The Archival Photographic Files (the Photofiles) constitute a record group within the University of Chicago Archives. Totaling more than 60,000 images, the photographs are arranged in five series that visually document different aspects of the University's history: Faculty, staff, and alumni; architecture and campus plans; events; student activities; and sports.
Prints and negatives have come to the University Archives from a variety of sources. Most originated in the Office of University News and Information and its public relations predecessors. Along with photographs, these transfers often included negatives and sometimes contact sheets. A substantial group of photographs, nearly all of them depicting undergraduate activities, came from the Maroon, Cap and Gown, and other student publications. Various departments, divisions, schools, and other University bodies have also contributed a significant number. Still others were acquired with archival collections or donated by alumni and friends of the University.
The Archival Photofiles are organized into five broad topical series: Series I: Individuals and Groups, Series II: Buildings and Grounds, Series III: Events, Series IV: Student Activities, and Series V: Sports. Further information on the original photographs is available in the finding aid to the collection.
Series II: Buildings and Grounds
The first series to be digitized as part of the Archival Photographic Files Digitization Project is Series II. The earliest photographs in this series relate to the University's origins, including the campus of the Old University of Chicago that existed from 1857 to 1886 at 35th and Cottage Grove. It also includes images of the Henry Ives Cobb plan for the new University of Chicago incorporated in 1890, and photographs documenting the development of the present University campus since the 1890s.
Most of the photographs in Series II depict University of Chicago buildings, campus plans, landscaping, and maintenance. There are also some photographs of the contiguous Chicago neighborhoods of Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn, particularly for the early twentieth century and the urban renewal period of the 1950s and 1960s. Likewise, nearby city parks-Jackson Park, Washington Park, and the Chicago South Parks system-are represented, primarily for the early part of the twentieth century.
Common subheadings in this series include:
Architects' Drawings. Photographs of proposed and actual designs.
Architects' Models. Photographs of pre-construction models for buildings or their ornamentation.
Construction Series. Sequential photographic record of building progress, from start to finish.
Entrance. Shots of building doorways and entry facades.
Exteriors. View of the outside of a building, usually further defined according to the direction from which the photo was taken (From Northeast, From West, etc.).
Interior. Shots of indoor spaces, typically specified according to room or use. Thus, depending on the building, there are envelopes allocated for libraries, labs, lounges, dining rooms, cafeterias, classrooms, stairways, exhibit areas, murals, and so forth.
Site. Pre-construction location.
Some knowledge of University of Chicago history, including the development of its campus planning, will help anyone using this series. Many buildings--because of their proximity or connection to other buildings or because of a change in function over time--have several potential locations within the Archival Photofiles.
For instance, views of buildings fronting Hull Court or the main quadrangles may be identified according to their respective names or according to headings for nearby buildings or features. Likewise, some photographs of Bond Chapel are placed under its name, while others are filed under Swift Hall, to which it is attached. Similarly, views of Mitchell Tower and Hutchinson Hall are found in several places besides their respective names, including Hutchinson Commons, Hutchinson Court, and Tower Group. Photographs of the Reynolds Club, however, since they are all interior shots, are filed under Reynolds Club alone.
Some photographs are identified entirely or partially by building names that are no longer in official use. For instance, photographs of the original Quadrangle Club building are located primarily under Quad Club (Old), with a cross-reference to Ingleside Hall, since the name and use of this structure have both changed. Photographs found under the latter heading are more recent views reflecting the building's later functions.
Another example is the existing bookstore building; because most of the photographs date from its original use as the Press Building, they are principally filed under that name. A person seeking pictures of the University's earlier bookstore should instead look under Ellis Hall, which housed it. Law School photographs predating the construction of the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle are located under Law School (Old), and under Stuart Hall, which it is now called. Early photographs of Foster, Kelly, Beecher, and Green Halls may be found under their respective names as well as under Women's Dorms, the purpose for which they were originally built.
The Archival Photofiles also preserve pictures of many demolished buildings. Some were temporary structures--the old gymnasium and library, post-World War II student housing--but most served longer-term needs, including Lexington Hall, Ellis Hall, and Ricketts North and South. Dudley Field, later the site of Woodward Court, is also represented. A more famous and very well documented example is the old Stagg Field, upon which Regenstein Library now stands. The Archival Photofiles, however, contain only recent views of the Home for the Incurables, part of which still survives as the Young Memorial Building and is used by the University Police and the Office of Facilities Planning and Management.
Medical Center photographs are organized insofar as possible by pavilion, wing, lab, or specialized hospital unit. This is true, for example, for Chicago Lying-in Hospital, Bobs Roberts, the Ben May Laboratory, and the A. J. Carlson Animal Research Facility. Hospitals and Clinics is a more inclusive heading created for general or group photographs. In this category are found, for instance, exterior shots depicting more than one hospital unit and unidentified interior shots. Laboratories is another significant general category, and it holds photographs of unidentified labs in the biological and physical sciences.
Series II also includes photographs of events related to building donors and construction, such as groundbreakings, cornerstone layings, and dedications. Here too are photographs of class gifts--among them the Class of 1922 bridge and the Class of 1916 bulletin board--as well as the "C" bench, Botany Pond, sculpture ("Nuclear Energy"), and other campus landmarks.
Users should also be aware of an important comprehensive heading, General Campus Views, filed under "G." Photographs in this category do not emphasize specific buildings but rather broader campus scenes, panoramas, or groups of buildings. They have been arranged in rough chronological sequence, and a substantial number have been separated according to motif (Aerial Views, Winter, Bridges and Arches, Midway Plaisance).
Another comprehensive category, the Hanscomb Survey, contains contact sheets and negatives for a February 1982 campus survey of building conditions conducted by the Architect's Office. A complete set is identified by this heading, while enlargements of individual photographs have been interfiled with their respective buildings. An earlier group of architectural prints, the work of the Capes photographers, has also been separated and filed according to individual building name.