MC 00044 Guide to the Robert Barton Rice Papers, 1927-1976

• MC 00044 Series 1. Personal Files
• MC 00044 Series 2. Diesel Engineering Department Files
• MC 00044 Series 3. National Defense Training and Research Files
• MC 00044 Series 4. Projects, Publications and Reports
• MC 00044 Series 5. Subject Files

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Quantity

10.0 Linear feet 20 archival boxes

General Physical Description

20 archival boxes

Language

English

Acquisitions Information

Donated by Robert Barton Rice in 1970 (Accession no. 1970-0009), 1971 (Accession no. 1971-0006), and 1972 (Accession no. 1972-0004, 1972-0005, and 1972-0006). Additional materials transferred from the North Carolina State University Libraries Collection Development and Organization Department in 1976 (Accession no. 1976-0004), and donated by Steve Dolan in 1976 (Accession no. 1976-0005) and 1979 (Accession no. 1979-0005).

Processing

Processed by: Maurice Toler, 1970; Reprocessed by Cilla Golas, 1997; machine-readable finding aid created by: Katherine M. Wisser

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Robert Barton Rice are divided into five series and chronologically arranged under each subject heading. Each series in the collection focuses on engineering. The Personal Files are contained within five file folders offering information and correspondence relating to Rice's career. The Diesel Engineering Department series is a significant part of the collection, covering Rice's years as department administrator and includes extensive course material from each class, students' work, faculty minutes from meetings, and the specifications and dedication of the Diesel Engineering Laboratory Building. The National Defense Training and Research series also comprises an important part of the collection, concentrating on NC State's involvement (facilitated by Rice) with the United States Air Force, Army, and Naval personnel defense training programs. Inventories, blueprints, contracts, and supply lists offer detailed descriptions of the engineering department's role in national defense. The Projects, Publications, and Reports series contains the bulk of the collection-- Rice's (and others) engineering projects (up to 1965), testing of engines (German language material,) and Rice's accumulated historical data (from 1929) relating to engineering. Most files contain photographs and cover diverse projects. The final series, Subject--Miscellaneous, consists of ten file folders that contains limited material from 1907-1971, relating to mechanical engineering.

Biographical Note

Robert Barton Rice was born November 22, 1900, in Massachusetts. Before graduating in 1919 from Springfield Technical High School (Massachusetts), Barton had already acquired engineering experience at the Van Norman Machine Tool Company. He continued his employment in the engineering field during his college years, graduating from Tufts College Engineering School (Massachusetts), earning, in 1926, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Enginnering. He received an A.M. degree from Columbia University, later returning to Tufts College, in 1936, for a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering.

In 1930, Rice served as an independent engineering consultant to several corporations while instructing at the Pratt Institute (New York), the Wyomissing Polytechnical Institute (Pennsylvania), and the New College of Engineering (New Jersey). By 1938, Professor Rice headed the Experimental Engineering Department in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State College. He taught undergraduate courses in thermodynamics, hydraulics, aircraft internal combustion engines, and graduate courses in internal combustion engine design and mechanical engineering research. In addition to teaching, he was responsible for the designing of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, procuring and testing equipment, as well as supervising, organizing, and developing the laboratories for heating, ventilation, steam power, metallurgy, hydraulics, aeronautics, internal combustion engines and associated studies. During World War II, Rice directed the Naval Diesel School, a designated North Carolina State College training facility for national defense.

While teaching at North Carolina State College in 1950, Rice and two partners formed Engineering Development Associates, a corporation offering services in design, construction, supervision, and consultation in many branches of engineering and architecture. Rice's practice included Traveler's Insurance, Textile Manufacturing Company, Diesel Engine Manufacturers Assocation, Town of Tarboro, North Carolina, New Bern, North Carolina, and Bureau of Ships, United States Navy. Consulting work consisted of inspecting, designing, constructing, administering, and installing power plants, engine designs, and heating and air conditioning systems.

Before his retirement in 1971, Robert Barton Rice headed numerous committees, chaired engineering societies, and was a member of educational and engineering clubs. He received, in 1972, the distinguished service certificate from the National Council of Engineering Examiners. At the Smithsonian Institution, within the National Museum of History and Technology, Rice deposited archival materials in collections relating to the history and advancements of mechanical engineering professions. After more than twenty-five years on the faculty at North Carolina State University and devoting his life to engineering, Rice died on March 4, 1976, at the age of seventy-five.

Controlled Terms

1. Diesel electric power plants--North Carolina--New Bern
2. Diesel electric power plants--North Carolina--Tarboro
3. Diesel locomotives
4. Diesel motor
5. Diesel motor industry--North Carolina
6. Engineering contracts--North Carolina
7. Engineering design--North Carolina
8. Engineering drawings
9. Engineering firms--North Carolina
10. Engineering laboratories--North Carolina
11. Engineering schools--North Carolina
12. Engineering teachers--North Carolina
13. Engineering--North Carolina
14. Engineering--Research--North Carolina
15. Engineering--Specifications--North Carolina
16. Engineering--Study and teaching--North Carolina
17. Engineering--Vocational guidance--North Carolina
18. Engineers in government--United States
19. Engineers--North Carolina
20. Engines
21. Internal combustion engines
22. Mechanical engineering
23. North Carolina
24. North Carolina State University. College of Engineering.
25. Rice, Robert B.
26. United States. Air Forces--Engineering aids.
27. United States. Army--Engineering aids.
28. United States. Navy--Engineering aids.

Access to Collection

Collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.

For more information contact us via mail, phone, fax, or our web form.

Mail

Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111

Telephone

(919) 515-2273

Fax

(919) 513-1787

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Robert Barton Rice Papers, MC 00044, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Access to Collection

The nature of the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NCSU Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.