In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter five ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION IN PEACETIME AND WAR The formal opening ceremonies had been filled with academic glamour, intellectual excitement, and the buzz of great expectations, but after those heady days invigorated by the presence of important visitors and expansive visions came the steady, hard work of actually getting a university underway. Moreover, Edgar Odell Lovett had a family, with a devoted wife who had a history of illness, and part of his attention and psychological energy had to be directed toward establishing a home in Houston. Sensing that this was his final move and that the development of the new university would occupy his thought and energy —and his patience—for the remainder of his life, Lovett took care to fit himself and the university into the ethos and ambition of the rapidly growing city on the plains of Texas. The region had no experience with a university of the quality that Lovett envisioned, nor did it produce students all of whom were prepared for the academic challenges the Rice Institute offered. And in the midst of these founding years, the European world collapsed into a maelstrom of war, destruction, and death—an event terribly upsetting to the quintessentially cosmopolitan Lovett, who had strong ties to scholars in all of the contending nations and, moreover, had a close personal relationship with Woodrow Wilson . Within less than a decade Lovett was having to deal not only with the quotidian problems of creating and sustaining a new institution but also with the vexing problem of how the university should respond to the exigencies of wartime. One issue of unexpected difficulty was finding a home for the Lovett family. From the beginning Lovett desired to have a house built on campus , but before that could be done, of course, he needed a place in 1909, after returning from the round-the-world trip. In the first months after the return, as he hurried back to Houston to work with architects and the Academic Administration in Peacetime and War 121 board, Mary returned to Mayfield, Kentucky, to rejoin the children, and then in the later summer and early autumn she went with the children to Atlantic City. It was feared that Houston was too hot for her to arrive in July and August (she still was extremely careful about her health), and she understandably felt the need to bond anew with her children after being absent from them during her long illness and then the voyage. They were, after all, at impressionable ages—Adelaide turned eleven that fall and Malcolm was seven. During the summer and early fall Edgar Lovett wrote to her often, with frequent references about looking for a house in the city for the university to either rent or buy. He also sought—unsuccessfully at first—to enroll the children in a good private school, and he remarked to Mary how much the various wives of trustee members and other prominent citizens were looking forward to meeting her. “Everyone is asking when you and the children are coming. . . . And Mary, it’s going to be another honeymoon for us when we do get under our own roof again.” Mary was clearly quite eager to make a new home in Houston. Writing him in May from Kentucky, she said, “I’m ready to set up once more and believe we shall be happier than ever when we get down to work in earnest. Of course,” she added, “you’re going to build the Institute yet! I have never doubted it!” The next day in another letter she repeated the sentiment: “I think I shall be glad to get settled in our new house and ready to enjoy making new friends.” Sometime in the fall Edgar rented a house at 1218 Polk Avenue (at the intersection with Caroline), and by November Mary and the children were there. Almost a half century later another Houstonian, William Kirkland, recalled “Mrs. Lovett welcoming boys and girls to her home with patience, understanding, and enthusiasm,” and he remembered as well how “easily” the Lovett children “fitted . . . into the neighborhood.” Before the house was found, Lovett stayed in a hotel, and even after the house was acquired but before Mary arrived (and he had not yet found a servant), he took his meals at the hotel. For the next few summers and early autumns, Mary and the children escaped the Houston heat and humidity by returning to Mayfield for a while and then longer visits to either...

Share