Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
Rice celebrated the acquisition of its millionth volume in 1979. The planning
committee, which included faculty members, university administrators, and
the special collections librarian, was inspired by the university's original
name (William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science,
and Art) to seek three gift volumes representing those three areas of
learning. The Friends of the library presented a Riviere-bound copy of
Beaumont & Fletcher's Comedies and Tragedies (1647); the Board of Governors
gave the 1972 reprint collection, The Printed Sources of Western Art, Series
I, edited by Theodore Besterman; and Dow Chemical Co. USA (whose head at
the time was a Rice alumnus) gave Riccioli's Almagestum Novum Astronomiam . . .
(1651) as well as a year's subscription to Chemical Abstracts. .
A well-publicized presentation ceremony included a talk by Librarian of
Congress Daniel Boorstin and was followed by a reception at the faculty club.
A dinner was held at the university president's house for major donors,
ceremony participants, and committee members.