Ghosts of the Past: Early Students at the University of Chicago

The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 with a commitment to rigorous academics for students of all backgrounds. The University's first president, William Rainey Harper, recruited faculty who were drawn to the college by the idea of a community of great scholars, and enlisted early students with similar mindsets soon thereafter. This web exhibit documents the experiences of the University's first generations of undergraduate and graduate students using the archival collections of these early students.

Learn more about the experiences of University of Chicago students in collections from the University Archives, online in historic student publications, and in additional web exhibits:

We Are Chicago: Student Life in the Collections of the University of Chicago Archives

Life on the Quads: A Centennial View of the Student Experience at the University of Chicago

Integrating the Life of the Mind: African Americans at the University of Chicago, 1870-1940

On Equal Terms: Educating Women at the University of Chicago

Closeted/OUT in the Quadrangles: A History of LGBTQ Life at the University of Chicago