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Acknowledgments
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS So many people have helped me over the years that I hardly know where to begin, and since this book for more than a decade simmered on the back burner while more urgent projects demanded my attention , many who assisted me probably despaired of ever seeing a finished product. The amazingly competent staff of the Journal of Southern History have always facilitated everything I do, so I must begin by thanking such present and former staff members as Evelyn Thomas Nolen, Patricia Dunn Burgess, Julia Shivers, Patricia Bellis Bixel, Scott Marler, Bethany L. Johnson, Randal L. Hall, and a long list of parttime editors and graduate assistants simply too numerous to mention. My colleagues in the history department have made Rice a very congenial environment, and three deans of humanities, Allen Matusow, Judith Brown, and Gale Stokes, fully supported my research and writing over the years. Every historian owes an immense debt of gratitude to a lengthening list of archivists and librarians. Fondren Library has always been a most helpful, researcher-friendly institution, and I appreciate the attention and competence of its reference, interlibrary loan, and acquisitions staff. The succession of skilled archivists in Fondren’s Woodson Research Center, which houses the archives, manuscripts, and rare books, have without exception been marvelously helpful, going out of their way to accommodate my needs and answer my questions. Nancy Boothe, Kinga Perzynska, and Lee Pecht as successive heads of special collections have been invaluable to me, as have other staff members such as Joan Ferry, Philip Montgomery, Amanda York Focke, and Lisa Moellering. Jeanne Cobb as the head of archives and special collections, T. W. Phillips Memorial Library, Bethany College, did everything possible to make my research there fruitful, as did Ben Primer of the Firestone Library at Princeton University and Daniel J. Linke of the Seeley G. Mudd 282 Acknowledgments Manuscript Library at Princeton. David and Carol Brown were wonderful hosts in Princeton. Lynn Niedermeier of the university archives at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green helped me track down information about West Kentucky College. Anja Becker of the University of Leipzig generously shared her research on Edgar Odell Lovett and other American students at Leipzig with me, and Christin Rettke of the University of Leipzig proved to be a most resourceful research assistant. Thanks also to Professor Hartmut Keil at the University of Leipzig for making my stay in Leipzig so pleasant and productive. Robert and Kathy Moore also did much to help my wife and me adjust to life in Leipzig. Tim Noakes of Special Collections, Alderman Library, at the University of Virginia uncovered Lovett’s academic record for me. Vesta Lee Gordon was indispensable as a research assistant in the Alderman Library special collections, helping me once again as she had almost forty years ago when I was a graduate student at Virginia. Kate Kirkland shared information with me concerning Mike Hogg, the University of Texas, and Lovett. Matthew Penney’s seminar paper on how World War II impacted the Rice Institute proved helpful, as indeed did his dissertation. Thomas R. Williams has helped me understand Lovett’s astronomical education. Albert Van Helden translated from Dutch the book chapter written by Hugo de Vries describing his participation in Rice’s opening ceremonies. James M. Lomax, M.D., Michael Farr, M.D., and Thomas H. McConnell, M.D., helped me understand several medical issues that involved members of the Lovett family. Informal conversations over many years with many persons in the Rice community have informed my view of both Dr. Lovett and the early days of the Rice Institute. I hesitate to mention some names in fear that I will leave out others, but the following have been unusually helpful: Ed Oppenheimer, Helen Saba Worden, Bridget and Al Jensen, Catherine C. Hannah, S. W. Higginbotham, and Ray Watkin Hoagland Strange. Others have helped by reading the manuscript or otherwise sharing their knowledge of educational history. Melissa F. Kean very carefully read the book at every stage of its preparation, and I also value the readings and suggestions offered by Nancy Boles, Joseph W. Cox, Michele Gillespie, Randal L. Hall, Ipek Martinez, Clarence Mohr, George Rupp, and Whitney N. Stewart. Conversations Acknowledgments 283 with George Rupp, Malcolm Gillis, and David Leebron, successive presidents of Rice University, have helped me understand something of the life of a university president. Subventions from the Rice Historical Society and the Rice Centennial Commission helped make possible this updated centennial edition. It has been...