Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

The first day of spring is less than one month away! Who’s ready for some warmer weather?

Women students in a car on Jayhawk Boulevard, 1940-1949.
Bailey Hall is visible in the background. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/0 1940s Negatives: Student Activities (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Did you know that KU basketball coach Phog Allen invented a new game called Goal-Hi in the 1930s?

Members of the KU basketball team playing Goal-Hi on campus, 1939.
Bailey Hall and Jayhawk Boulevard are visible in the background.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 66/22 Forrest C. Allen
1939 Negatives: Athletic Department: Coaches and Staff (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

In his book Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball, author Scott Morrow Johnson writes that Allen’s personal finances suffered during the Great Depression of the 1930s. “By the end of the decade, he was making only about five thousand dollars annually, one of the lowest coaching salaries in the conference.” Goal-Hi was one of several “creative ways” in which Allen sought to increase his income. Although there was some initial interest in the game, it “never really caught on” (110).

Learn more about the rules of Goal-Hi – and see a diagram of the playing field – by checking out the December 1943 U.S. War Department technical manual Informal Games for Soldiers. You can also see a February 1940 advertisement for Goal-Hi in the Journal of Health and Physical Education.

Additional information about Goal-Hi can be found in University Archives, specifically in Phog Allen’s coaching records, which are currently being digitized.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Jayhawk Boulevard looking east, 1915. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/P 1915 Prints: Campus: Panoramas (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

The photo was likely taken from Marvin Hall.

The buildings from left to right are Strong (east wing only), Bailey, Old Fraser, Old Snow, and Old Haworth. Old Robinson Gymnasium and the Fowler Shops are also visible behind Haworth, to the right. Zoom in and look closely to see a campus streetcar.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Each week we’ll be posting a photograph from University Archives that shows a scene from KU’s past. We’ve also scanned more than 34,800 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

A streetcar in front of Bailey Hall, 1910. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Streetcars 1910 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants