Robert Barton Rice Papers 1927-1976

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.

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.

The collection is organized into five series:

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

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

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).

Processed by Maurice Toler, 1970, Reprocessed by Cilla Golas, 1997,

Encoded by Katherine M. Wisser