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Syracuse University Photograph Collection

An inventory of the collection held by the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Sean Molinaro
Date: January 2013

Historical Note

Syracuse University officially began its proud tradition in higher education on March 24, 1870, when the Syracuse University Board of Trustees signed the University charter and certificate of incorporation. The Board, headed by leaders of the New York Methodist Church, were eager to act upon the vision put forth a month prior at the Methodist State Convention. At that convention, a resolution to build an institution of higher learning in the promising, centrally located city of Syracuse was met with immediate, passionate support. Within a few short months, the Syracuse University Board of Trustees had chartered the University, secured the support of the city, and raised $500,000 in funding from various sources.

Hall of LanguagesOn May 17, 1871, a little more than a year after the signing of the University charter, the Board of Trustees approved plans to build Syracuse University's first building, the Hall of Languages. They did not wait for the building's completion to begin educating students. In September of 1871, with the rented floors of the Myers Block building downtown serving as a temporary home, Syracuse University welcomed a class of just forty-one young men and women to its sole college, the College of Liberal Arts. The University's opening, though humble, was a success.

Following these humble beginnings, the story of Syracuse University would be one of remarkable growth and progress. The Hall of Languages was completed by the spring of 1873, making it the home of many of the expanding number of programs offered in the sciences, languages, and arts. 1873 also saw the appointment of the University's first official chancellor, Alexander Winchell. Economic problems in the University's earliest days caused Winchell to resign just a year later, allowing Erastus Haven to step in as the new chancellor. While Chancellor Haven's primary duty was keeping the young University afloat amidst rising financial difficulties, he also managed to improve existing academic programs and create new bonds between the University and its host city. Economic difficulties, both internal and nationwide, would continue into the early years of the administration of the next chancellor, Charles Sims, but by 1886, the University was ready to push forward with its first period of significant expansion. Between 1887 and 1892, under Sims' leadership, Syracuse University added an observatory, the impressive Crouse College of Fine Arts building, a library, and a gymnasium. By this point, the growing university encompassed the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Medicine, and the College of Fine Arts.

When Chancellor Sims was succeeded by Chancellor James Day in 1894, Syracuse University began one of the most transformative periods of its history. Chancellor Day took the administrative position with a vision of vast growth for the University, and he was able to realize that goal with the help of his close friend John D. Archbold. The wealthy director of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and president of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, Archbold supplied the University with large donations to facilitate Day's plans for expansion.

Chancellor Day helped introduce many new schools, including law, business, home economics, applied science, and education, among others. To accommodate the increased administrative needs of the rapidly evolving academic departments, Day restructured the University into thirteen academic divisions, a drastic increase over the University's three colleges established prior to his administrative term. With new academic disciplines to accommodate, and an ever-increasing number of students enrolling to study them, the University needed to build a number of new facilities during this period. Day, with great assistance from Archbold and other influential donors, oversaw the completion of twenty-two new University buildings, including several academic buildings, administrative buildings, a library, a second gymnasium, and a stadium.

Football, circa 1950sArchbold Stadium, constructed in 1907 through the funding of its namesake, would be put to good use in the seventy-one years it stood. The large, Coliseum-inspired arena was a manifestation of Syracuse University's celebrated athletic tradition. Since the early 1880s, sports had been an increasingly popular facet of the campus experience at SU. As the number of students swelled under the Day administration, so too did the student passion for the teams that competed under the University's orange banner. Numerous other student activities also continued to develop during this period, including student publications, the marching band and other music clubs, and Greek organizations. Active and engaged students ensured that their extra-curricular activities were as enriching and varied as the ever-improving academic curricula.

With Archbold's death in 1916 and Chancellor Day's retirement in 1922, Syracuse University's first period of rapid growth came to a close. In the years that followed, the next chancellor, Charles Flint, worked to discover new ways to build upon the University's vision, until the Great Depression forced a more conservative approach to operations. Chancellor Flint successfully preserved the University's enticing academic offerings during the trying economic times, and Syracuse University's Depression-era enrollments did not see significant drops, as they did in other universities. Flint retired in 1936, leaving his vice chancellor, William Graham, to head the administration through the later years of the Great Depression. While Flint and Graham focused upon steadying the ship, their successor would seek to change its course.

In the fall of 1942, a time when millions of college-age Americans were joining the military to serve in World War II, Syracuse University alumnus William Tolley returned to his alma mater to serve as the new chancellor. Chancellor Tolley sought to make unique war-time considerations a top priority of his administration. He first worked to make Syracuse University a place that could prepare members of the military for service by helping to create specialized military training programs. Tolley's focus was not only on how Syracuse University could serve the war effort; he was also greatly concerned about how Syracuse University could serve those who would return home from war. He assured those entering the military that Syracuse University would provide them with educational assistance upon their return. Following the war, many returning veterans recognized Syracuse University as an especially welcoming institution. The University had one of the higher veteran enrollment numbers in the country, ranking seventeenth overall, despite its relatively small size at the time. By the late 1940s, military veteran students made up half of the University's swelling class sizes.

Student in a chemistry labIn order to truly expand and improve in the post-war years, Syracuse University had to do more than watch its enrollment numbers rise; it had to change its approach to education. By 1950, the University was committed to becoming a modern research institution that could make direct, valuable academic contributions to society. New research programs were created, research funding was drastically increased, specialized faculty members were newly recruited, and buildings to house and serve changing student needs were constructed during this time. The University not only improved its approach to scientific and academic research during this period of modernization, it also expanded its social role through the founding of the School of Social Work and the reorganization of the continuing education program to form University College. When Tolley retired as chancellor in 1969, he left a university that was far different than how he found it.

During those years, student life had also changed along with the University, as long-standing activities evolved, new organizations were created, and the campus became increasingly socially conscious. Athletics teams played more sports in better facilities to larger crowds. Students pursuing the arts made use of the new Lowe Art Center to respond to new experiments in form. The number of student publications swelled, allowing for a variety of new voices to be heard. Students had also been turning the campus' increased liveliness into political action. Throughout the late 1960s, SU students protested the Vietnam War and other issues, and this student unrest would reach its climax in 1970.

In the spring of that year, student activism was fueled both by both local and national conflicts. Accusations of racial discrimination practices in the SU football program led to player boycotts. In response to the Kent State shootings in May, Syracuse University students went on strike and effectively shut down the University, barricading all entrances to campus and staging a sit-in. A year prior, the University optimistically appointed John Corbally chancellor, hoping that he could rally the University around a positive, innovative new vision that would complement the spirit of its upcoming centennial celebration. Chancellor Corbally only oversaw an increasingly restless Syracuse University for eighteen months before he left to take an offer from another university.

Students in the newly built Bird LibraryIn 1971, Melvin Eggers was named the University's new chancellor, and he was given the difficult task of improving relationships between students, faculty, and their university. Though such unification was neither easy nor immediate (library staff would go on strike just a few years after Eggers took office), he was able to help stabilize many of the problems that had been mounting. In addition to dissent on campus, the University had also seen enrollment drop in the years prior to its turbulent period. Eggers saw enrollments rise significantly over his twenty years as the University's chancellor, thanks in part to improvements to academic programs and the introduction of impressive new facilities, including new libraries, new arts buildings, and the famous Carrier Dome.

The Carrier Dome, completed in 1980, would become the versatile new home to the football, basketball, track and field, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse teams. It was under the distinctive inflatable dome that the men's basketball and lacrosse teams would have their rise to national prominence in the decades that followed. As the Orange athletes became more competitive and took up new sports, students responded with increased school spirit, making athletic events a central component of student life at SU.

By the 1990s, though some of the athletics programs were beginning to thrive, financial problems made it difficult to serve the declining number of students properly. Through difficult adjustments, Chancellor Kenneth Shaw helped stabilize the University and once more put it on a path of progress. In 2004, incoming Chancellor Nancy Cantor upheld the University's commitment to progress by working to improve the University's connection to its local and international communities.

Syracuse University began with a single building upon a hill, and it grew to a bustling campus that is integral to the city. It began with a few dozen local students studying one of a few programs in a rented classroom space, and it grew to include over 21,000 students from all over the world. It began with the vision of a few figures who valued the importance of a good education, and it grew to become the living vision of countless students, teachers, and staff who make the University what it is today.

Scope and Content Note

Otto in the Carrier DomeSpanning from Syracuse University's earliest days in the 1870s to the present, the Syracuse University Photograph Collection contains thousands of images, the bulk of which come from around the 1940s to the 1970s. Within this collection, there are photographs of incoming young students and returning elderly alumni; heated athletic competitions and distinguished academic award ceremonies; iconic University buildings and structures that stand no more; and defining special events and familiar everyday scenes. This collection of photographs serves as a vivid document of the University's history, and it illustrates all that has changed with time as well as all that has remained the same.

The collection is divided into seventeen series:

The first series, Academics, is one of the two largest in the collection, containing photographs from the University's many schools, colleges, and academic programs. Some of the academic settings within this series that were photographed most often include the Newhouse School of Public Communication, the College of Engineering, the School of Visual and Performing Arts, the School of Nursing, and University libraries, to name a few.

The next series, Activities and organizations, covers extra-curricular activities at Syracuse University. There are numerous photographs of long-running activities and organizations, such as the marching band, student publications, cheerleading, and school dances. There are also photos of the clubs that have come and gone, like the Prohibition Club.

The Administration series includes photographs of the administrative work of the University, such as the admissions, bursar, and dean's offices, and it also includes photos of unique events headed by administrative departments, such as author events, faculty art shows, and the Syracuse-in-China Program.

Student snow sculpture of dogThe Alumni series comprises photographs of alumni club meetings, alumni reunions (mostly organized by class year and occasionally by college or club), and reunion weekends and other events.

The brief Art collection series collects photographs of artwork displayed at Syracuse University (for student artwork, see the Academics series).

The Athletics series collects photos from Syracuse University's celebrated sports traditions. From basketball to bowling, football to fencing, this series collects photographs of games, practices, athletes, cheering crowds, and mascots. Photographs of men's football, the most extensive portion of this series, include team pictures through the years, bowl games, and meetings with rival Colgate University.

In the Awards and honorary degrees series, the photographs of honorary degree presentations and other ceremonies of special recognition date from 1918 to the present. Honors in this series include the Arents Pioneer Medal, student scholarships, the Moynihan Award, and the Tolley Medal.

Buildings and grounds, the second of the collection's two largest series, contains photographs of dozens of Syracuse University buildings dating back to the early 1870s. Hall of Languages, Von Ranke and Crouse College on the hill With shots of building exteriors and interiors, general campus views and sweeping aerial shots, this large series documents the evolution of the campus. In this series, one can find early buildings that once stood alone, such as the Hall of Languages, become part of an increasingly lively college grounds. One can see the early Archbold Gym, the fire that destroyed it, and how it was rebuilt. One can spot the difference between the once-stylish furniture Bird Library opened with in the early 1970s and its current offerings. These photographs are the setting for Syracuse University's many stories.

Photographs of some of Syracuse University's special speaking engagements are collected in the Conferences, Lectures, and Seminars series. Some events pictured here were one-time events, while others, such as the McNaughton Symposium and the Arlene Rothman and R. Raymond Lectureship, were series of talks for a period of time.

The Controversies and problems series documents some of the University's more turbulent times, most notably student protests against practices and politics at the University, national, and international level.

The Greek organizations series collects photographs of the members, activities, and houses of nearly 100 fraternities and sororities.

The Military and wars series focuses upon Syracuse University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Army Comptrollership School, and other military organizations on campus. Photographs of military training and demonstrations during the two World Wars make up the large majority of this series.

The Predecessor institutions series contains only a few images, but these photographs of Genesee College and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary help illustrate Syracuse University's earliest roots.

Student paints outsideCommencement ceremonies, honors convocations, and other occasions can be found in the Special Events series. Photographs of popular events such as the Winter Carnival and Homecoming Week can be found here.

The Students series collects photographs of students in more general settings than the more specific contexts of other series. Found in classrooms and on the Quad, registering for classes and relaxing in social settings, the students photographed in this series offer a glimpse at everyday student life through the years.

The Syracuse City / Onondaga County series gives a similar look at surrounding areas, such as Marshall Street, Thornden Park, and downtown Syracuse.

Lastly, the Traditions series includes photos of some the University's (largely bygone) traditions, such as Freshman beanies, the Goon Squad, and the Snow Rush.

Items in this collection are presented for their historic and research value. We note that viewers may find some content objectionable.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries and all relevant rights holders before publishing images from this collection.

Related Material

The Syracuse University Archives also holds other image collections:

The Portrait Collection includes thousands of images of people who have been associated with the University, including alumni, faculty, staff, guest speakers, and visitors. Those looking for images of specific people should first consult the Portrait Collection.

The Glass Plate Negative and Lantern Slide Collections contain over 2,000 images of varied subjects.

Items in the Syracuse University Yearbook Collection contain images of students, faculty, staff, campus buildings, organizations, athletics teams, and other subjects of interest by year.

The Archives also holds film negatives, contact sheets, and CDs of digital images from the Syracuse University Photo and Imaging Collection.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Genesee College.
Syracuse University -- Alumni and alumnae.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.

Subjects

College buildings.
College campuses.
College sports.
Commencement ceremonies.
Greek letter societies.
Student activities.
Student movements.
Student protesters.
Higher education.

Types of Material

Black-and-white negatives.
Photographs.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Syracuse University Photograph Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Images in the Syracuse University Photograph Collection generally have been deposited by schools, colleges, and departments and donated by alumni or other individuals.

Processing Information

The photographs in this collection were placed in acid-free boxes and folders. Many photographs were placed in protective mylar sleeves.

Arrangement

The items are largely arranged alphabetically within series, with some items in chronological order when appropriate.

Table of Contents

Academics

Activities and organizations

Administration

Alumni

Art Collection

Athletics

Awards and honorary degrees

Buildings and grounds

Conferences, lectures, seminars

Controversies and problems

Greek organizations

Military and wars

Predecessor institutions

Special events

Students

Syracuse City / Onondaga County

Traditions

Inventory