in Europe. Dr. Thomas W. Bonner, assistant professor of physics, has returned from England, where be was studying at Oxford University on a Guggenheim Fellowship in physic's. Dr. Marcel Moraud, professor of French, and Andre Bourgeois, instructor in French, are expected back from France this week, and Fred V. Shelton, French instructor, will arrive in New Orleans Monday after a summer in Antwerp, Belgium.

Three in Colorado.

H. E. Bray
Professor of Mathematics

Colorado was chosen by three Rice professors this summer. Dr. Harry B. Weiser, dean and professor of chemistry, stayed at his summer home in Estes Park, where he completed work on his latest book, "Colloid Chemistry," published last month. Dr. H. E. Bray, professor of mathematics, was in Eldora, Colo. Dr. Arthur J. Hartsook returned from Estes Park last week to supervise the construction of a new annex to the Rice chemistry building.

Other members of the chemistry department have had short vacations, but spending most of the summer at work. Dr. George H. Richter, assistant professor of organic chemistry, has just completed a laboratory manual for pre-medical students, on which he worked all summer.

Dr. Allen D. Garrison
Assistant Professor of
Chemical Engineering

Dr. Frank H. Hurley, instructor in analytical chemistry, has just returned from a two-week stay in New York City, and Dr. Allen D. Garrison, assistant professor of chemical engineering, left last week for a short stay in New York and Boston. Both have spent most of the summer doing chemical research in the Rice laboratories. Dr. Grover L. Bridger and Doctor Garrison took summer courses in chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State College.

Books Completed.

Dr. George Whiting of the English department completed his "Literary Milieu of Milton," on which he has been working for several years. It is being published this fall by the North Carolina Press. Dr. Max Freund, professor of German, has completed the translating and annotating of a detailed journal on Texas written by Gustav Bresel, young German who visited Texas between 1838 and 1840.

Dr. Max Freund
Professor of German

Dr. Harold A. Wilson
Professor of physics

Dr. Harold A. Wilson, professor of physics, visited Monterrey and Saltillo, Mexico, for a short while. He spent most of the summer working on new high voltage apparatus to be used by the physics a, department to bombard atoms. Dr. Claude W. Heaps, professor of physics, visited Springfield, Mass., and the New York World Fair.

Dr. Asa C. Chandler, professor of biology, is in New York at the third international congress of microbiology, and Dr. W. 0. Milligan is in Boston at the ninety-eighth national congress of the American Chemical Society, which Doctor Garrison will also attend.

W. O. Milligan
Research Assistant in Chemistry

Only three of the instructors will not return to Rice when
classes open September 18. Dr, Irwin C. Kitchin, instructor in biology for three years, will become assistant professor of zoology the University of North Carolina.Doctor Bridger is now with the TVA, and Dr. James Greely, formerly with the civil engineering department left the faculty.

Spanning this eleven day period, Ethel published a total of eight articles, four of which were published on September 10th. They provide a view into the university as it readies itself for a new academic year. 

Photo Source: Ancestry.com U.S. School Yearbooks 2010. 
Rice Institute 1938 p. 16-19

Hot Off the Press

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica  "A colloid is a substance microscopically dispersed throughout another substance." Rice university was blessed with a world expert on the subject, it's very own Dean and professor, Dr. Harry Boyer Weiser. We've met Dr. Weiser several times already as he was mentioned in various other articles. See Rice Institute to Be Represented at Meet, for a photo of Ethel receiving her diploma from Dr. Weiser. Here, in another article from the first ten days of September, Ethel continues to report on the Chemistry department and her professor's new textbook.

"Rice Dean Gets Copies Of I! His New Book on Chemistry 

September 10th, 1939

First copies of a textbook, just off the press, entitled "Colloid Chemistry," have been received at Rice Institute by the author, Dr. Harry B. Weiser, professor of chemistry and dean of the institute.
Giving numerous applications of colloid chemistry in agriculture, industry and home economics, Doctor Weiser has tried to provide a textbook that will keep the students interested in the technical study through practical applications. Examples of this are the including of a method of manufacturing ammonia, the theory of why Jello and other gelatin desserts jell, a process for making petroleum drilling muds, and even a recipe for making mayonnaise.

Gall stones and agate both come from colloidal materials, he points out in another section of the book. Insect sprays are made to cover a larger area, wet the surface more thoroughly and last longer due to the addition of proper colloids.

Dean Harry B. Weiser
Source: Ancestry.com U.S. School Yearbooks 2010. 
Rice Institute 1938 p. 16

Sixth He Has Published.

This is the sixth book Professor Weiser has published. The text is intended to give the student a thorough grounding in colloid chemistry, with special attention to the modern theories and developments, and also to acquaint him,with the wide applications of science to industrial arts, biology land agriculture.

Applications to lubrication, adhesives and soaps are made in the first section of the book, in which absorption is taken up. Bentonite, the material which prevents the hardening of clay in the earth's strata around the drill in drilling for petroleum, is discussed in the division on colloidal gelatins.

Dyestuffs Discussed.

Dyes and dyestuffs are discussed in a later section, in which technical methods of keeping cloth from spotting when dyed brilliant colors are pointed out. The section also presents the best methods of preparing blueprints.

The book, to be used this year in Professor 'Weiser's courses at Rice in colloidal chemistry for senior and graduate students, is an outgrowth of his 25 years of experience as an instructor and professor in the science at Cornell University, the University of Tennessee. and Rice Institute.

Doctor Weiser is a member of the executive committee of Sigma Xi, national honorary science fraternity; chairman of the National Colloid Symposium, and chapter councillor of the Rice Chapter a Phi Lambda Upsilon, national honorary chemistry association. He is one of the foremost American authorities on colloid chemistry."

Photo of the original text book from Amazon

The book is now out of print, though a few used copies are available on amazon for about $3.00. My hunch is that Ethel, a senior in 1939, would have signed up for this class and was the first of Chemistry students around the country to use the textbook, written by the renown professor. Dr. Weiser seemed ahead of his time in trying to make Chemistry more attractive to students by focusing on it's practical implications.