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Category: Students (page 5 of 32)

Twelve Days: Bradford had picture-perfect dedication to University photographs

December 10, 2014 / drobik.5@osu.edu / Comments Off

(In celebration of the University Archives’ upcoming 50th Anniversary in 2015, we bring you “The Twelve Days of Buckeyes”. This is day three in a series of 12 blog posts highlighting the people who were instrumental in the creation and growth of the Archives.)

Joseph Bradford, c1883

When University officials first asked Joseph Bradford to join the faculty, he turned them down. Thank goodness they named him an instructor anyway, or the Archives might not now have photos of the University from its early days.

Bradford was actually a graduate of OSU, earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1883. He was a draftsman with the Pennsylvania Railroad when he was asked by the College of Engineering to organize a course in engineering drawing. Having no interest in being an instructor, he declined the offer. Nevertheless, the Board of Trustees named him an instructor in mechanical and freehand drawing in 1885, with a salary of $1,000 a year.

As a member of the faculty, he taught engineering drawing and architecture, and pioneered instruction in photography, with the first course in “picture-making” offered in the United States in 1890. By 1903 he had published “Photographic Notes for Students in the Ohio State University,” which explained the technical aspects of photography and gave helpful hints on how to be a better photographer.

Bradford is shown here teaching a History of Architecture Class using the first electrical lantern slide projector at OSU. This class was held in Hayes Hall in 1895.

In 1911, Bradford was named University Architect, and he built an impressive portfolio in that area, designing 40 buildings on campus. His work includes such landmarks as Derby Hall, Jennings Hall (then the Botany and Zoology Building), the Kuhn Honors and Scholars building (then the president’s residence), Starling-Loving Hospital, and Sullivant Hall.

But his love of photography is what makes him special to the Archives.

F.W. Davis, Chair of the Department of Photography, and Joseph Bradford in the Photo History Vault in Brown Hall, 1940

F.W. Davis and Joseph Bradford in the Photo History Vault, 1940

In 1931, Bradford received approval from the Board of Trustees to start a Photographic History Unit in the Department of Photography. The unit’s purpose was to “make a complete photographic pictorial record of the progress of the University, its departments, and changes in its personnel,” according to a February 1931 Alumni Monthly article.

Bradford, who had been associated with the University since 1877 when he matriculated as a freshman, was made Emeritus Professor in 1932 and at that point took full charge of the Photo History Division. Bradford worked tirelessly organizing, filing and cataloging historical University photographs. He collected the earliest images from local photographers while also soliciting photographs from University staff and former students. By 1935, Bradford had accumulating about 16,000 prints and negatives. This collection was to eventually become the beginning of the University Archives’ photographs collection.

A hand-colored glass slide from Bradford’s collection.

Bradford also used his own campus photographs, even coloring some of them by hand. He was well known for giving his “Campus Memories” presentation, a Lantern slide show, which highlighted the early history of the University and included photos of buildings, geography, athletics, events, faculty and classrooms. You can see a sampling of the images from his Campus Memories slide show on the Archives’ Flickr gallery.

Bradford died in 1944. However, the Department of Photography continued to add to the collection he had worked so hard to build, photographing the buildings, faculty and grounds of the University.

In 1972 the photographic archives became part of the University Archives and now contains more than two million photographs depicting the history of the University from 1870 to the present time. Because of Bradford’s love of photography and his obvious dedication to the University, we can witness the enormous growth of a campus through his extensive collection of photos that are housed here at the Archives.

The Oval’s Long Walk has paved way for students for a century

November 25, 2014 / drobik.5@osu.edu / Comments Off

University Hall, 1897

It’s hard to imagine OSU without an Oval or a Long Walk, but it turns out that both of these were purely accidental when it came to the early shaping of the University’s design.

The layout of early campus actually followed that of an English Manor, with the manor house, (the original University Hall), on high ground and set back from the road. Access to High Street was by a path that ran diagonally across what is now the Oval to the site of Page Hall.

Early campus planning of the University did not include an Oval in the middle of campus, and certainly no “Long Walk.” But, in the early 1890s, as some of the first campus buildings were built in certain spots, it created a central green area. In 1893, a new master plan was proposed that created a layout for a “central open space around which buildings could be arranged, and which would not be crossed by any roads.” By 1901, this space had closely evolved into the shape of today’s Oval.

Oval, 1905

As buildings continued to go up, students began creating their own walking paths, trekking across the grass to their destinations. Their walking paths partly led to the current design of sidewalks, including the Long Walk.

Joseph N. Bradford, who became University Architect in 1911, was the next piece of the puzzle in the Long Walk’s creation. Bradford was committed to a formal arrangement of campus. In fact, the campus plan he created in early 1914 showed a very formal, geometric pattern of walks within the Oval. By the fall of 1914, the Long Walk was constructed.

Proposed map by Joseph Bradford

However, the construction of the Long Walk did not seem to elicit the fanfare one might expect today from the media. A Lantern article dated September 15, 1914, includes a paragraph about the new walk in a story about two new buildings on campus:

Oval and the Long Walk, 1927

“A broad walkway, of dark red cement has been built from the main entrance to the Library across the oval to the Fifteenth avenue entrance. Walks to the Chemistry building and to Orton Hall extend from it…..”

Not everyone on campus benefited from the Long Walk. In the 1920s and 1930s, freshmen were forbidden to use the Long Walk. The penalty for being caught on the path – which was enforced by the upper-classmen honorary Bucket and Dipper – was to be thrown in Mirror Lake.

In 1931, freshmen of the class of 1935 were in hot water after Bucket and Dipper members found the class emblem of 1935 painted all over the Long Walk. All of the freshmen suspected in the painting were told to report to the Oval every day at 12:30 p.m. for an hour’s worth of cleanup, until all of the painted numerals were gone.

Freshmen cleaning the Long Walk, 1931

One suspected freshman, who had been assigned the task of bringing buckets of water from Mirror Lake to the Long Walk for the cleanup, said “I’d rather carry the water from the lake than be tossed into it.”

Students, on their way to classes during the Long Walk cleanup, apparently gathered around to watch the freshmen at work. It was reported that up to 60 spectators were observing the action, while other freshman on the way to classes steered clear and avoided the scene altogether.

The Oval and the Long Walk have been home to many other student activities over the years. Check out our Oval gallery on Flickr to see how the campus spot has changed over the years.

Block “O” manager was ‘letter’-winner in many ways

November 14, 2014 / drobik.5@osu.edu / Comments Off

Recently, the Archives received a scrapbook, a Varsity sweater, a Block “O” banner and several other items from the family of Charles Riegle, a student who earned a bachelor of science degree in Agriculture in 1941. Not only are we excited about this very kind donation because of the cool artifacts we received, but because we learned about this extraordinary student who truly was a man of many talents.

First, there was the letter-writing business he started with a friend in order to make money for school. Today, letters written home or to a significant other or even a family member are a rarity since communication mostly relies on texts, sometimes emails, and if you’re lucky, a phone call. Back in the 1930s, though, letter-writing was a prime means of communication. Some students, though, apparently were too busy to write home, so Riegle and a friend started a business writing letters for them. While clients had to supply their own stamps, Riegle and fellow freshman Julian A. Yokom charged 10 cents per 50 words. Riegle and Yokom’s motto was, “Give Us a Chance and the Girl Back Home a Break.” While some customers wanted letters written home to “doting parents,” most preferred a letter home to a sweetheart. And in that department, Riegle and Yokom might even use their word expertise to “break off relations with a girlfriend tactfully but don’t know how to do it,” according to a 1938 Lantern article on the pair.

In addition to his letter-writing business, Riegle also was a member of the OSU Cheerleading Squad, The Buckeye Club, the Men’s Dormitory Association and Gamma Sigma Delta, an honorary society for agriculture students. Being a member the Buckeye Club actually meant that Riegle lived in the Stadium Scholarship Dorms, which at that time were for male students who couldn’t otherwise afford to go to college (hence, the letter-writing business).

Charles Riegle in his OSU Cheerleading uniform, c1939

And of course, he was a very dedicated member of Block “O.” During the 1938-39 academic year, Riegle became Junior Manager of the Cheering Section and by the following year became Manager. Riegle managed three juniors, six sophomores, and six freshmen, while the cheering section had a total of roughly 1,200 men and women wearing scarlet capes against a grey background to create the impression of a block “O.” Each person would participate in different cheers while holding up different colored cards and singing along to certain songs and yells. There were 30 designs and 10 were used in a single game. By the end of the season, 3,000 cards were used. For his role as manager, Riegle received a Varsity “O” sweater in 1940.

Riegle’s energy and management skills served him well after his time at OSU: He joined the military and served in three wars: World War II, the Korean War, where he worked after the war on the establishment of the De-Militarized Zone between North and South Koreas; and the Vietnam War. He retired in 1968 as a U.S. Army Colonel and died several years later.

We very much appreciate the kind donation made by Dwight and Mary Helen Tuuri of the materials once owned by Riegle. It is because of people like the Tuuris that we have such wonderful stories to tell about OSU history, so we thank them very much!

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Category: Students (page 5 of 32)

Twelve Days: Bradford had picture-perfect dedication to University photographs

The Oval’s Long Walk has paved way for students for a century

Block “O” manager was ‘letter’-winner in many ways

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