Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Check the blog each Friday for a new “That’s Distinctive!” post. I created the series because I genuinely believe there is something in our collections for everyone, whether you’re writing a paper or just want to have a look. “That’s Distinctive!” will provide a more lighthearted glimpse into the diverse and unique materials at Spencer – including items that many people may not realize the library holds. If you have suggested topics for a future item feature or questions about the collections, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

This week on That’s Distinctive! I am taking you on a little tour of KU’s campus via the C. J. Moore collection. Dating from 1893 to 1946, the collection of prints and glass plate negatives follow Moore’s photography through many places in Kansas. This week I am sharing scans of Moore’s glass plate negatives of campus buildings from 1894. Since many buildings on campus have been rebuilt, I thought it might be fun to show the buildings as they stand today as well.

First up, Old Fraser Hall. Built in 1872, the first Fraser Hall (originally named the New Building and later University Building) was built of limestone with signature towers and a red roof. According to KU’s online place directory, the first Fraser was “designed by John G. Haskell and housed virtually all university departments, administrative offices, a chapel/theater, lecture halls, classrooms and, at various times in its basement and attic, gymnasiums.” By the early 1960s the stability of the building was greatly concerning, and authorization of the building’s replacement was granted in 1962. Construction of the new Fraser Hall began in 1965 and in 1967 the building (which was more the twice the size of Old Fraser Hall) opened about 50 feet west and just north of the original building.

Next up, Old Blake Hall. Named after physics professor Lucien I. Blake, it opened just south of Fraser Hall on the hill in 1895. KU’s place directory notes that, “with its steep roofs, turreted façade and giant tower clock peering across campus like an all-seeing cyclops, the original Blake had the distinction of being one of the most unique buildings on Mount Oread.” By 1963, the building had been empty for several years and could not be renovated; it was also torn down. Present-day Blake Hall opened in 1964 and was also double the size of the original building.

Next on the tour is Spooner Hall. Opened in 1894, Spooner is the only building highlighted today that has not been demolished and rebuilt. Originally opened as a library, Spooner has housed many campus departments and facilities. In 2010, renovations were done on the exterior of the building to clean, waterproof, and repair any damage. Spooner Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

And the final stop on this brief tour of campus buildings is Old Snow Hall. It opened in 1886 and resided in the northwest corner of the Watson Library lawn. Snow Hall had seriously deteriorated by the mid 1920s, and it was eventually demolished in 1934. New Snow Hall opened in 1930 further west on Jayhawk Boulevard. In the 1950s the building was renovated to add additional wings with a major renovation in 1989 to add more classrooms and offices.  

Tiffany McIntosh
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!

KU’s first May (or May Day) Fete, May 23, 1908. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/10 1908: Student Activities: May Day (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

This photo appears to have been taken from Old Green (now Lippincott) Hall, looking south/southeast. Part of Old Fraser Hall – located approximately where modern Fraser Hall now stands – is visible on the right; Old Blake Hall is in the middle of the background.

Two days before the Fete, the University Daily Kansan student newspaper reported that the participants were ready for the event “after weeks of drill and elaborate preparations.”

In describing the Fete after its conclusion, the Kansan asserted that the maypole dances were “the prettiest part of the performance.” Specifically, “four poles representing the sororities of the school [Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Chi Omega] and one for the University were wound with ribbon by a crowd of girls. The dancing around the poles and the effect of the many colored ribbons made a decidedly pleasing sight.”

An article about the May Fete in the University Daily Kansan,
May 23, 1908. Image via Newspapers.com. Click image to enlarge.

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!

View of campus looking south along Oread Avenue, 1890s. University Archives
Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/P 1890s Prints: Campus: Panoramas (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

From left to right are Spooner Hall, Old Blake Hall, Old Fraser Hall (roughly where modern Fraser Hall is located), and Old Snow Hall. Also visible is Marvin Grove – the area of trees on the right side of the photo. The empty area on the right is where Dyche Hall and the Kansas Union now stand.

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 6,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Some of the images of campus in our photograph collection are actually postcards. The one shown below includes a message from KU student Frank Joste to his mother. If you’ve ever arrived at school for a new semester and realized that you forgot something at home, you can appreciate Frank’s predicament!

Postcard showing the North Entrance to KU, 1910.
The buildings, from left to right, are Spooner Library, old Blake Hall,
old Fraser Hall (mostly obscured) and Dyche Hall. We highlighted a
photograph with a similar view, from 1896, last December. Click image to enlarge.

 On the back of the postcard is student Frank Joste’s message
to his mother, mostly pertaining to a razor strap left at home.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/P 1910 Prints:
University General: Campus Panoramas (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Campus aerial, probably taken in 1923 or 1924.
The red line, from right to left, roughly shows the view featured
on the postcard. The four buildings that can be seen are indicated, too.
Watson Library and Strong Hall had not yet been built in 1910,
but they are also marked on the photograph, as points of reference.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/A 1920s Prints:
University General: Campus Aerials (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

Frank Lewis Joste (1884/5-1964) was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Martin (circa 1847-1916) and Miranda Caldwell (circa 1848-1938) Joske. Frank’s father was a German immigrant, army veteran, and long-time guard at the Leavenworth federal penitentiary. Frank studied engineering at KU from 1907 to 1911. Although he never graduated, he put his education to good use, apparently spending his entire career working as an engineer for Southwestern Bell, first in St. Louis and then in Fort Worth. Frank married Bertha May Martin (1889-1985) around 1917; the couple had one son, Martin William Joste (1917-1978).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants

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 5,000 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Since ancient times, the first day of May (May Day) has been marked in the northern hemisphere with spring festivals and celebrations. However, if you were a male underclassman at KU between 1891 and 1904, chances are you would have marked the day by participating in a large public brawl – the May Day or Maypole Scrap – with your fellow classmates.

Group gathered for the May Day Scrap, 1903.
Old Fraser Hall is seen on the right, with Old Blake in the background on the left.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 71/10 1903: Student Activities: May Day (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

The last May Day Scrap, 1904. Note the maypole in the background.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 71/10 1904: Student Activities: May Day (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Students – some seated and bound – at the May Day Scrap, 1904. Taking prisoners was a
feature of the event: “captives were tied and bound with whatever materials happened to be at hand:
rope, wire, even chains. Sometimes the prisoners were thrown into a hedge or rolled down a hill;
once they were even padlocked in a room in a Lawrence house.”
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 71/10 1904: Student Activities: May Day (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Spectators at the May Day Scrap, 1904. Although female students generally
kept to the sidelines during the skirmish, they also sometimes
aided their classmates. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 71/10 1904: Student Activities: May Day (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Scholar Henry J. Fortunato from KU’s Department of History describes the event this way in his article “Mayday Mayhem”:

In its early days, the Maypole Scrap regularly pitted alliances of sophomores and seniors or law students against a force of juniors and freshmen. Over time as it evolved into a KU tradition, the fighting was usually limited to freshmen and sophomores.

Typically, preparations for a confrontation began shortly after midnight on May 1 when a group of freshmen would assemble in the vicinity of present-day Fraser Hall and erect a tall maypole flying their class flag. They anchored the pole securely and often coated it with concoctions that might include such ingredients as tar, turpentine, lamp black, molasses, axle grease and barbed wire.

By morning, a mob of freshmen milling around the pole would taunt all passersby – students as well as professors – into tipping their hats as a sign of respect. Those who refused had to outrun their tormentors. If captured, these recalcitrant individuals were threatened with having their faces pressed into the grimy mixture on the maypole unless they made the appropriate obeisance. It was an offer that most chose not to refuse.

The real action began when the sophomores launched their attack. Their goal was to scatter the defending freshmen and pull down the maypole, generally within a set period of time. The resulting fray was usually a matter of pushing, shoving, tackling, and charging, but over the years, sophomore classes experimented with other more novel tactics.

More pictures of the May Day Scrap are available via Spencer’s digital collections.

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Melissa Kleinschmidt, Megan Sims, and Abbey Ulrich
Public Services Student Assistants