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 3,600 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

It may still feel like winter on Mount Oread, but spring is just around the corner, and with it the potential for strong storms. We selected today’s images thinking about Kansas Severe Weather Awareness Week, which ends tomorrow, and today’s specific focus on thunderstorm and lightning safety.

Lightning flashes above the Campanile, with Spencer Research Library
faintly visible behind it, 1980. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Storms 1980 Prints: Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Firefighters battling a blaze at Hoch Auditorium, June 15, 1991. The building was struck
by lightning during a violent thunderstorm that, according to the Kansas Alumni magazine,
“pelted the Lawrence area with heavy rain and pea-sized hail.” University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/33 1991 Slides: Campus: Buildings: Hoch Auditorium (Photos).
Click image to enlarge.

Tree in front of Watson Library (not shown) damaged by a storm, 1991. This may have been
the same June 15th storm that caused the fire at Hoch Auditorium. Fraser Hall is
in the background. University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/24/1 Storms 1991 Negatives:
Campus: Areas and Objects (Photos). Click image to enlarge.

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 1,700 images from KU’s University Archives and made them available online; be sure to check them out!

Sunday marks the seventy-third anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, so this week we’re showing early images of KU’s Memorial Carillon and Campanile, a bell tower with a set of bells built to honor members of the university community and alumni who served or died in World War II. You can learn more about the memorial’s design and construction on the KU History website.

The campanile under construction, 1950. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/8 1950 Prints: Campus: Buildings: Campanile (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

View of the campanile under construction from across Potter Lake, 1950.
University Archives Photos. Call Number: RG 0/22/8 1950 Prints:
Campus: Buildings: Campanile (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Unloading the bells, 1951. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/8 AR Prints: Campus: Buildings: Campanile (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

The campanile during the 1960s. University Archives Photos.
Call Number: RG 0/22/8 1960s Prints: Campus: Buildings: Campanile (Photos).
Click image to enlarge (redirect to Spencer’s digital collections).

Caitlin Donnelly
Head of Public Services

Brian Nomura
Public Services Student Assistant