Brown University Library News

The Brown University Library and its Library Advisory Council invite the Brown community and members of the public to a book talk about the recently published Brown University: An Architectural Tour (The Campus Guide). Friday, May 2 at 4 p.m. in the first floor presentation space of Rhode Island Hall, author Raymond P. Rhinehart ’62 and photographer Walter Smalling, Jr. will discuss the new Guide, describing the process of creating and collecting these illustrious images and chronicling the depth and breadth of architectural styles at home on the Brown campus. A Q&A session and book signing will follow the lecture. Copies of the book will be available for purchase on site.

Organized by nine campus walks that bring readers along diverse, lively tours of the notable structures, the Guide offers practical information about the buildings on campus as well as insights into architectural styles by era with a healthy dose of Brown University and Ivy League history. Readers and attendees of the lecture will enjoy Rhinehart’s poetic style and Smalling’s stunning photographs. David Brussat, the architectural reporter for the Providence Journal, calls the book “An elegant guide to Brown’s campus.” Both the book and the talk will enrich and deepen one’s knowledge and estimation of College Hill and will appeal to architectural buffs, East Side residents, and members of the Brown community alike.

Raymond P. Rhinehart

Ray Rhinehart studied English literature at Brown and graduated magna cum laude in 1962. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1969. After teaching at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, he pursued post-doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While in North Carolina, Rhinehart performed curating work for the Virginia Museum, served as fine arts editor for the Richmond Mercury, reported on fine arts for NPR, published poems and essays in the Christian Science Monitor, and wrote a play on American history that was performed at the Virginia Museum.

After moving to Washington, DC and spending four years as an adjunct lecturer at American and George Washington Universities, Rhinehart was appointed as Director of Media Relations for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1980. In 1987 he was named Vice President of the American Architectural Foundation, then in 1999 he returned to the AIA as Senior Director of Special Projects. He was made an Honorary Member of the AIA in 1994. He is the author of Princeton University: An Architectural Tour (The Campus Guide) as well as Brown University: An Architectural Tour (The Campus Guide). Music is Rhinehart’s deepest passion, and he sings with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington, DC, where he lives with his partner of 34 years, photographer Walter Smalling, Jr. They also share a home in Penobscot, Maine.

Walter Smalling, Jr.

After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in art history and design in 1973, Walter Smalling, Jr. received a two-year grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities to preserve and create an exhibition of a historic photo collection. While working on this project, he was asked by a local preservation group to take photos of an endangered building. It was then that he discovered “old buildings” and his passion for architectural photography was born. He became a freelance photographer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Register of Historic Places. That was followed by a staff photographer position for the National Park Service’s historic preservation branch, during which time he traveled the world and wrote three books for the Service, including the first book ever written specifically on Shaker architecture.

Currently, Smalling works as a freelance photographer for major architectural firms, magazines, government agencies, book publishers, museums, and corporations worldwide. He has provided the photographs for fifteen books published by Rizzoli, Hearst, Crown Publishers, Princeton Architectural Press (including five college architectural guides), West Virginia University Press, and the New York Times. He is currently working on four books: one on the Shakers, a book on “Gentleman Farms of Virginia,” a book on the White House complex, and another on stone houses of the Shenandoah Valley. In addition to photography, Smalling also paints and owns an art studio in Penobscot, Maine.

Date: May 2, 2014
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Rhode Island Hall, on the College Green, 60 George Street