Fondren Library was founded in 1913 with a beginning collection of fewer than 200 volumes. Today, Fondren Library is a modern research library with over 2 million volumes, approximately 3 million microforms, and 16,013 current serials and periodicals. The scope of Fondren Library's collection is broad with excellent coverage in art, architecture, history, literature, music, philosophy, languages, economics, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. The library is also a selective depository for U.S. and Texas government publications and for U.S. patents and trademarks.

Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center is the repository for the archives of Rice University and for Fondren Library's collection of over 31,000 rare books and more than 400 manuscripts. The library's collection of rare books includes 18th-century British drama, history of science, Texana, Confederate imprints, and the history of aeronautics. The manuscript holdings are strong in Texas and Houston history, politics, and entrepreneurship; Civil War history; science; and 20th-century literary authors with Rice connections.

The Woodson Research Center collects and maintains many types of records related to the history of Rice, including textual documents (such as presidents' papers and records of student organizations), Rice historical photographs, architectural plans and drawings, university and faculty publications, newspaper clippings, AV material, and memorabilia. Also included are the papers of numerous faculty members and alumni with achievements in the humanities and social sciences, science and technology, and the arts.

For more information about Fondren Library, visit the library's website at http://www.rice.edu/fondren/.