Woodson Research Center is an archive located in the Fondren Library of Rice University in Houston, Texas. The Center is named for Benjamin N. Woodson and houses the special collections of Rice University's Fondren Library which includes rare books, manuscripts, and the Rice University archives.
Contents
The mission statement is as follows: "The Woodson Research Center supports the institutional, research and public service programs of Rice University. The Woodson preserves official university records, rare books, and manuscripts and makes them all available to Rice faculty, students, and alumni, as well as local, national, and international researchers. Woodson Research Center’s strong service tradition and commitment to technology enhance access to and aid in the preservation of rare materials and facilitate long-distance study and teaching."
Manuscript Collections
Woodson contains more than 475 manuscript collections focused on the history of Texas and the greater Houston area, politics, entrepreneurship, and oil and gas. Other subject areas include American Civil War history, hip hop/rap music-related materials from the Swishahouse record label, 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.
Personal collections include the papers of the scientist Julian Huxley, his wife Juliette Huxley, and his brother Aldous Huxley. The Americas collection 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 papers; Gus Wortham family and business papers; Brown and Root company records, and George and Herman Brown papers. 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.
Rare Books
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.
University Archives
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.