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Syracuse University Slide Collection

An inventory of the collection at the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Anna Smallwood
Date: 2015

Historical Note

Slide of Hall of Languages

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, was eager to act on the ideas 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 and passionate support. A few short months later, the Syracuse University Board of Trustees chartered the University, secured the support of the city, and raised $500,000 in funding from various sources.

On May 17, 1871, just over 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, the lone College of Liberal Arts’ first class of forty-one young men and women used rented floors of the Myers Block building as their temporary home. The University's opening, while humble, was a success.

Despite these modest beginnings, the story of Syracuse University would be one of remarkable growth and progress. By the spring of 1873, the Hall of Languages was complete and housed many of the new programs offered. The University’s first Chancellor, Alexander Winchell, was appointed this same year. Economic problems 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 financial troubles, he also managed to improve existing academic programs and create new bonds between the University and its host city. Economic difficulties, both local and nationwide, would carry on into the early years of the administration of the next Chancellor, Charles Sims. By 1886, however, 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. At 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 desire to expand the University even further, and he was successful with the help of his close friend John D. Archbold. Director of the Rockefeller Standard Oil Company and president of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees, Archbold donated large sums to the University to help fund Day’s plans for expansion.

Chancellor Day helped introduce many new programs in law, business, home economics, applied science, and education, among others. Day reconfigured the University into thirteen academic divisions, as opposed to the original three, in order to accommodate the needs of rapidly-evolving academic departments. With new disciplines to accommodate, and an ever-increasing number of students enrolling, the University needed to build a number of new facilities during this period. Day, with assistance from Archbold and other influential donors, oversaw the completion of twenty-two new University buildings, including several academic and administrative buildings, a library, a second gymnasium, and Archbold Stadium.

Slide of Football Team Huddle, 1969

Archbold Stadium, funded by John D. Archbold and completed in 1907, would be put to good use in the seventy-one years it stood. The large, Coliseum-inspired arena was a representation of Syracuse University's celebrated athletic tradition. Since the early 1880s, athletics had been an increasingly popular facet of the University experience. As the number of students swelled under the Day administration, so too did the students’ passion for the teams that competed on behalf of the University. Numerous other student activities also continued to develop during this period including student publications, musical groups like the marching band, and Greek organizations.

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. Day’s successor, Charles Flint, attempted to continue expanding the University but was impeded by the effects of the Great Depression. Chancellor Flint did, however, successfully preserve the University's academic integrity during trying economic times, and Syracuse University's Depression-era enrollment did not experience the significant decline seen at 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 were preoccupied with maintaining the University’s stability, their successor would seek to make big changes.

In the fall of 1942, at a time when millions of college-aged Americans were joining the military to serve in World War II, Syracuse University alumnus William Tolley returned to his alma mater as Chancellor. Given the unique circumstances brought about by the war, Chancellor Tolley was determined to oversee an institution that prioritized all types of students. He created specialized military training programs and took a special interest in the education of returning veterans. Tolley assured those entering the military that Syracuse University would assist them upon their return. Following the war, many veterans recognized Syracuse University as an especially welcoming institution, and the University had one of the higher veteran enrollment numbers in the country, ranking seventeenth overall despite its relatively small size. By the late 1940s, military veterans made up half of the University's swelling numbers.

In order to expand and improve in the post-war years, Syracuse University had to readjust its approach to education. By 1950, the University was committed to becoming a modern research institution that could make valuable academic contributions to society. New research programs were created, research funding was drastically increased, specialized faculty members were recruited, and buildings to house and serve the changing needs of students 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 creation of University College. By the time Chancellor Tolley retired in 1969, the University had changed dramatically.

Student life had also evolved during Tolley’s time, revealing a diverse array of interests and a more socially conscious student body. More sports were added to the University’s roster, and established teams started playing to swelling crowds. The Lowe Art Center gave art students opportunities to experiment with various media, and the number of student publications grew as more voices demanded to be heard. Students also began turning the liveliness of the campus into political action. Throughout the late 1960s, University students protested the Vietnam War, and this student unrest would reach its climax with the strike of 1970.

Slide of a Snowy View toward Hendricks Chapel

The strike, which occurred in the spring of 1970, was sparked by both local and national conflicts. Accusations of racial discrimination in the football program led to player boycotts and garnered campus-wide attention. The strike itself was in response to the Kent State University shootings that happened in May of that year. Syracuse University students effectively shut down the University by barricading all entrances to campus and staging a sit-in. A year prior, the University had optimistically appointed John Corbally as Chancellor, hoping that he could rally the University around a positive, innovative new vision that would complement the spirit of its upcoming centennial celebration. Instead, Chancellor Corbally oversaw the increasingly restless institution for eighteen months before he left to take an offer at another university.

Melvin Eggers was named the University’s Chancellor in 1971 and was tasked with improving the now-strained relationship between the University and its faculty, staff, and students. While reuniting University members proved difficult (the library staff went on strike just a few years after Eggers took office), he was able to help quell many of the problems that had been mounting when he first took office. In addition to dissent on campus, the University had also seen enrollment drop in recent years. Under the guidance of Eggers, enrollment rose, thanks in part to improvements made in the academic sphere and the addition of new facilities including libraries, 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 impressive school spirit, making athletic events a crucial component of student life at the University.

By the 1990s, while some of the athletic programs were beginning to thrive, financial problems made it difficult to properly serve the student population. 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 strengthen the University's connection to its local and international communities.

Syracuse University began as a single building atop a hill. Over the years, its population grew from a few dozen local students to over 21,000 students from all over the world. With the help of Chancellors and the University community alike, the University has continued to extend its reach.

Scope and Content Note

The Syracuse University Slide Collection consists of color slides that document the history of academics, athletics, student life, the campus and various events at Syracuse University. Although the dates range from 1948 to 2003, the majority of the slides are from the 1970s.

The collection is divided into fourteen series:

The first series, Academics, contains slides of academic departments including students, faculty and other images associated with the academic side of Syracuse University.

Slides of extra-curricular activities in which students participated compose the Activities and Organizations series. These include organizations and activities like cheerleading, publications, and musical groups.

The Administration series is made of administrative offices, development activities of the institution including campaigns, along with other events and organizations devoted to the oversight of Syracuse University.

The Alumni series contains slides of alumni, as well as alumni gatherings and events. Included are slides of the Coming Back Together Reunion.

The Art Collection series involves slides of art owned by the University, including sculptures that are located on campus grounds.

Slides of students and coaches involved in sporting events comprise the Athletics series. Included are slides of the Empire State Games as well as various sports divided, when appropriate, by gender.

Slides of buildings on Syracuse University's campus as well as landscape views of the University make up the Buildings and Grounds series. Included are aerial views, winter scenes on campus as well as the many buildings Syracuse University owned and operated, some of which are no longer standing.

Controversies and Problems contain slides depicting the anti-war and anti-apartheid movements on Syracuse University's campus.

The Greek Organizations series contains slides of various sorority and fraternity members and Greek events.

The Military series is composed of slides depicting the activities and people of ROTC.

The Special Events series includes slides of events such as commencements, opening weekend and Winter Carnival.

The Students series contains slides of students in general academic or classroom settings, on the quad, outdoors on the grounds and relaxing in more social settings. These slides give a general sense of student life from the 1960s until the early 2000s.

The Syracuse City / Onondaga County series includes slides from local events and places in the Syracuse area and within the county.

Lastly, the Traditions series is composed of slides showing college and school banners as well as the University seal.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions to this collection.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Syracuse University Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Other image collections in the Archives include the Photograph Collection, which contains thousands of photographs documenting the history of Syracuse University; the Portrait Collection, which contains photographs of faculty, staff, alumni and other individuals related to Syracuse University and its history; the Glass Plate Negative and Lantern Slide Collections and images in multiple formats taken by the Syracuse University Photo and Imaging Center.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Syracuse University -- Alumni and alumnae.
Syracuse University -- Buildings.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University -- Sports.
Syracuse University -- Students.
Syracuse University.

Subjects

Greek letter societies.
Student activities.
Higher education.

Types of Material

Slides (photographs)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

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

Acquisition Information

Slides in the Slide Collection have generally been donated to the Archives by alumni, staff, departments, schools and colleges of Syracuse University dating back to the 1970s.

Processing Information

Slides were placed in archival sleeves, folders and boxes.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged in series and are filed in alphabetical or chronological order.

Table of Contents

Academics

Activities and Organizations

Administration

Alumni

Art Collection

Athletics

Buildings and Grounds

Controversies and Problems

Greek Organizations

Military

Special Events

Students

Syracuse City / Onondaga County

Traditions

Inventory