Rudolph Edward Lee Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0041
This collection consists of architectural drawings and sketches, articles, a badge/medal, clippings, correspondence, a directory of Clemson graduates from 1896-1940, lists, photographs and negatives, photo albums, a scrapbook and scrapbook pages, specifications for an agricultural building (Long Hall) for Clemson College, a speech, and other material spanning the period 1893-1985, with the majority of the collection dating from 1913-1945.
Most of the items in the collection relate to Lee’s career—as both a student and faculty member—at Clemson and his personal life. Examples of the former are an account in the Greenville Daily News (December 17, 1896) of Clemson's first commencement and a list of the class of 1896 used in planning the 1941 reunion, a list of architecture graduates, 1915-1944, a Constitution for the Architectural Small House Service of South Carolina (1937), a 1917 article on “Convenient and Attractive School Buildings,” a speech dedicating the Engineering Building (now Riggs Hall), and the scrapbook pages, draft floor plans, elevations and detail drawings and large finished architectural drawings in the collection. Examples of the latter include a scrapbook of “memorabilia” and the photo albums.
The scrapbook pages are from a scrapbook that belonged to Lee and consists of a list of old houses in the vicinity of Pendleton, SC, and photocopies of clippings and a letter with information about some of the houses. The draft floor plans, elevations and detail drawings are of old houses in the same area and one in Abbeville. They were drawn by Lee's students and include Altamont a (or Altamont II); the A. W. Smith house in Abbeville; the Pendleton Library (formerly the jail); and Lowther Hall. The large finished architectural drawings, also done by Clemson architecture students, include Mont Pelior, Farmer's Hall, Seneca Plantation and the Sycamore Avenue (Byers) House; some of these drawings have photographs of the exterior of the building glued to them.
The scrapbook titled “Rudolph E. Lee Memorabilia” contains articles, biographical sketches, certificates, clippings, correspondence, business and identification cards, obituaries, photographs, programs, reports relating to Lee’s life and career, and also the Lee family. The photo albums belonged to his wife, Mary Louise, and his daughter, Louise Egleston. Dating between c.1900 and 1945, the albums contain portraits of family and friends and document family gatherings and trips, as well as local events. Of particular note are photographs of the football game held at Riggs Field in Clemson after its dedication in 1915; the wedding of Louise Egleston Lee and William T. Page in Riverside, CA on February 8, 1942; and views of Clemson and Myrtle Beach, SC (the latter in the 1930’s), Henderson County, NC, and the Seneca River and Eighteen Mile Creek in Pickens County, SC. Other locations documented in the albums included Anderson, Charleston, Greenville, and Pawley’s Island, SC; Birmingham and Plattsville, AL; Washington, D.C. during World War I; Charlotte, NC; New York and Niagara Falls, NY; Mount Vernon, Alexandria, and Arlington, VA; and locations in England and France where William T. Page was stationed during World War II. A few of the albums also contain clippings and postcards. Some photographs were removed from the photo albums before they came to Special Collections
Photographs and negatives include prints of scenes from a 1932 Architectural Pageant, art objects, Clemson buildings and classrooms, Clemson cadets and football games. Two photographs—of the mantle and floor plan—and a negative of Altamont are also included.
Subjects documented in this collection the history of Clemson University, the School of Architecture, the buildings on campus, and early Clemson football; the Lee family; views of Riverside, CA, Henderson County, NC, Clemson and Myrtle Beach, SC, and the Seneca River and Eighteen Mile Creek in Pickens County, SC in the first half of the twentieth century; and the historic architecture of Pendleton, SC and the surrounding area.
Rudolph Edward Lee was born in Anderson, South Carolina on March 12, 1876 the son of Major Thomas Broome and Miriam Mays Earle Lee. He attended The Citadel for two years and then transferred to Clemson University (then Clemson Agricultural College) in 1893, where he became a member of its first graduating class, earning a B.S. in Engineering in 1896. Lee received a Masters in Architecture from Clemson in 1928. He also studied at the Zanerian Art College (Columbus, Ohio), the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University. He married Mary Louise Egleston (1877-1952) on June 28, 1900. They had one daughter, Mrs. William T. (Louise Egleston) Page, Jr. (1903-1985). During World War I he served in Washington, D.C. as Expediting Engineer for the U.S. Army Construction Division, Camp Planning Section.
After graduating in 1896 he was Instructor of Mathematics in the Preparatory Department and Major in the Military Department. Lee became Instructor of Drawing in the Engineering Department in 1898, and shortly thereafter became Assistant Professor of Drawing. In 1900 he was made Associate Professor of Drawing and Designing. Lee was elected Professor of Drawing and Designing in 1912 and then Professor of Architectural Engineering and Drawing in 1915. In 1918 he was Professor of Architecture and Drawing, and in 1926 was named Professor of Architecture. He became Head of the Drawing and Designing Division in 1900, which became the Division of Drawing and Architectural Engineering in 1914, the Division of Architecture and Drawing in 1917, the Architecture Division in 1932, and finally the Department of Architecture in 1933. He was the College Architect from 1911-1939 and was architect for a number of the campus buildings, among them the Fike Field House and Recreation Center, the Holtzendorff Y.M.C.A., Long Hall, Riggs Hall, and Sikes Hall (formerly Agricultural Hall). Lee also served, starting in 1911, as superintendent of construction and repair for several years. In addition to his work at Clemson he designed buildings at Lander University and the University of South Carolina. Lee retired from Clemson in 1948 and died on October 23, 1959 in Anderson at the age of 83.
1.5 Cubic Feet (including 4 oversize photo albums, 1 oversize scrapbook, 17 negatives, 38 photographs, an oversize photograph, and 11 oversize architectural drawings. )
English
The Lee Papers document the life of Rudolph E. Lee, a member of Clemson University’s first graduating class and part of the Architecture faculty for over sixty years, as well as the first head of the School of Architecture and the architect for several buildings on the Clemson campus. The papers also contain information relating to his wife, Mary Louise Lee, and his daughter, Louise Egleston Page. The Lee Papers are important for documenting the history of Clemson University, the School of Architecture, the buildings on campus, and early Clemson football; the Lee family; views of Riverside, CA, Henderson County, NC, Clemson and Myrtle Beach, SC, and the Seneca River and Eighteen Mile Creek in Pickens County, SC in the first half of the twentieth century; and the historic architecture of Pendleton, SC and the surrounding area.
Lee's papers are arranged alphabetically by folder or item title.
Professor Lee's daughter, Mrs. William T. (Louise Egleston) Page, gave most of these items to Clemson in 1961 and later in 1984 as accession 84-38. The four photo albums were donated by DuBose Egleston in 1986 as accession 86-112. Most of the oversize drawings were added to this collection as accession 89-106. The scrapbook pages were donated by Paavo Carlson in 1993 as accession 93-59. Five photographs, one clipping and one plat were given by Louise Egleston Lee Page to David Watson who gave them to Wright Bryan; they were removed from Mss 249, the William Wright Bryan Papers by Michael Kohl and transferred to the Lee Papers.
This finding aid was revised in 2002 and 2004 by James Cross.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository